Hey all,

the most annoying thing in poser -- is going to a top view --- and trying to get it FURTHER AWAY.

AM I missing some trick?

thanks

While in TOP view.. you use the CROSS of hands - located above the camera ball - to go in either direction (left or right) and further away (top) or closer (bottom)

Rena

Renapd is correct. To control the camera views, use those controllers. Do not accidentally scroll with middle mouse wheel. Mouse wheel will do zoom in and zoom out. Also good to remember shortcut Control-Shift-H. It's also located under Edit, Restore Camera. If you wish to save the camera position for preferred work, use the UI Control Dots for saving camera position. There is also an option there (under the UI Control Dots to save Pose and UI changes. More details are available in the Manual, under Help Poser Reference Manual. You will find this very handy for many options and explanations.

Hello,

thanks for replies.

But -- I must be making bigger scenes than others. I use the cross hands but it is painfully slow, and unprofessional . Its excruciatingly un-intuitive in fact. I was hoping i was missing something. For example, you would never have something so bad in Maya, 3DS max, or other pro packages. I believe even Blender has some decent controls { albeit a bit unusual }

thanks for the dot tip though, that might help.

You have a few options. The easiest would using the Aux camera. On the Camera panel, click on the upside down triangle and you'll see the other cameras. The other option is to select a specific camera (if you look above the scene you will see below the word Preview two drop down buttons. One has Props, Camera, and Lights. From here you can choose the specific camera (or light) and you will notice that in the parameter dials you'll be able to change many, many settings. Here's a quick tutorial from Smith Micro on youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQsoyUNpsv8

When I want to move any of my cameras closer, or farther away, I change the Scale dial. By default it's set to 100%, lowering the amount will bring the camera closer, and raising the amount with move it farther away.

That said, be aware you will probably have to change the yTrans settings as well to keep the object/character centered in view.

I have to say, I use Miss B's solution all the time. It's the fastest way to get farther away from the scene.

I never knew about changing the scale on the camera..I alway use the Camera MoveXZ or Camera Move XY located at the top of the scene..sometime it takes forever to get it where I want it! I will have to try the scaling! Thank you for writing about that Miss B!

For some scenes I make the construct invisible ... the scale up 2000 to get a good view! It's quick and get's you what you want.

Thank you Boni for the good tip! Will give that a try

Miss B posted at 2:53PM Mon, 15 January 2018 - #4322281

When I want to move any of my cameras closer, or farther away, I change the Scale dial. By default it's set to 100%, lowering the amount will bring the camera closer, and raising the amount with move it farther away.

That said, be aware you will probably have to change the yTrans settings as well to keep the object/character centered in view.

Hello,

Okay, I'm confused.

I'm in main camera > from top.

Moving the cross hands works, although painful, as above.

{ top middle} Main camera> parameters> Transform> SCALE: does nothing.

I dont see yTrans settings

These controls will be on your parameters dials...the Scale dials and the Dolly Y dial is used for up and down. See image attached:

DollyY, then. Same difference. All cameras should have Scale dials in the parameters tab.

Something you can do if you're using the dials is to open its settings and change the sensitivity to the camera. Larger numbers make it move faster.

Also, you can select your ground or flooring (or something else huge in your scene) and hit frame selected object (looks like a ball with brackets around it at the top of your scene window.) This seems to work better for dolly cameras than orbiting ones for me but the manual doesn't say anything about that so maybe it's just me.

digitell posted at 4:52PM Mon, 15 January 2018 - #4322300

These controls will be on your parameters dials...the Scale dials and the Dolly Y dial is used for up and down. See image attached:

thanks,

but are we talking about the TOP VIEW? you're showing face camera.

Ok, going to my top view in a scene, only a couple objects show those controls -- and they still do absolutely nothing.-- zippo. { Poser 2014 Pro}

Of course I have more objects than just one character. In addition, this shows Poser's other bad problem - can't handle larger scenes, or even " medium sized" scenes and polygon counts.

