A method, comprising: at an electronic device with a display and a touch-sensitive surface: displaying, on the display, an image of a 3D region; detecting (704, 706) an initial gestural motion of an input gesture on the touch-sensitive surface, the initial gestural motion having characteristics including: one or more contact areas; and an initial motion of at least one of the one or more contact areas; determining, based on one or more of the characteristics of the initial gestural motion, a manipulation mode, wherein: the manipulation mode is determined from a plurality of modes including at least one single-control mode and at least one multi-control mode; a respective single-control mode allows a single type of modification to the image of the 3D region at a time during a remainder of the input gesture until the input gesture terminates, and a respective multi-control mode allows two or more types of modifications of the image of the 3D region simultaneously during the remainder of the input gesture until the input gesture terminates; in accordance with a determination, based on the one or more of the characteristics of the initial gestural motion, that the input gesture has been recognized as a first gesture: entering a first single-control mode that is associated specifically with the first gesture, and modifying the image of the 3D region in the first single-control mode until the input gesture terminates; and, in accordance with a determination, based on the one or more of the characteristics of the initial gestural motion, that the input gesture has not been recognized as any single gesture: entering a first multi-control mode that is associated with a first plurality of different gestures, and modifying the image of the 3D region in the first multi-control mode until the input gesture terminates. displaying, on the display, an image of a 3D region; detecting (704, 706) an initial gestural motion of an input gesture on the touch-sensitive surface, the initial gestural motion having characteristics including: one or more contact areas; and an initial motion of at least one of the one or more contact areas; one or more contact areas; and an initial motion of at least one of the one or more contact areas; determining, based on one or more of the characteristics of the initial gestural motion, a manipulation mode, wherein: the manipulation mode is determined from a plurality of modes including at least one single-control mode and at least one multi-control mode; a respective single-control mode allows a single type of modification to the image of the 3D region at a time during a remainder of the input gesture until the input gesture terminates, and a respective multi-control mode allows two or more types of modifications of the image of the 3D region simultaneously during the remainder of the input gesture until the input gesture terminates; the manipulation mode is determined from a plurality of modes including at least one single-control mode and at least one multi-control mode; a respective single-control mode allows a single type of modification to the image of the 3D region at a time during a remainder of the input gesture until the input gesture terminates, and a respective multi-control mode allows two or more types of modifications of the image of the 3D region simultaneously during the remainder of the input gesture until the input gesture terminates; in accordance with a determination, based on the one or more of the characteristics of the initial gestural motion, that the input gesture has been recognized as a first gesture: entering a first single-control mode that is associated specifically with the first gesture, and modifying the image of the 3D region in the first single-control mode until the input gesture terminates; and, entering a first single-control mode that is associated specifically with the first gesture, and modifying the image of the 3D region in the first single-control mode until the input gesture terminates; and, in accordance with a determination, based on the one or more of the characteristics of the initial gestural motion, that the input gesture has not been recognized as any single gesture: entering a first multi-control mode that is associated with a first plurality of different gestures, and modifying the image of the 3D region in the first multi-control mode until the input gesture terminates. entering a first multi-control mode that is associated with a first plurality of different gestures, and modifying the image of the 3D region in the first multi-control mode until the input gesture terminates.