Maya / ART noob question. Orbit around character

If I add a basic object to my Maya scene, then use alt+left mouse, it orbits around that object as normal.

When I add a character for animation using ART, alt+left mouse tumbles the camera on instead of orbiting around the selection. I’ve tried framing and using View > Look At Selection, nothing makes a difference. Is there a setting off or misconfigured?

As mentioned I’m new, forgive if the terminology is off. Once the character is added to the scene, instead of orbiting/turning to the side, the character spins to his head while still facing forward. The character cannot be positioned facing upward and to the side in perspective view.

EDIT: Upon further inspection, I’m seeing that the imported character is placed perpendicular to the ground plane and is likely what’s causing the problem. So the camera is actually working fine, but the character is automatically placed in an odd position. Is there a way to change how the character is placed?

Press F when you have your object select to focus the camera on that.

You can reposition your character in several ways. If it’s a rigged character (Like an ART character), you can select the root and press E to grab the rotation handles or look at the right side and simply click in the values you want. You can also move it up down and once you’re happy with the rotiation I suggest cliking the root again and hold X to snap it to 0 0 0 on the grid.