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02 · Tutorial · 6 min read

Camera & Navigation

Orbit, Fly, camera slots, and the three history stacks.

Two camera modes

Press Tab to toggle between them.

Orbit mode (default)

You rotate around a fixed point in space — ideal for inspecting a fractal from all sides.

  • Left-drag — rotate around the target
  • Right-drag — pan (move the pivot point)
  • Scroll — zoom in/out
  • Q / E — roll the camera

Fly mode

Free-fly through the fractal — essential for exploring deep interiors.

  • W / S — forward / back
  • A / D — strafe left / right
  • Space / C — ascend / descend
  • Q / E — roll
  • Mouse drag — steer (look around)
  • Scroll — adjust fly speed
  • Shift — 4× speed boost while held
Fractals are infinitely detailed. Zoom in as far as you want — new structures keep appearing. GMT uses a custom "Split-Float" precision system that lets you go deeper than standard WebGL normally allows. If you start to see artifacts at extreme zoom, that's the precision limit — back off slightly.

Camera slots (the essential productivity trick)

GMT gives you nine numbered camera slots. Use them to save "bookmarks" of interesting angles so you can jump between them instantly.

  • Ctrl+1 through Ctrl+9 — save current view into slot 1–9
  • 1 through 9 — jump to the saved camera in that slot

Slots are saved inside your scene file, so they travel with GMF exports and PNG snapshots. Open the Camera Manager (camera icon → Camera Manager) to name slots, rename, or delete.

Undo works — but in three separate histories

Navigating generates thousands of tiny updates per second. If camera moves were mixed with parameter undo, one Ctrl+Z would undo a slider change from an hour ago. Instead GMT maintains three independent history stacks:

  • Parameter history — Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y. Covers every slider, color, toggle, and formula change.
  • Camera history — Ctrl+Shift+Z / Ctrl+Shift+Y. Only tracks camera moves.
  • Timeline history — the same Ctrl+Z keys, but only active while your mouse is hovering the Timeline panel. Falls back to parameter undo if the timeline stack is empty.

Lost? Reset.

If you end up in the void or inside a solid region:

  • Camera icon → Reset Position returns to the formula's default viewpoint
  • Small reset options live next to the formula dropdown itself — one-click "back to default" for that formula's scene
  • Jump to a saved slot with 1–9
  • Undo your way out with Ctrl+Shift+Z

Advanced: broadcast mode

Press B to hide the entire UI and leave only the viewport visible — useful for screenshots, screen recording, or presentations. Esc to exit (important — there's no UI to click when it's on).