Navigating in Fly Mode

In Fly mode you can move upward or downward on any horizontal view plane as you move forward or backward (backward in advanced mode only).
Two fly modes are available:

Before using the Fly navigation mode, you must be in a perspective view (select View > Render Style > Perspective). If you attempt to activate Fly mode, you are prompted to switch to a perspective view.
 

Beginner's Fly Mode

This task shows you how to navigate in beginner's fly mode.
Beginner's fly mode commands are single-action commands. Releasing the mouse button means you exit the command. You can only move forward in beginner's fly mode.
You need a V4 Integration license to open this document.

  1. Click Fly Mode in the View toolbar or select View > Navigation Mode > Fly.

    The icons used in the beginner's fly mode appear in the View toolbar:
    These commands are also available via View > Modify.

  2. Click Turn Head in the View toolbar then drag (left mouse button) to define your starting position (the direction in which you look at the object).

  3. Release at the desired location.

  4. Click Fly or select View > Modify > Fly Through, then click the left mouse button to begin to flying.

    You begin to fly forward in the chosen direction. 
    A green arrow appears along with a circular target located at the center of the view:
    The figure below the arrow specifies the speed at which you are flying:
    The speed at which you first approach the object depends on the initial distance from the object, and is calculated automatically. The speed is optimized so that you reach the point you target in approximately 10 seconds.

  5. Still holding the left button down, drag to the right or left, or up or down, to change direction.

    You fly in the direction in which you drag. The further you drag away from the center of the view (represented by the circular symbol), the greater the change in direction.
    As you drag, the shape of the arrow changes to reflect the direction in which you are flying:

  6. Drag the cursor back towards the center of the view to continue flying straight forward in the new direction.

  7. To modify your speed, click Accelerate or Decelerate one or more times, then click Fly again, then drag to pursue your fly.

    Each click on the icon increases or decreases the speed by approximately 40%.
    When you collide with a solid object when flying, you slide along the object's surface, and you no longer fly through the object, providing a more realistic effect. This feature is also available in Advanced Fly mode.

    Pressing Shift and dragging lets you bank left or right.
    You can also change the mouse sensitivity and activate the collision detection using the appropriate options in the Navigation tab.

  8. To return to the default navigation mode, click Examine Mode in the View toolbar.

Advanced Fly Mode

This task shows you how to navigate through a document in Advanced Fly mode.
Before using the Fly navigation mode, you must be in a perspective view (select View > Render Style > Perspective).
Fly is used in exactly the same way as Walk, the only difference being that in Fly mode you can move upward or downward on any horizontal plane as you move forward or backward.
However, note that when using a Space Mouse, you can fly with six different degrees of freedom, which means that you can navigate through a document in a direction other than the one in which you are looking at the object.
Open the document Platform.model.

You need a V4 Integration license to open this document.

  1. Click Fly Mode in the View toolbar or select View > Navigation Mode > Fly.

  2. Press and hold down the middle mouse button to define the initial horizontal view plane.

  3. Still holding the button down, drag to the left or to the right, or up or down, to determine the direction in which you wish to fly.

    In the Fly mode, press and hold down the middle mouse button until you have finished navigating.

  4. When in the direction in which you wish to fly, click the left mouse button to begin flying.

    You begin to fly straight forward in the chosen direction.
    A green arrow appears along with a circular target located at the center of the view, like when using the beginner's fly mode.
    The speed at which you first approach the object depends on the initial distance from the object, and is calculated automatically. The speed is optimized so that you reach the point you target in approximately 10 seconds.

  5. Still holding the middle button down, drag left or right to change direction.

    You fly in the direction in which you drag. The further you drag away from the center of the view, the greater the change in direction.

  6. Drag the cursor towards the center of the view to continue flying forward in the new direction:

    Pressing Page Up and Page Down modifies your speed. Speed is indicated in the status bar.

    Each press of the key increases or decreases the speed by approximately 40%.

  7. Click the left mouse button again to reverse direction:

    You begin to fly backwards, away from the target. When flying backwards, the up and down are reversed.

You can select the Gravitational effects during navigation check box in Tools > Options > General > Display > Navigation, to fix the X, Y or Z axis during navigation. While turning in Fly mode, this creates the impression that the user viewpoint tilts or banks with respect to the fixed axis, as in a real plane.

You can also set mouse sensitivity and collision detection using the appropriate options in the same Navigation tab, like when using the beginner's fly mode.