Hello all,

I am working in Poser Pro 2012.

When working on setting up an image, I am having trouble seeing the borders of the image because there is only a slight darkening of the area outside the formatted image. Is there any way to darken this area that falls outside the formatted image so that I can see only what will be in the rendered image.

I will try to be a bit clearer. I am working in the pose room setting up the scene. My render will be 1920x1200. On a blank screen, the image shows a slightly darkened area outside the borders of the area that will be rendered. Once the scene is set up, it is very difficult to see the area demarcation between the render area and the area that will be cropped out in the render.

I want to darken this area so it is more obvious.

Please excuse my lack of clarity, I'm not sure what that area is called.

Thanks! 

Not sure if I'm understanding what you mean, but when I'm doing a big render I set the display window to a ratio of my final render size. For example, 960x600 for the size you gave. That way there's no need to crop your final render.

 I have included a pic to illustrate my question. The image size for render is 1929x1200. The areas marked by x's fall outside that area. When the scene is populated by figures and objects (especially when it is dark), it is very difficult to distinguish between the render and non-render areas. Is there a way to darken or eliminate these areas so as to better see the render area?

I think I see what you are talking about, Tarin421, and that will work in a pinch, thanks. 

 Thanks!

 OK, further online research has given me insight into terminology. What I am referring to is the production frame. Is there a way to darken the production frame and make it more obvious?

Thanks! 

Stick a pair of one-sided squares on either side of your camera, positioned so that they block the part you won't be rendering. Parent them to the camera so they move with it.

Set them to only be partially transparent, like 15%.

Now as you move around with the camera you will have the letterboxed area much darker.

In order to ensure these "blinders" don't interfere with the render, set them to invisible to camera and invisible to raytracing and cast no shadows. They will only affect preview.

 Perfect, bagginsbill, thank you.

Note - assuming you're in portrait mode, even if you adjust the aspect ratio, they will still be lined up correctly. You'll only need to move them if you change the focal length.

 Works like a charm. Thanks. Kinda a hassle to set up, though, but way better than "working in the dark". It would be nice if Smith would make the transparency of the production frame variable.

Although this has been resolved, I thought I'd add my method to the mix: Basically, whenever I have this problem, which is almost always, I switch between display settings via the document display settings box. Quite often there is some setting that allows me to see the edges quite easily and it's as fast as anything (for me, anyway) to switch between the settings.

Not sure there,but this is my view when I'm rendering in 1920X1200,but my monitor is already 1920X1200

Thanks,Jura

Stick a pair of one-sided squares on either side of your camera, positioned so that they block the part you won't be rendering. Parent them to the camera so they move with it.

Set them to only be partially transparent, like 15%.

Now as you move around with the camera you will have the letterboxed area much darker.

In order to ensure these "blinders" don't interfere with the render, set them to invisible to camera and invisible to raytracing and cast no shadows. They will only affect preview.

Brilliant! A solution that permits moving the camera. Thank you. :)

I use a pair of brightly colored primitives, horizontal and vertical stretched boxes or tubes, and just sit them in the scene so they'll provide good contrast when the shaded area of the production window is over them. Make them invisible to the camera, turn off raytracing, shadows, etc... For ease of use, parent them to another primitive and then manipulate that primitive to move them around so you can check various areas of your render to be sure they're in-frame before you render it. For accuracy, parent the planes as BagginsBill suggested. If you're looking for ease of use during changing camera settings, just load up some primitives with bright materials on them.

Yes, this issue bugs me, too. That's why I use the bright primitives and keep a set of them like this in my prop library. :)

After reading this thread, I just made a set of planes with the aspect ratios I might desire cut out of them (like a big door frame), and then parented to a custom dolly camera. They're so useful that I load them in my start scene.