Modern computing devices or computer systems commonly permit a user to view a displayed three-dimensional object from nearly any viewpoint. For example, an architect can design a new house or building using a computer aided design package, and then display that house from any of a variety of angles, such as from the top and sides of the house. To that end, many widely available computer design packages display toolbars and pallets that enable user control of the object. Among other things, the toolbar can have buttons, sliders, or other visual indicia that, when selected or otherwise manipulated by a user, causes the object or viewpoint to move in a desired manner.
This type of user interface/display control has been effective for many years, especially in the desktop computer space and high performance computing space. Undesirably, however, with the accelerating trend toward smaller, portable devices, such as smartphones and tablets, these important toolbars and pallets can take up a great deal of screen space. In fact, they can take up so much space that the ultimate object being displayed may have very little room to maneuver and have significant size limitations.