On MacOS (using a track pad) editor camera control

dotted

After I select any child of a scene, when i use the track pad to navigate, it rotates the camera wrt to the camera's own origin. I would prefer to orbit the selected node (basically look_at the selected object). Is there anyway to achieve this? I cannot find any reference in the docs.

Note: What is the mac-os trackpad equivalent of:

Middle button + drag: orbit camera around current target

Thanks

TwistedTwigleg

I believe it is middle mouse button + drag to orbit around the center of the screen. To make an object the center of the screen, select the node and press f so it will focus on it. This page from KidsCanCode explains how to navigate through the Godot editor, which may be helpful. I'm not sure if there are trackpad specific bindings though, which may be different than that of a mouse.

dotted

right but i am using a macOS laptop (discretely points to topic title). i have a touch pad, so mouse wheel and middle button all don't exist; the documentation for the key bindings for mac-os are stingy and require digging to find.

ctrl+two-finger-drag on the track pad zooms in and out, preserving orbit focus. I had been using two-finger + w or s to zoom in and out because that's what presented in the documentation. These I suspect are 'free-look' and using them takes the editor out of orbiting. Life is good now.

I recognize a bit of teething pain is always in order, however ux 'discovery' is not a godot strong point

cybereality

Yeah, you can do this. See the "orbit modifier" in the editor settings. You can set this to "alt" or some key like that, and it will let you orbit without the middle mouse button.