3D Camera

The 3D Camera enables the capturing of the 3D scene from a user-customized viewpoint. The rendered output of the camera view can be forwarded to subsequent nodes within the node graph.

To add a 3D Camera, do the following:

1. Navigate to the Node Graph widget.
2. Add a 3D Camera node to your node graph.
3. Connect the Camera output parameter of the 3D Camera node to the Cameras input parameter of the 3D Scene node. This will integrate the camera into the scene.
4. Switch to the 3D Scene widget to further adjust the position and orientation of the camera, either by using 3D scene tools or directly in the 3D Camera settings.

When a 3D Camera node is connected to the 3D Scene node, a 3D Camera output parameter is added to the 3D Scene node. This parameter outputs the camera view image, which can then be routed to a visual output node, such as the Canvas or Display nodes.

The camera settings allow you to configure the parameters of the 3D Camera view within a scene.

General settings

• Image Size: Set the width (W) and height (H) dimensions in pixels for the camera’s output image.
• Bits per Channel: Determine the color depth of the camera's output. Options include 8-bit and 32-bit (float).
• Type: Choose the type of camera lens:
  • Perspective: Emulates the perception of the human eye, creating a sense of depth proportional to the distance from the camera.
  • Orthogonal: Displays objects without perspective distortion, maintaining their scale regardless of distance.
  • Fisheye: Captures a wide-angle view with spherical distortion.
  • Spherical (Lat/Long): Provides a 360-degree panoramic output.
• View Mode: Select how the scene is displayed within the camera view.
  • Textured: Displays the scene with all textures applied to objects.
  • Wireframe: Displays the geometry of objects as a mesh of lines, representing the edges of all polygons.
  • Textured + Wireframe: Combines the textured and wireframe views, overlaying the wireframe mesh on top of the textured objects.
  • Color: Renders objects in solid colors, which can be set in the settings of the individual objects.
  • Color + Wireframe: Displays the objects in flat colors with the wireframe mesh overlaid.
  • Points: Displays only the vertices (points) of the objects' geometry.
  • None (Projections Only): Displays only projections from Projection Mappers.
• Show Projections: Toggles the visibility of projections in the camera view.
• Image Interpolation: Determines the method by which the image is interpolated.
  • Linear: Blends the colors of surrounding pixels to produce smooth transitions.
  • Nearest-neighbor: Selects the color of the nearest pixel without any blending, preserving hard edges.
• Mask: Allows the user to apply a mask image to the camera's view. The mask image should be connected to the Mask input parameter of the 3D Camera node in the node graph.
• Transform Matrix: Displays the transformation matrix, which is a representation of the camera's position, rotation, and scale within the 3D space.
• Transform Order: Specifies the order in which transformations (scale, rotate, translate) are applied to the camera.
• Scale: Adjusts the size of the camera's view area within the 3D scene, scaling along the X, Y, and Z axes. This setting depends on the Transform Order specified and is applied sequentially only when following other transformations (such as rotation or translation).
• Rotation Order: Indicates the sequence in which rotations are applied around the axes, for example, Y (Heading), X (Pitch), and Z (Bank).
• Rotation: Orients the camera within the 3D space by setting rotation angles around the X, Y, and Z axes.
• Position: Defines the camera's location in the 3D space along the X, Y, and Z axes.
• Perspective Angle Mode: Specifies the method used to define the camera's perspective.
  • Throw Ratio: Defines the relationship between the camera's distance from the screen and the width of the image.
  • Horizontal FOV (Field of View): Specifies the horizontal extent of the visible area in a 3D scene captured by a camera.
  • Vertical FOV (Field of View): Specifies the vertical extent of the visible area in a 3D scene captured by a camera.
• Throw Ratio: Adjusts the size of the visible image relative to the distance between the camera and the image plane.
• Horizontal FOV: Adjusts the horizontal field of view of the camera.
• Vertical FOV: Adjusts the vertical field of view of the camera.
• Horizontal Shift: Shifts the camera's view horizontally without changing the camera's position.
• Vertical Shift: Shifts the camera's view vertically without changing the camera's position.
• Ortho Width: Determines the width of the camera’s view when using orthographic cameras.
• Render Behind Camera: Enables the rendering of objects located behind the camera.
• Fixed Lens Shifts for Pose Estimation: Locks the lens shifts settings to predefined values when estimating the camera's position and orientation within a scene.
• Fixed Throw Ratio for Pose Estimation: Locks the throw ratio at a fixed value during pose estimation.
• Fixed Position for Pose Estimation: Locks the camera's position during pose estimation.
• Depth Test: Enables the camera to determine and render the visibility of objects by comparing their relative depth, ensuring that objects closer to the camera occlude those further away.
• Back-face Culling: When enabled, only the front faces of polygons are rendered, and the ones facing away from the camera are not, improving rendering performance.
• Frustum Distance: Defines the distance of the camera’s frustum planes from the camera's position.
• Show Frustum Center: Toggles the visibility of the camera's frustum center that is used for reference.
• Near Distance: Sets the near-clipping plane distance. Objects closer than this distance will not be rendered.
• Antialiasing: Enables the smoothing of jagged edges in the rendered image.
• Preview Mode: Switches to a rendering mode with reduced levels of detail for improved performance.
• Camera Gizmo Size: Adjusts the size of the camera object in the 3D scene viewport.

Simulation

• Gamma: Adjusts the gamma levels of the camera view image.

Navigation

• Keyboard Fly Speed and Keyboard Orbit and Zoom Speed: Set the camera's movement speed for keyboard navigation.