Viewport Camera

Beginner

Navigating your build comfortably in 3D is fundamental to everything else in Buildopia. This guide covers every way to move the camera, the preset snap angles, the zoom controls, the axis gizmo for keeping your bearings, and additional viewports for watching multiple angles at once.

The Three Viewport Modes

A drag in the viewport does different things depending on which mode is active. The mode buttons live both in the viewport overlay and in the top bar:

Mode	Drag behaviour	Tap/click behaviour	Shortcut
Orbit	Rotates the camera around the centre of the build.	Nothing — the build is safe to tap.	Default on load
Pan	Slides the camera without rotating — shifts the entire scene sideways, up, or down.	Nothing.	—
Draw	Drags out a run of placements across multiple cells.	Applies the active tool to one cell.	`D` (toggles)

Only one mode is active at a time. Orbit is the default every time you open Buildopia. A hint line at the bottom-left of the viewport always displays the current mode so you don't have to look at the buttons to know where you are.

Tip: Many builders prefer to stay in Orbit for camera work and press D only when they want to place blocks, then press D again to return to Orbit. This avoids accidentally placing blocks while trying to rotate.

Camera Presets

The four preset buttons in the top bar snap the camera to a useful angle without any orbiting:

Preset	View	Best for
Reset	Default perspective from a comfortable elevated angle.	General building and getting back to a neutral starting position.
Top	Straight down orthographic.	Floor layouts, path planning, symmetry checks from above.
Side	Orthographic from the Z face.	Checking storey heights, wall thickness, and vertical proportions.
Front	Orthographic from the X face.	Facades, rooflines, and anything you want to view head-on without perspective distortion.

After snapping to a preset, you can still orbit, pan, and zoom freely — the preset is a starting position, not a locked state.

Zoom

Zoom adjusts the camera's distance from the build without changing its angle. Every method of zooming is equivalent — use whichever feels fastest:

Slider: the zoom control in the viewport overlay, draggable left/right (or up/down on mobile).
Buttons: the + and − buttons at the ends of the slider.
Keyboard:+ / = to zoom in, − / _ to zoom out.
Mouse wheel: scroll up to zoom in, down to zoom out (desktop).
Pinch: two-finger pinch gesture (mobile and trackpad).

The Axis Gizmo

In the bottom-right corner of the viewport, a small 3D compass shows three coloured arrows representing the X, Y, and Z axes. It rotates live as you orbit, always reflecting your exact current camera orientation. When you've been orbiting freely for a while and lose track of which direction is which, glancing at the gizmo tells you immediately — and it's particularly useful when working in Top or Side view to confirm which axis is which on screen.

Additional Viewports

The split-screen button in the top bar opens a new floating 3D window inside the main viewport each time you click it. Each panel has its own independent camera, its own preset controls, and its own size and position. You can have up to five additional viewports open simultaneously.

Opening and closing

Click the split-screen button to open a new additional viewport. Each click adds another one, up to a maximum of five — once the limit is reached, the button simply does nothing until you close one. Click the ✕ in any panel's header to close just that panel. Closing one frees up a slot so you can open a new one again.

Moving and resizing

Drag the header bar of any additional viewport to reposition it anywhere over the main view. Drag the small handle in its bottom-right corner to resize it. Each panel's position and size are entirely independent of one another.

Camera controls

Each additional viewport has its own set of preset buttons (Default, Top, Side, Front) in its footer row. These apply only to that panel's camera and have no effect on the main view or any other additional viewport. A small icon next to the title shows or hides the footer preset row if you want to reclaim that space.

Example use: Open three additional viewports — one set to Top, one to Front, and one to Side — while keeping the main viewport in a free-orbit perspective. You get a live four-way reference of your build without ever swapping camera angles.

What additional viewports don't do

Additional viewports are read-only — you cannot place, paint, or erase blocks using them. All editing still happens through the main viewport in Draw mode. Additional viewports purely show your build from different angles at the same time.

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