What Does Local View Do in Blender?

Local View in Blender is a productivity feature that temporarily isolates selected objects while instantly hiding all other unselected geometry and light sources in your scene. It allows 3D artists to focus entirely on specific elements without visual clutter, navigation interference, or viewport lag caused by complex surroundings.

Key Functions of Local View

• Isolates Selected Objects: When activated, only the objects you currently have selected remain visible. Everything else in the 3D Viewport temporarily disappears.
• Resets Viewport Navigation: Entering Local View automatically centers the viewport camera on the selected items and adjusts the zoom level, making rotation and panning much smoother.
• Boasts Viewport Performance: By temporarily removing non-essential objects from view, Blender processes fewer polygons, which leads to smoother viewport performance during complex modeling or sculpting tasks.
• Preserves Original Visibility: Local View does not alter your collection settings or main scene visibility in the Outliner. Once you exit Local View, all original hidden and shown states for your objects are fully restored.

How to Use Local View

To toggle Local View on and off:

1. Select one or more objects in the 3D Viewport.
2. Press the Numpad Slash (/) key on your keyboard, or press ? / on keyboards without a numpad.
3. Alternatively, navigate to the top menu and select View > Local View > Toggle Local View.

Nested Local View

In modern versions of Blender, Local View supports nesting. If you are already in Local View and select a smaller sub-set of objects, pressing the Local View shortcut again will isolate that sub-selection even further. You can step backward through your isolation layers by exiting each view sequentially.