Rhino 6 and newer - Maxwell Camera

Owned by Next Limit
Last updated: 01 Feb, 2024
6 min read

Without having anything selected, go to the Properties tab and click on the Maxwell icon to find all the camera settings.

If you use the Snapshots or Named Views panels, you can save different camera options and points of view without having to set everything again. The Snapshots panel also lets you define different environments, sun, layers for each point of view.

Exposure

These parameters work as in a real camera and also have some extra aids.

Presets

Custom

If it’s set like this, all the parameters below can be set freely and independently except for the EV (exposure value) which is linked to the Shutter (1/s) (or shutter speed parameter).

Lock Exposure

This mode will make the render keep the same illumination level regardless of the parameter you change. This lets you play with other parameters, like the Fstop or the shutter speed (which affect the depth of field and the motion blur respectively) while keeping the same illumination level. If you change the ISO, the Fstop or the EV, it will be compensated with the shutter speed; if you change the shutter speed, it will be compensated with the Fstop.

Dark Interior

These options set the fixed values listed on the right side which are suitable to get a properly illuminated image when rendering the described scene.

ISO: 800 - Shutter: 10 - Fstop: 5.6 - EV: 5.293

Bright Interior

ISO: 250 - Shutter: 50 - Fstop: 5.6 - EV: 9.293

Overcast Exterior

ISO: 100 - Shutter: 200 - Fstop: 5.6 - EV: 12.615

Bright Exterior

ISO: 100 - Shutter: 500 - Fstop: 5.6 - EV: 13.937

Night Exterior

ISO: 2000 - Shutter: 20 - Fstop: 5.6 - EV: 4.971

After setting one of the fixed presets, you can freely change the values; in that case, the Presets dropdown will change to Custom.

The rest of the parameters in this section work in the same way as in a normal camera:

  • ISO: it controls the sensitivity of the camera. If your render is very dark, try rising this value before trying to increase the light intensities. Higher values mean a brighter render.

  • Shutter (1/s): this is the shutter speed. It affects the amount of light that enters the virtual camera and the motion blur. It is expressed in 1/n seconds, so, the higher the number the smaller the time opened and the darker the image. When the objects are animated, Maxwell will automatically produce motion blur; the higher the shutter value, the smaller the motion blur.

  • Fstop: this is the aperture of the diaphragm. It affects the amount of light that enters the camera and the depth of field. 1 means the diaphragm is fully open, so the smaller the number means more light that enters the camera and smaller the depth of field (a smaller area in focus and stronger blur effect).

  • EV: this is the exposure value. It is linked to the shutter speed and it’s a quick way of setting the general illumination level of your image. Lower values are meant for darker scenes and will brighten up the image. Higher values are meant for brighter scenes.

 

Sensor

  • Resolution. This dropdown menu lets you choose the resolution of the final render. You can choose between “Viewport”, “Manual” and a list of different standard resolution proportions, such as 800 x 600, HDTV, 2K, QHD, 4K,… By default, it’s set to “Viewport” so the proportion of the final render will be determined by the size of the active viewport. When you manually change the “Output (w/h)” below, this dropdown will automatically change to “Manual” and a new option will show in between them: “Display in FIRE”.

  • Display in FIRE. This option will show up when the final render resolution or framing doesn’t match the viewport. It changes what is shown in FIRE:

    • Match Viewport. This option will render what is shown in the viewport, not in the Final Render. Other output resolutions different from the viewport will be ignored in Fire as well as if there is some shift lens applied.

    • Final Render. This option will show the final render framing and mask the rest. It will take into account the custom output resolution and the shift lens option.

Match Viewport mode (viewport / Fire)
Final Render mode (viewport / Fire)

  • Output (w/h). You can set the final resolution of the render here in pixels. The left box sets its width and the right box its height.

  • Film Back (mm). This describes the size of the camera sensor. As in real cameras, this affects the depth of field effect. The bigger its size, the stronger the depth of field effect (smaller in-focus area). Its proportion will always be the same of the output resolution.

  • Lock Film Ratio. This option, when active, will keep the proportion of the output resolution and film back, so when you change one, the other is also changed accordingly.

  • Pixel Aspect. The width-height proportion of the pixels. It’s useful when the rendering output will be displayed on devices that have non-square pixels, such as television sets.

  • Response. Specify the sensor model, regarding its sensibility to color. Each camera sensor model presents a characteristic response curve to color, that controls the way the lighting information is registered by the sensor and converted into an image. Aside from the default Maxwell sensibility curve, you can choose from a selection of the most usual sensor models in the market: Advantix, Agfachrome, Agfacolor, Ektachrome, Fujifilm and Kodak, each of them presenting a different and characteristic color rendition. This setting works from the spectral information from the render, so it can be interactively tweaked during of after the render without damaging the original data.

Aperture

  • Focus Mode. You can choose between these three options:

    • Target Point. The focus point will be determined by the target of the camera.

    • Manual. This option lets you set a distance from the camera in meters which will be focus point (a new Focus dist. (m) field will show when this is selected). The f.d. button will let you set this point in the viewport interactively by clicking on the geometry.

    • Auto. Maxwell will trace a line in the center of the image along the axis of the camera. The first object hit by that line will determine the focus point. It will be calculated each time the render is launched.

  • Lens. Allows you to choose the type of lens to render with. Options include Thin Lens (the default), Pin Hole (no DOF), Orthographic, Fish Eye, Spherical, Cylindrical, Lat-Long Stereo and Fish Stereo. For details on each of these lenses please see the Camera Lenses page.

  • Diaphragm. Controls the shape and number of blades that make up the aperture. It can be Circular or Polygonal. This controls the shape of the “bokeh” effect caused by bright spots in the parts of the render that are out of focus. See Camera section - Bokeh for more details.

  • Blades/Angle(º). If Diaphragm is set to Polygonal, this parameters will become active to let you set the number of blades and the angle of the aperture opening.

  • Bokeh Ratio/Angle(º). It lets you set the options for non-round bokeh effects (anamorphic bokeh). See this section for more information: Anamorphic Bokeh.

Z-clip Planes

The Z-Clip planes parameters allow you to "clip" or hide from the render view certain parts of your object while still having them influence the lighting in the scene. Check this section for more information: Z-clip planes.

Shift Lens

This option lets you offset the framing of the final render without changing the perspective. This is useful for architectural renders when you want to keep the vertical lines parallel instead of adding a third vanishing point. The two parameters work as a percentage of the frame of the render horizontally and vertically, so a value of 100 means you are shifting the whole size of the frame in that direction. See this section for more information: Shift Lens.

Using the Camera Visuals button on the Tools toolbar combined with Fire can be useful to preview the final framing of the render: