Navigation
OpenLiDARViewer has a game-like navigation system, so a point cloud can be explored like a 3D environment rather than a GIS layer.
Modes
Switch with the bottom-centre control or the number keys.
| Mode | Best for |
|---|---|
Orbit (1) | Inspecting an object, structure, or area from the outside |
Walk (2) | Interiors, buildings, corridors, rooms, street-level scans |
Fly (3) | Drone LiDAR, terrain, forests, large facilities, wide-area scans |
Pan (4 or G) | Sliding the view across a scan — the hand tool grabs the scene and drags it 1:1 |
Orbit is the default. Drag to rotate, right-drag to pan, scroll to zoom, and double-click a point to focus on it. Pan is the hand tool: the cursor becomes an open hand, a primary drag grabs the whole scene and the grabbed point stays under the pointer for the entire drag; scrolling still zooms, and one-finger touch drags pan too. Walk is first-person: WASD moves on the horizontal plane so you keep your height, and Space and C change height when you want to. Fly is free 6-DOF flight, where WASD follows the look direction so you go wherever you point.
Controls
| Input | Action |
|---|---|
| W / A / S / D | Move through the scan |
| Mouse | Look around |
| Shift | Move faster (sprint) |
| Space | Move up |
| C / Ctrl | Move down |
| Esc | Release the cursor |
| R | Reset / re-frame the view |
| F | Focus on the point under the cursor |
| 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 | Orbit / Walk / Fly / Pan mode |
| G | Toggle the Pan (hand) tool from any mode |
| Middle-drag | Temporary grab — pan the view in any mode, release to continue |
| Double-click | Fly to the clicked point |
Tools, panels, and shortcuts
Beyond movement, a small set of global keys reach the tools and panels. Press ? at any time for the in-app shortcut sheet, which is generated from the live key bindings and always matches the build you are running.
| Input | Action |
|---|---|
? | Open the searchable keyboard-shortcut sheet |
| Cmd-K / Ctrl-K | Open the command palette — every tool, mode, theme, and export |
M | Measure tool |
I | Inspect tool |
A | Annotate tool |
V | Save the current camera view |
| Ctrl/Cmd-Z | Undo the last edit (annotation or classification) |
| Ctrl/Cmd-Shift-Z, Ctrl/Cmd-Y | Redo |
| Delete / Backspace | Delete the current selection |
| Hold Space (while a tool is active) | Temporarily hand the mouse back to camera navigation — rotate, pan, and zoom, then release to resume the tool |
| Right-click the scan | Context menu: focus the pivot on the point under the cursor, frame the scan, or jump to a standard view |
Bare-key shortcuts are ignored while you are typing in a text field, so naming a measurement or an annotation never also fires a tool.
Mouse-look (pointer lock)
In Walk and Fly modes, click the scan to capture the cursor. The mouse then steers the view like a first-person game. A "click to look around" prompt stays up until the cursor is captured. Press Esc to release it, and the cursor returns so you can use the panels again.
Speed
Movement speed scales with the size of the loaded scan, so the controls feel right whether the dataset is a small room or a kilometre-wide survey. A speed slider in the navigation bar tunes it further, and Shift sprints.
Smooth camera
The Frame button and double-click focus glide the camera with an eased transition instead of snapping. Movement is delta-time based and frame-rate independent, so it feels the same on a 30 fps or 144 fps display.
Up axis
Navigation respects the scan's natural up axis: Z-up for LAS, LAZ, E57, and XYZ surveys, and Y-up for phone-scan formats. "Up" stays up and the horizon stays level.