haha, thanks Steven. He really is a little man isn't he, waaay down there at the bottom of the window. How would anyone see him if it weren't for all those red arrows!
But yes I've spotted him, actually I sometimes use his brother, "the slightly bigger than little man" who resides on the 3D Visualization toolbar.
However, I only use him when necessary, which would be to frame a 3D once I'm in the zone. To have to use him full time to navigate is tantamount to playing Pac-Man on a Commodore 64. Hang on, scratch that, even 1982 had joysticks. I might as well send the little man a set of instructions through the command line!
I don't mean to make fun of you, especially when you (partially) agree with me and take the time to create a pdf of the little man. Thanks again
I think 3D navigation should be an extension of the body. It should be as fluid and as natural as possible. The computer and controls should disappear leaving only a stream of information flowing from screen to eyes to brain and back. The method you suggest involves too many keys and undoubtedly results in the user looking down to check keys or squinting to pin point the little man. Thus causing aforementioned stream to leak and spill all over the desk - what a mess!
You are no doubt master of your method now and can operate that way without thinking and by the sounds of it, so are other people. And that's fine, I'm not going to say you're wrong (though I hope my words will spark a thought that maybe you are).
I'm thinking these people abandoned the idea of navigating with the mouse wheel + shift when they discovered how clunky AC's response was. Perhaps they've been doing it their way since before mice had depressible scroll wheels and there is about as much chance of changing their minds or methods as there is of getting the little man to moonwalk!
Well I believe the little man can and should moonwalk, free him from his pixelated tron-like cage of stagnation. Give him wings, let him fly, watch him dance.