I had it set to Main Camera and had moved my character forward so I can see him close...but...same for top camera- See attached image. I scaled camera up to 1883 and it zoomed the camera way out.

digitell posted at 6:24PM Mon, 15 January 2018 - #4322308

I had it set to Main Camera and had moved my character forward so I can see him close...but...same for top camera- See attached image. I scaled camera up to 1883 and it zoomed the camera way out.

ok, thanks. I would have to try to work that way from the start of a scene. ie: test each new model added to see what works. The scene from yesterday, wouldn't conform to this approach, as I said.

wow guys! What a great forum here! Im finally making some progress after endless roadblocks! Thanks all!

digitell posted at 12:08PM Tue, 16 January 2018 - #4322286

I never knew about changing the scale on the camera..I alway use the Camera MoveXZ or Camera Move XY located at the top of the scene..sometime it takes forever to get it where I want it! I will have to try the scaling! Thank you for writing about that Miss B!

You're quite welcome digitell. I don't remember where I read about this approach, or who told it to me, but I use it for most cameras (left, right, top, front, back), well maybe not bottom, as I find this method much easier than trying to get to the view I want by playing around with the Main Camera. This helps a lot when trying get in close enough to adjust a character's pose, especially the feet, as there are hand cameras but no foot cameras. The Scale dial helps a lot once you get used to using it.

Another camera trick/tip that I use is to click a camera dot for my final scene view, and then play with other cameras to adjust the scene as needed. Then, when finished, by clicking on my saved camera dot I'm ready to render from the original viewpoint I chose. :)

raven posted at 7:55AM Wed, 17 January 2018 - #4322393

Another camera trick/tip that I use is to click a camera dot for my final scene view, and then play with other cameras to adjust the scene as needed. Then, when finished, by clicking on my saved camera dot I'm ready to render from the original viewpoint I chose. :)

Those dots! I keep forgetting to use them...most the time if I am afraid of losing a camera view I like, I save it to my library...I need to remember those dots...wish there was sticky tape to use....

CalmDay,

Are you possibly, like me, using TerraDome 2? If so, yeah, I really have to pull the top or aux cameras waaaaay back on that sometimes -- so I have the same issue.

Raven's suggestion of using a camera dot position can be a great time saver. I, too, don't use the dots often enough. But I have to check to see if they save with the scene file.

One thing I recently discovered about scaling the camera size is that it can mess-up focus distance in regards to shallow depth of field if you incorporate that into a render. I leave the cameras set at 100% and only change distance and focal length. I discovered that issue when I somehow accidentally set my main camera at 400% (and I have no idea how I managed to do that, but it happened) and tried to set focus for a shallow DOF render.

PS: I love Terradome 2, and I miss RuntimeDNA.

I find the easiest way to move the camera around big scenes (I use td2 a lot as well} is to enter values directly into the dolly x,y,z values for the camera in the parameters palette. You soon get a good idea of the rough values to use and then just have to tweak.

galaxiefilm posted at 12:57AM Thu, 25 January 2018 - #4322884

CalmDay,

Are you possibly, like me, using TerraDome 2? If so, yeah, I really have to pull the top or aux cameras waaaaay back on that sometimes -- so I have the same issue.

Raven's suggestion of using a camera dot position can be a great time saver. I, too, don't use the dots often enough. But I have to check to see if they save with the scene file.

One thing I recently discovered about scaling the camera size is that it can mess-up focus distance in regards to shallow depth of field if you incorporate that into a render. I leave the cameras set at 100% and only change distance and focal length. I discovered that issue when I somehow accidentally set my main camera at 400% (and I have no idea how I managed to do that, but it happened) and tried to set focus for a shallow DOF render.

PS: I love Terradome 2, and I miss RuntimeDNA.

==================================

Hi,

Yes I have Terradome. BUT I never use it. Not installed current -- BUT I was just thinking in fact, I like Terradome 1 better than 2 ! Maybe its cause of these camera problems Ive been having?

What I don't like about terradome [2 ?} is every shot looks unnaturally SQUASHED or something.