How to assign rotation center to a certain point of fractal?

[Sfumato]

Dear friends,
I am speaking about animation when any shift of the object is extremely undesirable. I tried using both mouse buttons in main window, but in most cases the rotation center is somewhere else, not where I need it to be. Trial and error method (positioning the fractal in 3DNavi, rotating it, evaluating the shift, repositioning with further rotating etc) is too time consuming. Can we somehow 'assign' the center for rotation?
How can I spin camera around a certain object\part of fractal in such a way that the object's center, or some point\part of fractal is constantly (in each frame) in the center of the image?
Thank You in advance,
Sfumato.

[Jesse]

Hi Sfumato,

if you have some sample parameters or a m3a animation file that shows an example, that would help a lot for answering.

I have no real problem to fly around an object with the navigator, so i don't really know what your specific problems would be in your case.
Some descriptions of rotations with the buttons below the main image screen should popup if the cursor is above them, the rotations performed with the left mouse button und those buttons (not a click on the image) uses the mid values as rotation point, the rightclick uses always the 0,0,0 origin and the unrotated bulb as reference for rotation.

This does not help very much if you are somewhere zoomed in. If you send the view from the navi to the main program, the midpoint lies in some distance to your view infront of you, so a rotation with the left mousebutton should be more or less practical.  But if you just fly in the navi, the output is directly seen.  That is why i would do it this way.

[Sfumato]

Thank You, Jesse!
Please take a look at the parameters:
Mandelbulb3Dv17{
Q....IZ...kc/...61...2A...EHOeTtbMvkz0RSej.R7/2Er54/p6Cd9.wspIjhByuxzYDT7tl8e6xD
Mo0FIhT6dz14hE2Jv5Guz...........2T.G6Pu4q.2........Y./.................U4/2.....
.................M.1/....6kj....k.....E4.....YrTfzjVmImD/..........c./...w1.OaN4
z.UNaNqD12../2.........wz0................................U0.....y1...sD...../..
.w1...sDsxVKLXyPFw9F6xDc46p6zWqgaUnu2WfjOlkdO06F.wvBn0pjn93wy2.VWZJ0oGmj2BVIuGrs
WwHpY0JG8ID2z8rHi/D8j6kj....U/2L..............kD.I....sD..kz0...................
.............A6U.i1...........KRf4..qhO.UOre/.oRf4.srhO..Wre/.GSf4..............
................vzzz.wzzz5sP.Y0.80...k/...kG....n2.........6....A/...oX8...74LKR
H/kTzB/vpxzuf4sz9kZOzHlI4wT/.c..snEB.Un0uto7A8yDOAE7E1UYXzH.MACDa0zxzG./8..7hT..
9vbZiUJ7gzPloPhrjuHyzQmLgPP1SIxj.AV0.gDa2..vKZajjzXyzsutPnvka6zD...........Erckz
pLz...CwQOr9PEzDdKFcRtBvvzHdmeZpwzPpz0F68sjy8.2.5Got8VlJqy9skndRjg/pze89U4O1b.xj
AEE40c5Lz.UghfNpUtXczqRr47hqQ4.k6UbI4XMWPy9...6U..kzzj7.QY/QU0D.IAZi.wn8z16E.szr
Z0kPxwjuT0Uwtr..5sIW161.pL4Z.UDKLyzZ.wnal.EJZpf6H0.z0jC.7zaiFvD.qEXR.kqTU1....Dw
k1.kz/C....wk1D....E..2.zz/y5c/.yz1.s0..xz3xoD/..s4RdF5PZFK9nsWOkR4.............
E....A....E.....I....I....EE0x4SBx4N934Pd/ENoE4.......................k/C...4M..
...................yzAnAnAnAnAyD........Uz1........sz.........yD................
................................................................................
.....................E....U/....1....MoPgFKOiR467t4RU.pPr/......................
8..0...........................E........l.A2MZ1h6P5wz...........................
................................................................................
................................/....E/...U0....HZKNm/LOiBrOdB1.X/..............
................4MU/4MU/................sz1........wz.........zD........kz1.....
................................................................................
............................................}
I want my camera to fly around that "stalactites-stalagmites" part of the fractal being focused at the center of "stalactites-stalagmites" square as if I'm controlling a certain point being on a helicopter making circles around it.
I know the left and right mouse-buttons functions. But I fail to make an animation with a stable center. I have to adjust it manually that causes center of rotation shift inevitably. To say nothing of the fact the 'plane' pitches and yaws and I want it to be horizontal all the time.
Thank You in advance (hope there are not many insane parameters this time ;-)
With kindest regards,
Sfumato.

[Jesse]

I see, it is not really easy if you want it very accurate.  Have to think about some functions that are making sense to ease this up.
By now i would stay with the navigator, maybe reduce the stepping sizes.

Main parts of the program will be changed anyways in next versions because i drop the viewplane and will make more orientation parameters, just needs time to figure out the best way of doing so.

In the end the program it is just a fun project, it is not intended to be perfect 

[Sfumato]

Now I see the point, I was afraid I was doing something wrong again.
So looking forward to downloading M3D 1.7.4. Though something like M3D 2.0 DeLuxe Pro with drastically changed navigation system will be better of course, not to mention some 'M3D for Dummies' book or at least Lynda.com tutorial disk... just kidding - I understand You pretty well and taking opportunity to express You my deepest and sincere respect and gratitude for the work You've accomplished and doing right now!
With best regards,
Sfumato.