Basics Use the camera and light handles

Orientation handle

The orientation handles are the default handles. To switch to the orientation handles after editing other handles, press ((Ctrl + RMB)) on a handle and choose Orientation Handle, or press O .

These handles control the eye point and look-at point of the camera.

The orientation handle is made up of transform handles and rotation handles.

  • The transform handles move either the look-at or eye point based on the camera’s local axes. This means that the handle will move perpendicular or tangential to the arc that runs between the two ends of the handle.

  • The rotate handles let you move along the arc that runs between the two ends. If you click either rotate handle moving the opposite position handle will move both ends of the camera setup instead of only the one end.

Tip

The camera’s look-at handle controls the rotation parameters on the camera. If you want a separate look-at control create a Null object and set it in the camera’s Look-At parameter. You can then keyframe and/or parent the null object. You can also control the camera’s Look-At Up Vector in the same way.

Focus handle

To switch to the focus handles, right-click a handle and choose Focus Handle, or press Z .

This handle lets you control the camera’s Focus and F-stop parameters. These parameters help set up depth of field rendering.

Frustum handle

To switch to the frustum handles, press on a handle and choose Frustum Handle, or press F .

These handles controls the camera’s near and far clipping planes and the focal length.

Tip

You can set the aspect ratio of the frustum with the Resolution parameter on the camera’s View tab in the parameter editor.

Frustum Clipping

The Frustum Clipping options shade only the objects in the scene that are visible to the camera to help you quickly visualize what’s visible and what isn’t.

To turn on this feature, press on a camera handle and choose one of the following:

Full Frustum Clipping

Uses the near and far clipping planes along with the walls of the frustum to limit which parts of your scene are shaded. Any objects seen inside the frustum are shaded and show you what will be seen in the camera.

Focus Frustum Clipping

This option uses the Focus and__ F-stop __attributes to preview which objects will appear in focus when you render the camera’s depth of field. The two bounding arrows represent the point where the rendering will be blurred twice as much as the focal point.
Tip

If you want to keep this visualization while you position objects, press on a handle and turn on the Persistent option. Now even if you deselect the camera the clipping will still be shown. As you move objects around the scene, you can preview when they are leaving the camera’s view. If you make more than one camera handle persistent the shaded results will be unpredictable.