---
title: "Texture Painter Navigation: Rotate, Zoom, Pan and Focus"
description: "How to rotate, zoom, pan and focus in the Texture Painter with a mouse, trackpad, touch screen or pen, how to snap to 90° views, turn the lighting, and get close to small details."
source: https://docs.3daistudio.com/textures/texture-painter/navigation
---

# Moving Around the Model

How to rotate, zoom, pan and focus in the Texture Painter with a mouse, trackpad, touch screen or pen, how to snap to 90° views, turn the lighting, and get close to small details.

[Open the Texture Painter](https://www.3daistudio.com/TexturePainter/app)

This page shows every way to move around a model: rotating, zooming, panning and focusing, with a mouse, a trackpad, a touch screen or a pen. You will also learn how to get very close to small details and how to adjust navigation to the way you work.

## The basics with a mouse

| To | Do this |
| --- | --- |
| Paint (or use the picked tool) | Drag on the model |
| Rotate | Drag the background, right-drag, `Alt` + drag or `Ctrl` + drag |
| Zoom | Scroll, or `Alt` + right-drag |
| Pan | Middle-drag |
| Focus on a spot | Middle-click the model, or point at it and press `F` |
| Frame the whole model | `Shift+F`, or press `F` over the background |
| Rotate in 90° steps | `Alt` + `Shift` + drag |
| Turn the lighting | `Shift` + right-drag |
| Change brush size and hardness | `Ctrl` + right-drag: left and right for size, up and down for hardness |

On a Mac, `Alt` is `Option`, and `Ctrl` + right-drag for the brush is `Cmd` + right-drag.

> [!NOTE]
> **Drag the model to paint, drag the background to turn it.** That one rule covers most of your work. When you start a drag on the model, you paint; when you start it next to the model, you rotate.

## Rotate around what you are looking at

The view turns around the spot where you start dragging, not around the middle of the model. Start a right-drag on an eye, and the eye stays in place while the view turns around it. A small dot briefly marks the point the view turns around.

[Video: Right-dragging on the wolf's head: the view turns around the spot under the pointer](https://docs.3daistudio.com/assets/images/docs/texture-painter/nav-rotate-around-detail.mp4)

If you prefer to always turn around the middle of the model, set **Rotate around** to **Model centre** in View settings.

## Zoom to the pointer

Scrolling zooms toward the pointer, so you can point at a detail and scroll to get closer to exactly that spot. The zoom stops just before the surface, so you never end up inside the model. You can zoom out to about 12 times the size of the model.

[Video: Scrolling with the pointer on the wolf's head zooms toward the head](https://docs.3daistudio.com/assets/images/docs/texture-painter/nav-zoom-to-cursor.mp4)

## Get close to small details

To paint small details such as eyes or buttons:

1. Point at the detail and press `F`. The view focuses on that spot.
2. Scroll to zoom in further.
3. Right-drag to look at the detail from the side you need.
4. Make the brush smaller with `[` and paint.
5. Press `Shift+F` to see the whole model again.

The brush stays the same size on the model however close you get, so zooming in is the best way to paint precisely.

## Snap to straight views

Hold `Alt` + `Shift` while you drag to turn the view in exact 90° steps: front, sides, back, top and bottom. This is the quickest way to line up a clean view for an AI generation.

The small coloured axes at the top right of the 3D view show which way the model faces. Click an axis to turn the view to it.

![Coloured orientation axes in the corner of the 3D view](https://docs.3daistudio.com/assets/images/docs/texture-painter/orientation-gizmo.webp)

*The orientation axes at the top right of the 3D view.*

## Turn the lighting

In **Textured** shading, `Shift` + right-drag turns the light around the model. The same setting is **Light direction** in View settings.

## Fix a model that lies down or faces away

If a model opens on its side or with its back to you, open **Rotate the model** in the view bar and turn it in 90° steps around X, Y or Z. This turns the model itself, not just the view, and your paint turns with it.

![The Rotate the model popover with buttons for X, Y and Z](https://docs.3daistudio.com/assets/images/docs/texture-painter/rotate-the-model.webp)

*Rotate the model: −90° and +90° for each axis.*

## Trackpad

| To | Do this |
| --- | --- |
| Paint | Click and drag on the model |
| Rotate | Two-finger drag (or click-drag the background), or two-finger click + drag |
| Zoom | Pinch |
| Pan | `Shift` + two-finger drag |

The painter tells a mouse wheel from a trackpad by how it scrolls. If it guesses wrong, set **Navigation input** in View settings to **Mouse** or **Trackpad**.

## Touch screen and pen

| To | Do this |
| --- | --- |
| Paint | One finger or the pen on the model |
| Rotate | One finger or the pen on the background |
| Zoom | Pinch |
| Pan | Two-finger drag |
| Undo | Two-finger tap |

## Navigation settings

Open **View settings** (the gear at the right end of the view bar) and scroll to **Navigation**.

| Setting | Options | What it does |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Rotate around** | **Point under cursor** (default), **Model centre** | Where the view turns around when you rotate |
| **Zoom to cursor** | On (default) or off | Scroll and pinch zoom toward the pointer, or toward the middle of the view |
| **Navigation input** | **Auto** (default), **Mouse**, **Trackpad** | **Mouse**: scrolling always zooms. **Trackpad**: two-finger drag turns the view and pinch zooms. **Auto** decides from how you scroll. |

![View settings with Rotate around, Zoom to cursor and Navigation input](https://docs.3daistudio.com/assets/images/docs/texture-painter/view-settings.webp)

*The Navigation section at the bottom of View settings.*

## Related

- [Keyboard shortcuts and gestures](https://docs.3daistudio.com/textures/texture-painter/shortcuts) has every control on one page.
- [The workspace](https://docs.3daistudio.com/textures/texture-painter/workspace) explains the view bar.
- [Painting tools](https://docs.3daistudio.com/textures/texture-painter/painting-tools) covers painting fine detail.

## Frequently Asked Questions

### Why does dragging rotate instead of paint?

You started the drag on the background, not on the model. In **Clay** and **Normals** shading, dragging the model also rotates, because you can only paint in **Textured** and **Unlit**.

### How do I get back to the whole model?

Press `Shift+F`, press `F` over the background, or click **Frame model** in the view bar.

### Scrolling rotates instead of zooming on my trackpad. What do I do?

On a trackpad, two-finger scrolling rotates and pinching zooms. If you want scrolling to always zoom, set **Navigation input** to **Mouse** in View settings.

---

> Documentation index for AI agents: https://docs.3daistudio.com/llms.txt