Movement functions(zoom in/out, move around view w/mouse) sometimes freeze up.

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1

Hi,
This is my first post in the forums. I have been learning to use Blender and have an annoying problem that I can’t figure out. I am using version 2.73. I have some customized user prefrences- standard right click, also I have a trackball instead of a mouse so I have the emulate trackball turned on so my navigation is as follows-

rotate around viewing area- alt key trackball
zoom in and out- ctrl-alt key while using trackball
move viewpoint around(change location of viewing angle)- shift alt key while scrolling with trackball

My problem is that sometimes when I zoom into the object I am working with at first it gets real sluggish, then it stops moving completely. I can still rotate around with the alt key, but the ctrl-alt for zooming and the shift-alt for moving around completely freeze up making it very difficult to work with. The only thing I have been able to do is frequent saves in case this happens. It does not always happen, just sometimes randomly while I am working.
Is there something I am inadvertently doing to cause this problem? Can I get out of it somehow or is it a bug with this version?
thanks

2

Hi MarkA. I hope you didn’t give up. I had exactly the same problem and after a lot of digging found tis on another thread -

Because you are zooming to the extents of the current view. Most 3D software does this, so it isn’t Blender specific. If you are working on a large object, the zoom factor won’t be able to change its focus on a smaller scaled section. So say you’re working on an object that is 10m across, you won’t be able to zoom to the level of a 1mm gap without hitting this zoom limit. The best way to get things to work correctly is to reset the zoom factors to the scale in which you wish to work, by simply selecting the elements of that 1mm gap and pressing the Numpad ‘.’ key. Then the scale you are working at is reset and allows you to freely work on the smaller scales. Zooming in and out can display this same behavior.

I’mnot convinced the explanation makes sense, but who cares. It works. Select something small and press the decimal point on the Numpad.