camera view

[decorators3]

HI

 

Here is an image of a complex I'm doing .. I've been asked for a straight  on shot where the doors and porches are not on angles.. I can't see anyway to really do that --is there? 

[MPDesign]

Have you tried the elevation camera, watercolor-line overlay?

[Chrisb222]

1 hour ago, decorators3 said:

I've been asked for a straight  on shot where the doors and porches are not on angles.

 

Cross Section/Elevation camera, shoot the front. Or, take an Orthographic Full Overview, then go to 3D > View Direction > Front View. This view can be rotated and manipulated.

 

Either will give you the angle you want, and can be switched to Standard technique, but not Physically Based.

 

Any true 3D perspective view is going to show foreshortening.

[decorators3]

48 minutes ago, MPDesign said:

Have you tried the elevation camera, watercolor-line overlay?

will try 

thanks

[decorators3]

48 minutes ago, Chrisb222 said:

 

Cross Section/Elevation camera, shoot the front. Or, take an Orthographic Full Overview, then go to 3D > View Direction > Front View. This view can be rotated and manipulated.

 

Either will give you the angle you want, and can be switched to Standard technique, but not Physically Based.

 

Any true 3D perspective view is going to show foreshortening.

 l need  it in PB for an MLS listing

[Chrisb222]

5 minutes ago, decorators3 said:

 l need  it in PB for an MLS listing

 

Then the closest you'll get, since PB is not available in elevation camera, is:

• Open a Perspective Full Overview
• Go to 3D > View Direction > Front View
• Zoom out really far, until your model is tiny
• Activate Perspective Crop Mode*
• Zoom in to desired field of view

*I don't know where this tool lives, I've had it on my custom toolbars too many years to remember 

[decorators3]

Just now, Chrisb222 said:

 

Then the closest you'll get, since PB is not available in elevation camera, is:

• Open a Perspective Full Overview
• Go to 3D > View Direction > Front View
• Zoom out really far, until your model is tiny
• Activate Perspective Crop Mode*
• Zoom in to desired field of view

*I don't know where this tool lives, I've had it on my custom toolbars too many years to remember 

ok sounds good,, I'll try it

Cheers

[Chrisb222]

Just now, decorators3 said:

ok sounds good,, I'll try it

Cheers

 

Perspective Crop Mode prevents the camera from foreshortening the view as you zoom in and out. So once you're really far out and foreshortening is decreased, Perspective Crop Mode will maintain that perspective when you zoom back in. It's not perfect, but it's close.

[decorators3]

1 minute ago, Chrisb222 said:

 

Perspective Crop Mode prevents the camera from foreshortening the view as you zoom in and out. So once you're really far out and foreshortening is decreased, Perspective Crop Mode will maintain that perspective when you zoom back in. It's not perfect, but it's close.

will try immediately   thanks

[Chrisb222]

7 hours ago, Chrisb222 said:

*I don't know where this tool lives, I've had it on my custom toolbars too many years to remember

 

@decorators3I've been curious about this all day because I couldn't find this tool anywhere in the menus or the default toolbars, so I went to Help to see what's going on:

1. Perspective Crop Mode

In Chief Architect X8 through X11, Perspective Crop Mode allowed older functionality governing zooming in cameras from Version X7 and prior to be preserved in saved cameras in legacy plans migrated forward. This deprecated tool has been removed from the program’s menu and toolbars in Version X12, although it can be migrated with legacy toolbars and hotkeys. Saved cameras in legacy plans with this behavior enabled may become distorted if you pan or zoom in the view.

 

That's when I remembered that at one time Chief changed the functionality of how the perspective cameras dealt with perspective foreshortening. If you want to use Perspective Crop Mode, you have to go into Customize Toolbars and add the tool to your toolbar manually.

 

It really shouldn't be a deprecated tool, it's a great and very useful tool for manipulating perspective views, I use it all the time. They don't even address how to use it in Help, only what is mentioned above. I just wanted to clarify this in case you were having problems finding the tool and making this work, because it will work fairly well for what you want to do. Let me know if you have any questions.

[decorators3]

1 hour ago, Chrisb222 said:

 

@decorators3I've been curious about this all day because I couldn't find this tool anywhere in the menus or the default toolbars, so I went to Help to see what's going on:

1. Perspective Crop Mode

In Chief Architect X8 through X11, Perspective Crop Mode allowed older functionality governing zooming in cameras from Version X7 and prior to be preserved in saved cameras in legacy plans migrated forward. This deprecated tool has been removed from the program’s menu and toolbars in Version X12, although it can be migrated with legacy toolbars and hotkeys. Saved cameras in legacy plans with this behavior enabled may become distorted if you pan or zoom in the view.

 

That's when I remembered that at one time Chief changed the functionality of how the perspective cameras dealt with perspective foreshortening. If you want to use Perspective Crop Mode, you have to go into Customize Toolbars and add the tool to your toolbar manually.

 

It really shouldn't be a deprecated tool, it's a great and very useful tool for manipulating perspective views, I use it all the time. They don't even address how to use it in Help, only what is mentioned above. I just wanted to clarify this in case you were having problems finding the tool and making this work, because it will work fairly well for what you want to do. Let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you..not sure how to go about adding a tool that is not there now

[robdyck]

1 hour ago, Chrisb222 said:

Perspective Crop Mode

For an exterior rendered image, If I'm not mistaken that tool essentialy functions the same as:

• using the zoom tool which can be used for smaller details, or for exterior views, the camera can be positioned much further away and then 'cropped' using the Zoom tool
• for exterior views, positioning the camera much further away from the house and then reducing the camera view angle (NOT using the Zoom tool).

