Well you said to ask if I needed help, didn't you? Bryce 5.5 - I want to be able to have the camera (director) point square at the scene -I've read different articles and have got as far as double click the trackball - it's the numerics settings I need now I think they may have changed since older version or my old brain ain't what it use to be. LOL. TIA

to make a square image u need to set the document's height to width ratio to 1:1, this can be found in the document setup under the file menu.

Hi Indoda:-)

Not quite sure why you want to do this...

I tend to use the "left/right/top/front etc" cams for the "square-on" views.

Also I use the those same cams to position the main cam (which I default to being at the bottom of the pic, looking "north"). I almost never use the director's cam, but then again, you may well have a very valid reason for wanting to use it.

PS - The only reason I re-position the main cam is so that I can move stuff (objects, terrains etc) more easily w/o having to zig-zag whatever I'm trying to move through x+z).

Cheers,
Diolma

...which brings up the question of what is the purpose of the directors view? Why is the 'director' opposite the camera, looking right at it? You'd think that the 'director' would like to see what the camera sees or am I missing something?

Also, why is the default camera view at a 45 degree angle looking from the South-East (lower right) to the North-West (upper left)? This makes it difficult (for me) to numericaly position my objects in the scene.

Before I start a new scene, the first thing I do is move the main camera to the bottom of the scene, looking North, centered on the x-axis. This makes it easy for me to move and reposition object left/right on the x-axis and forward/back on the z-axis as diolma pointed out...

Position x=0, y=30.72, z=-90

That way when I’m in edit mode, when I click the reposition or scale icon for an object, that object will go left and right on the “X” axis, up and down on the “Y” axis and in and out on the “Z” axis eliminating on screen confusion by providing a sense of direction in relation to the coordinate system. I’ve provided a screen capture looking down on my system setup and the camera attributes.

Thanks - I learned a lot from the replies. Everyone has their own way of working but while learning I thought having the camera square on to the scene wwould help alignment. Got a lot to learn ;)

LOL, Quest.

When I saw your scren-shot I almost thought you'd grabbed it from my own PC..:-))

My (main) cam defaults a little further away from the grid than yours and at a different height. but otherwise identical.

I, too, wonder why the default is at 45 degrees. Vue does the same thing. Must be some sort of "ritual" thing...or else there's a deep, fundamental reason that bypasses me completely...

Cheers,
Diolma

Quote -
...which brings up the question of what is the purpose of the directors view? Why is the 'director' opposite the camera, looking right at it? You'd think that the 'director' would like to see what the camera sees or am I missing something?

The director camera is an "extra" moveable camera that allows you to stage everything, including the scene camera. It's description is quite appropriate.

Also note that if you click one of the little arrows by the camera (or is it movement?) controls on the left side you have the options of "camera to director" and likewise "director to camera" that allows you to set scene camera and director camera positions to their counterparts. Comes in useful every now and then.