orbitControl()

Allows the user to orbit around a 3D sketch using a mouse, trackpad, or touchscreen.

3D sketches are viewed through an imaginary camera. Calling orbitControl() within the draw() function allows the user to change the camera’s position:

function draw() {
  background(200);

  // Enable orbiting with the mouse.
  orbitControl();

  // Rest of sketch.
}

Left-clicking and dragging or swipe motion will rotate the camera position about the center of the sketch. Right-clicking and dragging or multi-swipe will pan the camera position without rotation. Using the mouse wheel (scrolling) or pinch in/out will move the camera further or closer from the center of the sketch.

The first three parameters, sensitivityX, sensitivityY, and sensitivityZ, are optional. They’re numbers that set the sketch’s sensitivity to movement along each axis. For example, calling orbitControl(1, 2, -1) keeps movement along the x-axis at its default value, makes the sketch twice as sensitive to movement along the y-axis, and reverses motion along the z-axis. By default, all sensitivity values are 1.

The fourth parameter, options, is also optional. It’s an object that changes the behavior of orbiting. For example, calling orbitControl(1, 1, 1, options) keeps the default sensitivity values while changing the behaviors set with options. The object can have the following properties:

let options = {
  // Setting this to false makes mobile interactions smoother by
  // preventing accidental interactions with the page while orbiting.
  // By default, it's true.
  disableTouchActions: true,

  // Setting this to true makes the camera always rotate in the
  // direction the mouse/touch is moving.
  // By default, it's false.
  freeRotation: false
};

orbitControl(1, 1, 1, options);