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💻 Cameras and views

  1. Open cameras.blend

    This scene contains a bunny object, a sun light and two cameras: "Close-up" near the bunny's head and "Overview" further away.

  2. Select the Overview camera object, by either left-clicking on it in the 3D view or in the Outliner.

  3. Make this camera the active camera with either the outliner (click on the green camera icon right of the name), View > Cameras > Set Active Object as Camera or use Ctrl-Numpad0. Notice that the 3D view changes to the camera's viewpoint.
  4. Rotate the 3D view with MMB to exit the camera view. You are now back in the normal 3D view interaction.
  5. Select the Close-up camera
  6. Switch to camera view by bringing up the View pie menu with ` (backtick, usually below the ~), then pick View Camera.
  7. What camera view are you now seeing, Close-up or Overview?
  8. So one thing to remember is that selecting a camera does not make it the "active camera" (even though it can be the active object, confusingly).
  9. Change the active camera to Close-up
  10. Rotate away from the camera view to the normal 3D view
  11. For switching back to the active camera view there's two more methods apart from the pie menu, try them:
    • Using the View menu at the top of the 3D view area: View > Cameras > Active Camera
    • Press Numpad0
  12. Experiment with the different camera controls until you find the ones you're comfortable with
  13. Rotate away from the camera view to a 3D view that shows both cameras.
  14. In the Scene properties tab on the right-hand side of the window (and not the similar icon in the top bar left of Scene) there's a drop-down menu Camera which lists the active camera. Change the active camera using that selection box. Apart from the name listed under the Scene properties do you notice how you can identify the active camera in the 3D view? Hint: it's subtle and unrelated to the yellow/orange color used for highlighting selected objects.

Camera transformation

  1. Make sure the Overview camera object is the only selected object
  2. Make the Overview camera the active camera and then switch to its view
  3. In the camera view use regular object transformations to point the camera at the rabbit's tail. To refresh, in camera view with only the camera selected:
    • Press G to translate, then move the mouse to change the view
    • While still in move mode press MMB (or Z twice) to enter "truck" mode: this moves the camera forward/backward along the view axis. Pressing X twice will allow moving the camera sideways.
    • Press R to rotate around the view axis
    • In rotate mode press MMB to "look around"
    • LMB to confirm, Esc to cancel
  4. Another useful feature is when you like the current viewpoint in the 3D view and want to match the active camera to this viewpoint. For this you can use Ctrl-Alt-Numpad0 (or with View > Align View > Align Active Camera To View in the header of the 3D view)

Quad view

  1. Switch the 3D View to the so-called Quad View with Ctrl-Alt-Q. You now have orthogonal 2D views along the three axes (Top, Front and Right Orthographic), plus a 3D view (Camera Perspective). Note: the three axis views can only be translated and zoomed, not rotated
  2. Change the upper-right quad to a camera view, if it isn't already
  3. Press N to show the sidebar on the right
  4. On the View tab, under View Lock there's a Lock option called Camera to View. Enable that option. You should now see a dotted red outline around the orange camera rectangle in the Camera Perspective view.
  5. Hide the sidebar again (N), leaving the Lock option enabled
  6. Change the view in the Camera Perspective view using the regular 3D view mouse interaction (MMB to rotate, Shift-MMB to translate, Ctrl-MMB to move forward/backward). Observe what happens to the active camera in the other quadrants when you alter the view.
  7. Use the sidebar again to disable the Lock Camera to View option

Fly mode

  1. Add a camera to the scene (Shift-A > Camera). It will be placed at the position of the 3D cursor (the small red-white striped circle and axes).
  2. Change the upper-right view to this camera
  3. Activate fly mode with Shift-` (backtick). Use the ASDWXQE keys to move this camera close to the two bunny ears and look between them. You can change the fly speed with the mouse Wheel. In fly mode you can confirm the current view with LMB or press Enter. Press Esc to cancel and go back to the original view.
Last update: 15 April 2022 11:46:47 •