How do you change views?

[JLynn]

How do you change views around the airports in Tower 3D Pro?

[EliGrim]

You can use the scroll wheel to zoom, press and hold the middle mouse button to pan, or click on the camera icon and let the game automatically select so-called cinematic shots during gameplay. The desired zoom level should ideally be set before activating the camera. Once the camera is active, panning is not possible and the zoom can only be used when the camera is back in its idle position in between the "cinematic shots".

[MJKERR]

19 hours ago, JLynn said:

How do you change views around the airports in Tower 3D Pro?

My opinion is that the controller is an a static position, so there should only be the single panoramic view
You can zoom in / out, as controller quite often use binoculars
For many controllers they ironically spend slightly more time looking at the control screens and strips, rather than the overall view
There are times when aircraft go out of physical view, so the use of the radar view is required

[crbascott]

23 minutes ago, MJKERR said:

For many controllers they ironically spend slightly more time looking at the control screens and strips, rather than the overall view

Quite the contrary - at least for real life controllers. From what they have shared here on the forum and on Discord, the outside view is their most used and important tool. That's why improved views are very much a necessity in the next version.

[Ron C]

21 hours ago, crbascott said:

Quite the contrary - at least for real life controllers. From what they have shared here on the forum and on Discord, the outside view is their most used and important tool. That's why improved views are very much a necessity in the next version.

Agree.  Back in my day the most important thing ingrained into you as a tower controller was the continual visual (out the windows) monitoring of all your traffic and the continual surveillance of the airport.  However, it should also be noted that back in my day the Air Force did not have ADIRS, so I really had no choice in the matter.  Not sure these days how much time is devoted by the controllers between using the ADIRS/DBRITE and visually watching the actual airplanes (assume most of the time it is still visually watching their traffic).  However, in my case, I find that in the game most of my controlling is accomplished by using the ADIRS and DBRITE (i.e., using them as my primary source of controlling instead of out the window visual monitoring).  In my opinion one of the major reasons for this (besides me getting older) is that I’m usually trying to simultaneously do the jobs of four or more tower controllers at large airports and I need to constantly use these aides to ensure that I don’t lose the total overall “picture” traffic wise.

[MJKERR]

Apologies, was referring to Ground controller at Heathrow
I have been there twice, and there are training videos available on-line (if you watch the one on YouTube the ground controller does not even look out the window and watches the screens all the time)
It is quite sad that about 60% of the view is to screens, but they are advised where possible to compare what they see to what is actually happening outside