Softimage - Camera settings

Owned by Mihai Iliuta (Unlicensed)
Last updated: 17 Aug, 2012Version comment
2 min read

Camera used for rendering

The Maxwell plugin needs a Camera view to render, the current Camera used for rendering can be chosen from Render>Pass Options>Pass Camera.

Aspect Ratio

It is important to make sure that the Picture Ratio and Aspect Ratio in Camera Properties/Scene options are the same. Otherwise your renders will look stretched.

 

 

Setting the focus distance

There are two ways to determine the area that will be in perfect focus in the render:

  • the default is using the location of the Camera Interest. If the Camera doesn't have a Camera Interest, the Focus Distance in the MaxwellCameraAttrs is used (see below).
  • set the focus distance manually from the custom parameter set added by the plugin (Camera_Root>Camera>MaxwellCameraAttrs - "Use Manual Focus distance"). The units are Softimage units.

 

Maxwell specific camera settings

The MaxwellCameraAttrs custom parameter set added under each Camera contains settings specific to Maxwell. Other settings such as aspect ratio, focal length, film aperture are controlled from the usual Camera Properties page in Softimage.

If the MaxwellCameraAttrs parameter set does not appear under the Camera in the Explorer, click on the Camera icon once and it will appear.

The Mode parameter lets you choose how to control the exposure:

  • Manual: you can set both the F-Stop and Shutter Speed independently to control the exposure
  • Aperture Priority: Lets you set the F-Stop and automatically adjusts the Shutter Speed to maintain the same exposure. You can also change the exposure using the Exposure Value (EV).
  • Shutter Priority: Lets you set the Shutter Speed and automatically adjusts the F-Stop to maintain the same exposure. This can be useful to control the amount of motion blur since Shutter Speed matters when using motion blur.

For more details on the other Maxwell Camera parameters, see the Camera and Motion Blur pages.