Today I learned how to easily access the different orthographic views of the game world from the Unreal Editor. You might remember orthogonal lines from math in college or highschool, meaning lines that go off at 90 degree angles.
Orthographic is similar. It means representing a 3D space in 2D so we are looking at the world from directly along one of the 3 axis (X, Y, or Z) and seeing the equivalent of a builder’s blueprint. These views will be useful for precise placement of objects and laying out the game world the way you want.
Find the Right Angle
There are 3 basic ways to switch between views. In the top right of the main viewport, to the right of the camera speed indicator/changer, is a tiny square for maximizing or minimizing the view. This will take you from the default view of Perspective mode to the unified view where you can see all 4 (Perspective, Top Down, Side, and Front) together. In each of the smaller windows you can choose to maximize them and have them take up the entire screen.
There is also a selector to the top left of the main viewport that will let you switch between them directly without having to go to the unified view. In this selector, you can see the 3rd method of switching which is keyboard shortcuts. The defaults are: Alt + G for the Perspective mode, Alt + J for Top Down, Alt + K for the Side View, and Alt + H for the Front. If you press Shift + any of the Alt combinations, it takes you to the other side of the 2D perspective such as the Back instead of the Front.
You can move around these views by holding down the right mouse button and dragging. The left mouse button is used for selection.
See Things Differently
In addition to changing where you see things from, you can also change how you see things and whether or not you see things. Just to the right of the perspective selector are 2 other drop downs that have a ton of view changing options in them.
First there is the View Mode selector that lets you choose various kinds of lighting views, a wireframe mode that shows all of the edges of your objects, and a variety of other views.
Next to that is the Show Flags selector where you can toggle different elements of the game world and editor on and off from the view. In a busy environment it might be difficult to see just what you are looking for. This gives you the ability to declutter without actually removing anything.
Just in case you toggle some things off and can’t remember how to get back to the default view, there is a nice handy selection at the top to reset all of the defaults.
Looking forward to putting all of these different view navigation features to work making games.
Keep getting wiser, stronger, and better.