Skip to content
MellowCAD
Start drawing

Reference

3DORBIT in AutoCAD

How AutoCAD's 3D orbit (3DORBIT, 3DO, ORBIT) turns the view as you drag, how to leave it, orbit with Shift and the wheel, and get back to plan. Try it free.

3DORBIT turns the view round the drawing as you drag; nothing in the drawing moves or changes. Dragging across turns the camera about the world's Z axis, dragging up and down raises or lowers it, round the middle of the drawing under the centre of the screen, in parallel projection. It starts by saying how to leave it: while it runs you can only orbit, and Enter or Escape ends it, dragged or not.

Holding Shift and the wheel button orbits from anywhere, even inside another command, and the Orbit button on the navigation bar runs it too. Typed with an apostrophe, '3DORBIT, it works inside another command, which goes on after it. Each drag is a step for ZOOM's Previous, and the whole run is one undo step, so U puts the view back. To see the solids as solids, not as wires, use VSCURRENT; MellowCAD's 3D is solids only, and still partial.

At the command line

The engine draws it and writes its history as you would type it: the prompts in AutoCAD 2027's order, with the same option letters.

A box first seen in plan: 3DORBIT, a drag across and down, then Enter, and the box is seen from above its front corner.
  1. Command: 3DORBIT
  2. Press ESC or ENTER to exit, or right-click to display shortcut-menu.
A box first seen in plan: 3DORBIT, a drag across and down, then Enter, and the box is seen from above its front corner.

What it does not do yet

The right-click menu, with its projections, visual styles and other navigation modes. Orbiting about the selected objects only. Perspective. 3DFORBIT, 3DCORBIT and the rest of AutoCAD's 3D navigation.

What it does and still lacks, in detail (in English)

Questions

What is the shortcut for 3D orbit in AutoCAD?

3DO or ORBIT, then Enter or Space. Without typing anything, hold Shift and the wheel button and drag.

How do I orbit with the mouse?

Hold Shift, press the wheel button and drag: across to turn the model round, up and down to look at it from higher or lower. Let go and you are back in the command you were in.

How do I exit 3D orbit?

Press Enter or Escape. The view stays where you left it.

How do I get back to the plan view after orbiting?

Run PLAN and press Enter, or -VIEW and Top, or click the top of the ViewCube. ZOOM Previous steps back one drag at a time.

Related commands