Zoom to Mouse Position in BLENDER 3D

By default, zooming in or out of Blender zooms to the center of the 3D Viewport. This can be changed to zoom to the 3D cursor or to zoom in and out of where the mouse cursor is placed. Here’s how.

This page contains affiliate links which pay me a commission if used to make a purchase. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Zoom to Mouse Cursor Location

We can change a setting in the preferences so we zoom in and out of wherever the mouse cursor is currently placed. This gives the most flexibility in quickly changing our point of zoom. The setting can only be changed from the Blender Preferences.

Go to “Edit” in the top menu and choose preferences. Click on the “Navigation” tab. Under “Zoom” check the box labeled “Zoom to Mouse Position.”

With this box checked, we can zoom into the location of the mouse cursor by scrolling our mouse wheel. Scrolling the mouse wheel the opposite direction will zoom out and keep the mouse cursor’s location centered in the 3D Viewport.

Zoom to 3D Cursor

Before realizing I could zoom to the mouse cursor, I preferred zooming this way. This method will always zoom in and out of the location of the 3D cursor, regardless of where the mouse cursor is.

Instead of being located in the preferences editor, this setting is found in the sidebar menu.

Open the sidebar menu by hovering in the 3D viewport and pressing “N” on the keyboard. Choose the “View” tab in the sidebar on the right side of the screen. Find “View Lock” and check the box labeled “To 3D Cursor.”

Now, we can zoom in and out with our scroll wheel and Blender will always keep the 3D cursor centered in the viewport. This can be an easier way to avoid getting lost in our 3D scene.

Other Zoom Preferences

There are other preferences we can adjust in the preferences editor related to zoom. These are found by opening the preferences editor, choosing the “Navigation” tab, and expanding the “Zoom” section.

Zooming without a mouse scroll wheel is challenging in Blender, but it can be done. I recommend purchasing a mouse with a scroll wheel if you don’t have one. They’re fairly affordable.

Zoom Method

The Zoom Method setting gives us three options for how zoom will function in the 3D viewport. By default, this is set to “Dolly.”

Dolly will zoom in and out along the zoom access consistently based on how much we scroll.

Continue will cause the zoom direction and speed to depend on the zoom access, and how much the mouse has moved. This will cause us to zoom in less if we have already zoomed in.

Scale appears to function similar to “Continue.” With this option, we will zoom in and out relative to the mouse position. This option may have a different effect when not using a mouse scroll wheel.

Zoom Axis

The Zoom Axis setting is available when either “Dolly” or “Continue” are selected in the Zoom Method. Here we can choose to have the vertical or horizontal axis used for zooming.

This will not have any effect when zooming with a center scroll wheel on a mouse.

Vertical is set by default. This means on a laptop pad or scroll wheel, zoom will occur when we scroll up and down. If horizontal is set, zoom will occur when we drag a finger left or right.

Invert Zoom Direction

Lastly, we can invert the direction of the zoom. By default, scrolling forward on the mouse wheel will zoom in and scrolling backwards will zoom out. This can be inverted by checking the boxes for “Mouse” or “Wheel” depending on what you use to control zooming.

Brandon Stocking

Brandon Stocking is a husband, father, and digital artist who writes about whatever he wants to in his free time… but mostly Blender.