Controlling the Viewport/ Display, to keep it focussed on aparticular part/ solid/ body

i am writing to ask for help in controlling the viewport/
display.

i have a complex assembly. when i go to rotate the
viewport, it rotates about i'm not sure which point,
but it rotates the object of interest, out of the viewport.

so i have to zoom all (zoom extents, i think it's called
in Autocad), rotate the part, zoom back in ... it takes
a lot more time to do it that way.

in 3D Max, there's a mode where the viewport center
is rotated about Selected Parts, whichever parts are
in the selection set when you go to manipulate the
viewport.

how do you get the viewport to rotate about selected
parts in Solidworks 2005 ?

TIA for any assistance !

 

P.S. i looked up Rotate View in Help. it says
to click Rotate, the icon with 2 circular arrows,
and to then select the edge or surface i want
to rotate about. it doesn't seem to be any more
controlled of a viewport movement. i have a
feeling there's a SW command option that i'm
missing, still.

 

If I remember back to SW2005 correctly, you could middle-click on a vertex
and then middle-click and drag somewhere off the part and it would rotate
about that vertex.

WT

 

thanks for the reply ... but, just tried it, the viewport is rotating
about
some center of its own choosing.

i would love to get this figured out. there has to be a way.

H E L P ! ! !