QGraphicsView Zooming in and out under mouse position using mouse wheel

Such zooming is a bit tricky. Let me share my own class for doing that.

Header:

#include <QObject>
#include <QGraphicsView>

/*!
 * This class adds ability to zoom QGraphicsView using mouse wheel. The point under cursor
 * remains motionless while it's possible.
 *
 * Note that it becomes not possible when the scene's
 * size is not large enough comparing to the viewport size. QGraphicsView centers the picture
 * when it's smaller than the view. And QGraphicsView's scrolls boundaries don't allow to
 * put any picture point at any viewport position.
 *
 * When the user starts scrolling, this class remembers original scene position and
 * keeps it until scrolling is completed. It's better than getting original scene position at
 * each scrolling step because that approach leads to position errors due to before-mentioned
 * positioning restrictions.
 *
 * When zommed using scroll, this class emits zoomed() signal.
 *
 * Usage:
 *
 *   new Graphics_view_zoom(view);
 *
 * The object will be deleted automatically when the view is deleted.
 *
 * You can set keyboard modifiers used for zooming using set_modified(). Zooming will be
 * performed only on exact match of modifiers combination. The default modifier is Ctrl.
 *
 * You can change zoom velocity by calling set_zoom_factor_base().
 * Zoom coefficient is calculated as zoom_factor_base^angle_delta
 * (see QWheelEvent::angleDelta).
 * The default zoom factor base is 1.0015.
 */
class Graphics_view_zoom : public QObject {
  Q_OBJECT
public:
  Graphics_view_zoom(QGraphicsView* view);
  void gentle_zoom(double factor);
  void set_modifiers(Qt::KeyboardModifiers modifiers);
  void set_zoom_factor_base(double value);

private:
  QGraphicsView* _view;
  Qt::KeyboardModifiers _modifiers;
  double _zoom_factor_base;
  QPointF target_scene_pos, target_viewport_pos;
  bool eventFilter(QObject* object, QEvent* event);

signals:
  void zoomed();
};

Source:

#include "Graphics_view_zoom.h"
#include <QMouseEvent>
#include <QApplication>
#include <QScrollBar>
#include <qmath.h>

Graphics_view_zoom::Graphics_view_zoom(QGraphicsView* view)
  : QObject(view), _view(view)
{
  _view->viewport()->installEventFilter(this);
  _view->setMouseTracking(true);
  _modifiers = Qt::ControlModifier;
  _zoom_factor_base = 1.0015;
}

void Graphics_view_zoom::gentle_zoom(double factor) {
  _view->scale(factor, factor);
  _view->centerOn(target_scene_pos);
  QPointF delta_viewport_pos = target_viewport_pos - QPointF(_view->viewport()->width() / 2.0,
                                                             _view->viewport()->height() / 2.0);
  QPointF viewport_center = _view->mapFromScene(target_scene_pos) - delta_viewport_pos;
  _view->centerOn(_view->mapToScene(viewport_center.toPoint()));
  emit zoomed();
}

void Graphics_view_zoom::set_modifiers(Qt::KeyboardModifiers modifiers) {
  _modifiers = modifiers;

}

void Graphics_view_zoom::set_zoom_factor_base(double value) {
  _zoom_factor_base = value;
}

bool Graphics_view_zoom::eventFilter(QObject *object, QEvent *event) {
  if (event->type() == QEvent::MouseMove) {
    QMouseEvent* mouse_event = static_cast<QMouseEvent*>(event);
    QPointF delta = target_viewport_pos - mouse_event->pos();
    if (qAbs(delta.x()) > 5 || qAbs(delta.y()) > 5) {
      target_viewport_pos = mouse_event->pos();
      target_scene_pos = _view->mapToScene(mouse_event->pos());
    }
  } else if (event->type() == QEvent::Wheel) {
    QWheelEvent* wheel_event = static_cast<QWheelEvent*>(event);
    if (QApplication::keyboardModifiers() == _modifiers) {
      if (wheel_event->orientation() == Qt::Vertical) {
        double angle = wheel_event->angleDelta().y();
        double factor = qPow(_zoom_factor_base, angle);
        gentle_zoom(factor);
        return true;
      }
    }
  }
  Q_UNUSED(object)
  return false;
}

