Landscape Design Software - Adding a Realtime Camera

Landscape Design Software

Adding a Realtime Camera

A Realtime Camera lets you define a path for the camera to follow. You can use it instead of the mouse and keyboard during realtime walkthroughs. You can also use it to record a movie that can be played on any computer.

To add a realtime camera:

1. Click Add Realtime Camera.

2. Draw the camera's path outline by clicking to add points. Press Backspace to remove the last point. Press Esc to cancel.

3. When finished, click the starting point to close the outline. Or, right-click to finish without closing the outline.

In the following landscape design, a realtime camera path has been added around the deck.

You can press F5 to take a screenshot when the realtime camera is active. The below screenshot was taken while the camera was at the position shown above.

Adjusting the Camera

By default, the camera will focus on the center of the path. This is good for a starting point, but you will probably want to adjust the camera position and angles at each point to focus on the areas you're interested in.

To adjust the camera positions and angles:

1. Select the camera (if it's not already selected).

2. Click Edit Points. This will allow you to edit each viewpoint.

3. Click one of the points to select it. A camera symbol will appear at the point. A small window will also appear showing the camera's point of view – that is, what will appear on the screen during a realtime walkthrough or when creating a movie.

4. To move the camera, click the selected (red) point and drag it to the desired position. Do this until the desired viewpoint appears in the camera viewpoint window.

5. To raise or lower the camera, adjust the Elevation property.

6. To change the camera's up/down (pitch) angle, adjust the Angle property.

7. To change the camera's direction angle, adjust the Direction property.

8. Repeat steps 3 through 7 for each point.

To use your realtime camera during a Realtime Walkthrough:

1. Click Walkthrough tab. The Realtime Walkthrough settings dialog will appear.

2. Click Automatic (using realtime camera). This indicates you want to use a realtime camera for the walkthrough, instead of the mouse and keyboard. If you have more than one realtime camera in the landscape, select the one you want to use from the list.

3. Click OK to begin the realtime walkthrough.

4. When you want to exit realtime walkthrough, press Esc.

Tips:

• Adding a realtime camera is easiest in the top-down view.

• You can use the Hold time property to cause the camera to stop momentarily at a particular viewpoint.

• You can adjust the Camera speed property to control the camera speed as it moves through each point.

• Normally, the camera moves smoothly from one point to another. However, you can also make the camera jump, or "cut" to the next point. At the point you want to cut from, set the Camera speed to its maximum value. At the point you want to cut to, set the Hold time to the number of seconds you want the camera to wait at that point.

• If you want to change multiple points to use the same value, simply select all of the points and enter the desired value. For example, suppose you want to set the camera speed to the same value for all points. First select the points, and then to set the camera speed. All of the selected points will be changed. See Editing Points for more information.

• You can add multiple cameras to your landscape design. Both the realtime walkthrough and movie creation features let you select which one you want to use.