[decorators3]

19 hours ago, robdyck said:

For an exterior rendered image, If I'm not mistaken that tool essentialy functions the same as:

• using the zoom tool which can be used for smaller details, or for exterior views, the camera can be positioned much further away and then 'cropped' using the Zoom tool
• for exterior views, positioning the camera much further away from the house and then reducing the camera view angle (NOT using the Zoom tool).

I think i'm ok, told client would not look same as PBR.( PBR does not  show in perspective view)   also asked me for a birds eye view.. would you consider these images  BEV? or do i have to do something special with the camera

[Chrisb222]

23 hours ago, robdyck said:

If I'm not mistaken that tool essentialy functions the same as

 

Not exactly the same. Both of those methods do funky things to the camera. Perspective Crop Mode can be activated and deactivated in ways that retain the other camera functions and settings making it much more useful. In my methodology, at least.

[Gawdzira]

A birds eye view tend to work better with the orthographic full overview. I try to position them at about 30 deg for a true isometric.

 

[robdyck]

14 hours ago, Chrisb222 said:

Not exactly the same.

Not trying to be argumentative, but it looks the same to me. Perspective crop mode is just a zoom function, no? Create a camera, select PCM, zoom in and then press F6 (Fill Window) which resets the camera view. Undo Zoom tool goes back to the PCM view.

It's perhaps a more flexible way of zooming in using the scroll wheel, but I can't tell any difference. Zoom and PCM allow you to zoom in tight on a portion of a view without affecting the camera position. What other benefits do you find using PCM?

 

[SHCanada2]

i tend to interpret birds eye view as not directly on top, but further away. As I question the value of mostly roof...but then again I am asked to do this mostly from a sales perspective, not a technical perspective

 

[Alaskan_Son]

On 3/19/2025 at 5:45 AM, decorators3 said:

 l need  it in PB for an MLS listing

 

You can also optionally use a standard Orthographic Camera, 3D>View Direction>Front View, and Edit Active View>Camera>Options and set Field of View to 10 (the lowest it will go).  This won't be perfect, but its close.

 

This may be what Robert was alluding to when he said...

On 3/19/2025 at 3:11 PM, robdyck said:

....for exterior views, positioning the camera much further away from the house and then reducing the camera view angle (NOT using the Zoom tool).

 

By the way, I think the real ticket was what Robert mentioned just before that...

On 3/19/2025 at 3:11 PM, robdyck said:

using the zoom tool which can be used for smaller details, or for exterior views, the camera can be positioned much further away and then 'cropped' using the Zoom tool

 

He seemed to be mostly responding to Chris' mention of the Perspective Crop tool. but it was also a very good option for creating a PBR of a nearly Orthographic View.  You just need to be viewing front the front, Zoom way out, and then use the Zoom tool to crop your view (zoom back in again).

[Alaskan_Son]

3 hours ago, robdyck said:

Not trying to be argumentative, but it looks the same to me. Perspective crop mode is just a zoom function, no? Create a camera, select PCM, zoom in and then press F6 (Fill Window) which resets the camera view. Undo Zoom tool goes back to the PCM view.

It's perhaps a more flexible way of zooming in using the scroll wheel, but I can't tell any difference. Zoom and PCM allow you to zoom in tight on a portion of a view without affecting the camera position. What other benefits do you find using PCM?

 

 

You're right that Perspective Crop Mode is very similar to the Zoom tool.  I still use it when working with very small details though for some of the exact reasons you mention...it allows for infinite zoom while freely panning, orbiting, and scroll-wheel zooming with my mouse.  The zoom tool is not nearly as fluid and easy to use.

[Chrisb222]

6 hours ago, robdyck said:

Not trying to be argumentative, but it looks the same to me.

 

I didn't say they were totally different, I said they're not exactly the same. One of the main differences in MY workflow is being able to deactivate Perspective Crop Mode, which returns the camera to it's normal foreshortening behavior, allowing me to tailor perspective views in ways I can't using the more simple Zoom tool. For instance, activate PCM, zoom a little, orbit a little, deactivate and zoom in/out, orbit, reactivate. It gives me great flexibility in fine-tuning a view. You may operate differently, and that's ok.

 

In fact, PCM completely eliminated my need for the Zoom tool, and I have none of them on my toolbar because PCM and the scroll wheel do all they do and more, in one tool. It really is a great tool that shouldn't be deprecated, IMO.

 

 

6 hours ago, robdyck said:

Perspective crop mode is just a zoom function, no?

 

No.

 

6 hours ago, robdyck said:

It's perhaps a more flexible way of zooming in using the scroll wheel

 

Thanks for agreeing they're not exactly the same. 

[glennw]

On 3/20/2025 at 8:39 AM, Chrisb222 said:

They don't even address how to use it in Help

 

By default, panning and zooming adjusts the position and direction of the camera. It does not, however, adjust the distances at which surfaces are clipped. This means that if you zoom in closely on an object, some of its surfaces may be removed from the view. One way to avoid this is to lower the camera’s Clip Surfaces Within value in the Camera Specification dialog. See Camera Panel.

Another way to avoid this is using Perspective Crop Mode .

When Perspective Crop Mode  is active, panning and zooming do not adjust the position of the camera. As such, using it can result in inconsistencies between a camera’s position and what is actually shown in the view. For this reason, it should only be used to zoom in closely on small objects or details.

 

Perspective Crop Mode is not used when a view is sent to layout. This means that a view on the layout page may not look the same as the original view. See Layout.

To use Perspective Crop Mode

1. Zoom in on an object that you would like to examine closely.

2. If any of its surfaces disappear, zoom out until they are restored.

3. Select 3D> Camera View Options> Perspective Crop Mode .

4. Zoom in on the object, but try to limit any panning or other changes to the camera’s perspective.

 

Once Perspective Crop Mode has been enabled in a camera view, it should remain toggled on and navigation in that view should be limited.