Navigation in 2D and 3D
How to move around the plan is shown step by step in Getting started 1. This page is for looking things up.
The views
| Button | View |
|---|---|
| 2D view | flat from above, for building, measuring and printing. It brings the whole plan into view, so it's the way back whenever you've lost the overview |
| 3D view | in space, the viewing direction aligned with the layout |
| 3D view (trackball) | the same, but freely turnable around the plan |
| Cockpit view | from inside a train or a walker, see Getting started 2 |
| Follow | from outside instead of from inside, see below |
Switching trains
Each further press of the cockpit view button switches to the next controllable object (e.g. a train).
A plan in the 3D view.
Zooming and panning
| Device | Pan | Zoom |
|---|---|---|
| Mouse | drag with the middle mouse button | mouse wheel |
| Trackpad | two-finger drag | pinch open and closed |
| Touchscreen | two-finger drag | pinch open and closed |
2D only: dragging along the rulers pans exactly horizontally or vertically (see Rulers and Guidelines), and Shift + dragging a rectangle zooms to exactly that area.
Raily tells a mouse from a trackpad apart by the kind of event: a genuine mouse wheel zooms, a two-finger swipe on a trackpad pans. So you don't need to change any setting when you switch between the two.
If the mouse wheel pans instead of zooming
The Zoom on scroll-wheel in 2d setting (Settings, group Input & Interaction) decides what the mouse wheel does in the 2D view. If it's off, the wheel pans and you zoom with Ctrl+wheel. In the 3D views, the wheel always zooms.
Rotating in 3D
Press and drag the mouse to rotate the camera around the point you're looking at. Alt-click a spot in the plan to make that point the new rotation center. That lets you get close to a detail without the camera pushing it back out of view as you rotate.
Dragging moves a selected object
If the drag starts on a selected object, it moves the object instead of the camera. Holding Shift always rotates only the camera.
Following from outside
Next to the cockpit view button sits a second one: Follow shows the active object (e.g. the train or walker) from outside. The small triangle beside it opens three camera styles, and the one you last picked stays on the button:
| Camera style | ||
|---|---|---|
| Follow from behind | behind and above the vehicle | |
| Follow and orbit | same distance, but you choose the direction you're looking with Shift-drag | |
| Watch from the trackside | the camera stays put, the train passes by, then it finds a new spot |
What a walker or a camera is as an object, and how you control either, is covered under Walking and cameras.
The plan overview
The plan overview at the top of the left toolbar shows the whole plan in miniature. Clicking into it centers the view on that spot; you can also drag inside it to slide the view across the plan that way. In the 3D views, the same point becomes the point you're looking at, and with it the rotation center. On a large layout, this is the fastest way from one end to the other.
See also
- Selecting objects
- Laying track faster: pick up a track from the plan instead of looking for it in the bar
- Snapping
- Rulers and Guidelines
- Grid
- Keyboard shortcuts