Usage example:

Graphics_view_zoom* z = new Graphics_view_zoom(ui->graphicsView);
z->set_modifiers(Qt::NoModifier);

Here is a solution using PyQt:

def wheelEvent(self, event):
    """
    Zoom in or out of the view.
    """
    zoomInFactor = 1.25
    zoomOutFactor = 1 / zoomInFactor

    # Save the scene pos
    oldPos = self.mapToScene(event.pos())

    # Zoom
    if event.angleDelta().y() > 0:
        zoomFactor = zoomInFactor
    else:
        zoomFactor = zoomOutFactor
    self.scale(zoomFactor, zoomFactor)

    # Get the new position
    newPos = self.mapToScene(event.pos())

    # Move scene to old position
    delta = newPos - oldPos
    self.translate(delta.x(), delta.y())

Here's the python version works for me. Comes from the combination of answers from @Stefan Reinhardt and @rengel .

class MyQGraphicsView(QtGui.QGraphicsView):

def __init__ (self, parent=None):
    super(MyQGraphicsView, self).__init__ (parent)

def wheelEvent(self, event):
    # Zoom Factor
    zoomInFactor = 1.25
    zoomOutFactor = 1 / zoomInFactor

    # Set Anchors
    self.setTransformationAnchor(QtGui.QGraphicsView.NoAnchor)
    self.setResizeAnchor(QtGui.QGraphicsView.NoAnchor)

    # Save the scene pos
    oldPos = self.mapToScene(event.pos())

    # Zoom
    if event.delta() > 0:
        zoomFactor = zoomInFactor
    else:
        zoomFactor = zoomOutFactor
    self.scale(zoomFactor, zoomFactor)

    # Get the new position
    newPos = self.mapToScene(event.pos())

    # Move scene to old position
    delta = newPos - oldPos
    self.translate(delta.x(), delta.y())

You can simply use builtin functionality AnchorUnderMouse or AnchorViewCenter to maintain focus under mouse or in the center. This works for me in Qt 5.7

void SceneView::wheelEvent(QWheelEvent *event)
    {
        if (event->modifiers() & Qt::ControlModifier) {
            // zoom
            const ViewportAnchor anchor = transformationAnchor();
            setTransformationAnchor(QGraphicsView::AnchorUnderMouse);
            int angle = event->angleDelta().y();
            qreal factor;
            if (angle > 0) {
                factor = 1.1;
            } else {
                factor = 0.9;
            }
            scale(factor, factor);
            setTransformationAnchor(anchor);
        } else {
            QGraphicsView::wheelEvent(event);
        }
    }

Here's a condensed version of the solution above; with just the code you need to put into the wheel event. This works with/without scroll bars in my testing, perfectly ;)

void MyGraphicsView::wheelEvent(QWheelEvent* pWheelEvent)
{
    if (pWheelEvent->modifiers() & Qt::ControlModifier)
    {
        // Do a wheel-based zoom about the cursor position
        double angle = pWheelEvent->angleDelta().y();
        double factor = qPow(1.0015, angle);

        auto targetViewportPos = pWheelEvent->pos();
        auto targetScenePos = mapToScene(pWheelEvent->pos());

        scale(factor, factor);
        centerOn(targetScenePos);
        QPointF deltaViewportPos = targetViewportPos - QPointF(viewport()->width() / 2.0, viewport()->height() / 2.0);
        QPointF viewportCenter = mapFromScene(targetScenePos) - deltaViewportPos;
        centerOn(mapToScene(viewportCenter.toPoint()));

        return;
    }