The Maxwell Render cameras are designed to work like a real cameras so it is important to understand some photographic concepts. If you are unfamiliar with photography, please read the Camera chapter to get an idea of how these concepts will affect your render.
By default Maxwell Studio has a standard perspective visualization mode. It is not always necessary to create a camera for your scene, but it is recommended. It will give you full control over the final look of the image.
Creating a camera
- Use the viewport menu (right-click in the viewport) and choose “New Camera”
- press CTRL + Shift + C (Cmd + Shift + C on Mac OSX)
- right-click in the Cameras List panel and choose “New Camera”.
These options will create a camera with the point of view of your current perspective view.
To switch to a camera viewport, click the Viewport Switch icon in the upper left corner and choose the desired camera or double click on the camera in the Cameras List panel. Selecting a camera in the Camera List panel will display the properties of that camera in the Camera Parameters panel.
Camera frustum (Yellow frame)
The camera frustum is adapted according to the resolution of the image set in the Camera Parameters panel. When the render is launched from the camera view, only the region inside the frustum is rendered. The same applies when you launch a viewport render.
The frustum is visible as a yellow frame when a camera is selected
Moving a Camera
Switch the viewport to “Camera View” and rotate, pan or zoom the view as explained earlier (ALT + mouse). This mode only affects the origin of the camera. In order to pan or rotate the camera as well as the target of the camera, use the shortcut ALT + SHIFT + mouse.
The camera can also be moved using its translate handles. Select the camera from the Camera List panel, and press the move icon from the top row of icons. The translate handles appear and you can move the camera without moving its target.
You can use the ‘L’ key on your keyboard to go through different camera move modes. By default only the camera will move when using the transform handles.
Press L once to only move the camera target. You will see the text Editing From change to Editing To at the bottom of the viewport.
Press L again to return to the default camera mode where you are only moving the camera.
Press L once again to move both the camera target and the camera itself. You are now Editing From-To.
Hidden and Locked Cameras
When editing a camera, keep in mind that you can Hide/Unhide a camera (for a cleaner visualization), or Lock/Unlock it (to prevent an accidental editing) on the Camera Parameters panel of each camera.
These and the rest of the cameras features are explained on the Cameras List panel and the Camera Parameters panel sections.
Hide/Unhide and Lock/Unlock a camera on its Camera Parameters panel