Advice on using the camera in complex environments

[Wedge149]

Hi All,

Hoping you can help & give a few pointers.

I often have a problem navigating my scenes when using complex environments like the Cyberpunk Studio Apartment. When I try to move the camera to a specific spot or just looking for a good angle I often get lost in the environment, getting lost behind a wall or having no clue where I have ended up. Most of the time I end up deleting the camera & creating a new one back at the beginning as its usually quicker than figuring out where I have ended up and recovering it.
I'm sure there must be something basic that I am overlooking or just haven't considered.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Recktat19]

I don't usually make a camera until I've found the shot. I use the 'Perspective View' to get around, if you ever get lost you can use the 'Frame View' option that is on the sidebar of the viewport, it's the second to last option that looks like a square made of only corners. This option will aim your view and center your rotation to whatever you have selected. Choose something from the scene tab that is near where you want to go, or choose your subject!

Once you found an angle you like using the 'Perspective View' you can Create > New Camera and check the second option called "Copy Active View : <Perspective View>". Now the camera is saved to what you were looking at and you can freely move around as you wish.

[Mona]

Also remember to tinker with the frame width and focal length settings on the camera to get something framed right. The default cameras I think default to a 65mm lens on a 35mm frame, with an f/22 aperture (assuming you have DoF enabled), so you'll definitely want to adjust it to fit your needs. Most interior shots want a wider angle lens, something in the 18-50mm length range on a 35mm frame.

I usually position the camera roughly where I want it, and then play with settings/camera rotation until I get it framed how I want it. The camera settings in Daz don't seem to match 1:1 with IRL cameras, but close enough to follow the same principles of photography, so photography education will elevate your renders all the same 🙂

Hope that helps 🙂

[stachelzelle]

use a 4 split view, with top, front, left in wireframe ...

[Oldwolf]

As Rekt said, I move perspective to find my shooting locations then make a camera there using active viewpoint transforms. I then make the camera invisible and give it a name that fits. I only go to a camera when ready to render and adjust it with minor tweaks from there. If it is a set I use a lot, I save all my cameras.

"Save As" then select "Camera(s) Preset"

I never use the creator's presets because they always adjust them in ways I don't like either in positioning or in the camera sliders.

[Wedge149]

It seems sensible to use one camera to move around the scene, then create more when a good view is found (can't believe I hadn't thought of it) As long as I don't keep losing the perspective camera.

I was trying to create more emissive lights and place them into the scene, it was made trickier because I would use the camera to find the spots that needed them. I will give the frame view a try also.

Thanks for the advice.

[Author]

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