Advanced camera control

The Advanced tab describes the same viewpoint as the Basic tab but exposes the full camera model: sensor, lens, aperture, focus, and a set of lens effects. The shared position, orientation, lock, image overlay, and crop settings behave as they do on the Basic tab.

Shared settings

Lock to target, Move with topography, the position and orientation values, Image overlay, and Crop all appear here and behave as described in Basic viewpoint control. The sections below cover the controls unique to the Advanced tab.

A general point applies to the camera and effect controls below: their impact is shown in Viewpoint Pilot mode but not in Orbit mode, where the scene gives no visual indication that a setting has been applied.

Sensor

The sensor dropdown sets the camera's sensor size, drawn from a range of film and digital formats. The sensor size influences how the lens and focal length translate into the final framing.

As a principle, a larger sensor produces a shallower depth of field and a more cinematic falloff for a given framing, while smaller formats hold more of the scene in focus and read as flatter or more documentary. Sensor choice also affects how a given focal length frames the scene, so it is usually set before fine-tuning the lens.

Lens preset

The lens preset dropdown applies a predefined lens, each combining a focal length and aperture. A Custom option allows the focal length and aperture to be set independently.

The presets are a quick way to reach a sensible focal-length-and-aperture pairing without setting each value by hand. The prime presets fix a single focal length, while the zoom presets cover a range. Custom is the route when a specific combination is needed that no preset provides.

Focal length

The focal length field sets the lens length, from wide to telephoto. Prime presets fix a single length, while zoom presets allow a range.

A short focal length takes in more of a scene but exaggerates the sense of depth, which can make near objects loom and distances stretch. A long focal length narrows the view, compresses depth, and isolates a subject from its surroundings. Mid-range lengths sit closest to how a scene reads to the eye.

Aperture

The aperture field sets the lens aperture, controlling depth of field. The available range depends on the lens in use.

A wide aperture (a lower f-number) gives a shallow depth of field that throws the background out of focus and draws attention to a subject. A narrow aperture (a higher f-number) keeps more of the scene sharp from front to back, which suits showing a development in its full context. Aperture also interacts with sensor size, so the two are often considered together.

Focus picker

The focus picker sets the point the camera focuses on. Activating it charges the picker and changes the cursor to a red crosshair, after which selecting any model in the scene sets that point as the focus target.

Near clipping plane

The near clipping plane slider sets the distance closest to the camera at which the scene is drawn. Adjusting the slider updates the plane accordingly.

Bloom

Bloom is a light-scattering lens effect. Selecting the plus sign reveals the bloom slider, which sets the strength of the effect.

Lens flare

Lens flare is a camera effect that responds to direct and near-direct sunlight striking the lens. It is a stylistic distortion that affects the visibility of a viewpoint. Selecting the plus sign reveals the lens flare slider.

Vignette

A vignette is a lens effect that darkens the edges of the image, giving it a vintage feel. Selecting the plus sign reveals the vignette slider.