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Loops2DPanZoom

Sébastien Albert edited this page Jul 10, 2026 · 15 revisions
Loops2DPanZoom_profil

Maya-style 2D Pan/Zoom for the Unreal editor viewport.

OVERVIEW

Loops2DPanZoom drives the viewport's camera non-destructively to pan/zoom in place, similar to Maya's 2D Pan/Zoom, keeping selection, gizmos, and Control Rig in sync (at the cost of slight perspective distortion at large values). It can also auto-lock the camera onto the selected Control Rig control and follow sequencer camera cuts.

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INSTALLATION

  1. Copy the Loops2DPanZoom/ folder into YourProject/Plugins/.
  2. In Unreal, go to Edit > Plugins and make sure « Loops 2D Pan/Zoom » is enabled.
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USAGE

Toggle

Click the 2D Pan/Zoom button in the viewport toolbar, or press /. The toolbar button acts on, and gives keyboard focus to, the specific viewport it belongs to, so shortcuts work immediately without needing to click inside the viewport first.

Shortcuts

/ Toggle 2D Pan/Zoom on the active viewport
Shift + / Reset to 100% zoom, no pan
Alt + Middle-Mouse Pan (tilts the camera in place)
Alt + Right-Mouse Zoom (drag right to zoom in)
Numpad 4/6/8/2 Pan left / right / up / down, one step at a time
Numpad + / Numpad - Zoom in / out, one step at a time
Numpad * Toggle zoom + pan between their current values and 100%
Numpad . Lock & Follow the camera to the selected Control Rig control

All shortcuts work regardless of the active editor mode (Select, Landscape, Rig Editing, etc.), and pan/zoom state is stored independently per viewport, so one panel can stay zoomed in while another shows the normal view.

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Live Camera-Cut Following

While enabled, pan/zoom continuously follows whichever camera Sequencer’s Camera Cuts track is currently showing. If you scrub to a different shot, or the shot’s camera moves, the base view updates on its own; the pan/zoom offset simply stays layered on top of it.

  • Updates on every playhead move and every camera-cut change, not just once at activation.
  • Keeps working even while the viewport is locked to Camera Cuts.
  • Falls back to the viewport’s own camera when no Sequencer camera cut is active.

Requirement: the viewport’s « Allow Cinematic Control » option (View Options menu, in the viewport toolbar) must be unchecked for 2D Pan/Zoom to actually drive the camera.

Lock & Follow the camera to the selected Control Rig control

Loops2DPanZoom_006

On-Screen HUD

  • While pan/zoom is active on a Level Editor viewport, a small always-on-top overlay appears in the corner:

A minimap-style rectangle: an outer frame for the original framing, and an inner one showing where the current crop sits within it. The crop rectangle is a visual aid, not a precise measurement: it approximates the offset from FOV/ortho zoom and doesn’t account for aspect ratio.

LIMITATIONS

  • Not mathematically identical to Maya: zooming via FOV changes perspective compression, and panning via rotation introduces slight edge distortion at large angles. Barely noticeable for moderate use.
  • Past Unreal’s FOV floor (5), zoom switches to dollying the camera forward instead of narrowing the FOV further, trading pure parallax-free zoom for extra range.
  • Manual camera navigation (WASD, orbit) while pan/zoom is active doesn’t update the base view: disable and re-enable to recapture it from the current position.

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