Settings

The Camera->Settings command is available in all modules except Tools. It allows you to set all parameters related to the camera.

Parameters

Position

Location of camera in x, y, and z coordinates (reference grid).

Interest

Location of camera interest (where the camera is pointing) in x, y, and z coordinates (reference grid).

Roll

Angle of lateral inclination of camera, which is like banking. For using a constraint with the camera that lets you do banking, see Constraint->Up Vector.

Note:

You can only set the roll of the camera here, not with the Scale, Rotation, or Translation menu cells.

Near Plane

Distance from camera where objects start to become visible.

Far Plane

Distance from camera where objects stop being visible.

The Near Plane and Far Plane settings can be used to help you perform operations on specific areas of your objects more easily. For example, if you want to work specifically on the front face of an object, you can translate the object in the z-axis until only the front face is still visible in the Perspective window. Operations such as tagging points can then be easily performed without affecting other areas of the object.

For information on projection planes, see the Changing the Camera's Projection Plane Parameters section of the Animating User's Guide.

Hidden

Allows you to hide the camera.

Picture Format

Displays the current picture format (such as Custom aspect, 4 x 5, etc.) selected by choosing the Camera->Picture Format command.

Picture Ratio

Displays the current picture ratio.

Lens Shaders

This option allows you to apply one or more lens shaders to the camera. These shaders are available only if you are using the mental ray renderer. Lens shaders can be compared to camera filters or lenses to provide effects, such as star filters and lens flares, or to simulate a fish-eye lens.

Current lens shaders are listed with their status (active or inactive). Since you can have more than one lens shader active at the same time, it makes a difference how you order them in the scroll box. The shaders are processed starting from the top of the list with their effects being cumulative. You can even use the same shader more than once in the scroll box, perhaps slightly modifying the parameters for each time it is used.

For a description of using shaders, see the Using Shaders section of the Rendering User's Guide.

• Select allows you to select a new lens shader to add to the current scroll box of shaders. The camera shader database browser is displayed in which you can select a lens shader.

Select the shader name from the database and click Load. This shader appears in the scroll box of shaders.

If you need to search for a shader, click the .. (two dots) at the top of the browser and select the appropriate chapter.

• Edit displays the dialogue box containing the parameters that define the shader you have selected. You can then edit the parameters of that shader. For example, if you are using the same shader two or more times in the list, you can modify the parameters slightly for each time it is used.
• Active makes the shader active or inactive, depending on the current state of the shader.
• Move Up lets you rearrange the order of the shaders when you have more than one active shader in the list. With more than one lens shader active at the same time, it makes a difference how you order them in the list. The shaders are processed starting from the top of the list.
• Delete deletes the currently selected shader from the shader list.
• Set Name lets you change the name of a lens shader. To change names, select a shader from the scroll box, modify the name in the Name text box, and click Set Name. This creates a new shader with the new name, but with the current parameters. You can edit these parameters in the dialogue box that is displayed when you click Edit (see the previous description of Edit). The new shader can then be saved and recalled by name in other scenes.
• Name lets you save a shader by a new name (see Set Name above).

Camera Lens

The camera lens allows you to define your angle of view in degrees.

• Automatic calculates the camera angle for you depending on its current attributes. For example, if you zoom in to your scene in the Perspective window, the camera angle automatically increases.
• Custom Angle lets you specify the angle of the camera in degrees. A wider angle lets you see more of the scene.

The camera lens angle is based on a 35mm Cine format. Default values for the camera angle are based on 1 SOFTIMAGE 3D unit = 1 foot. SOFTIMAGE 3D units are arbitrary units that you can define, so you can effectively use the camera lens angle values as you like.

Depth of Field Simulation

Depth of Field Simulation options provide you with additional control over camera settings, as well as support for lens shaders used when rendering with mental ray. The options define the focus of objects according to their distance from the camera, similar to the way a real camera works. Depth of field refers to the minimum and maximum distance from the camera that objects are in focus. Objects closer than the minimum distance and farther than the maximum distance become increasingly out of focus.

OFF

Turns the Depth of Field Simulation options off. This is the default.

Automatic

Allows you to set standard camera parameters to modify depth of field. The following three options are used together to achieve the desired result.

Note:

mental ray uses only these Automatic parameters.

• Focal length allows you to define the length of the camera lens. A larger value increases the lens length and decreases depth of field. For example, 50mm is the standard lens size of a 35mm camera.
• F/stop allows you to set the size of the aperture opening. A smaller value results in a larger opening, but decreases the depth of field.
• Distance allows you to define the distance from the camera that objects are at their sharpest focus. Objects located in front of and beyond this point become out of focus.

Custom

• Near Focus is the nearest distance from the camera where objects are in focus. This is determined in system units.
• Far Focus is the farthest distance from the camera where objects are in focus. This is determined in system units.
• Max COC is the Maximum Circle of Confusion (COC). It controls the out-of-focus effect in terms of pixels. The higher the value, the more out of focus the object is. The default is 20.

For example, if you preview with a resolution of 100 x 100 and the Max COC is set to 5, you must compensate during the final render. If the final render is 1000 x 1000, the Max COC must be increased to 50. The Max COC is proportional to the image resolution.

• Max occurs at is the distance from the camera where Max COC occurs. This is determined in system units.

Compute from Automatic

Switches from Automatic to Custom camera settings, and uses settings equivalent to the current automatic settings. When this option is selected, the Custom settings are automatically modified. You can then edit them further.

Key

Sets a keyframe to animate the current camera settings. Parameters in this dialogue box to be keyframed have a double border. Without exiting this dialogue box, you can use the time line pointer to change the current frame to set other keys.

Last updated 03-apr-1998