Fix Camera Location, but allow pan/zoom?

Rhino Rhino for Windows
1

Was talking to Kyle about this, he suggested I post about it. Is there a way to fix the location of the camera in xyz space, but to allow it to pan/zoom freely from that point? Would be super useful in architectural renders, among other things.

2

Hi Sky - I think, if you want to lock in the camera eye point location, then ZoomLens and RotateCamera are the ones - does that do what you need?

-Pascal

3

Yes yes! Many thanks!

4

Hi @sgreenawalt
RotateCamera can also be activated by Alt+Shift+RMB in viewports, which is nice…
-Jakob

1 Like
5

What would be the way to zoom-in the camera without changing the lens nor its relative position/keeping the target still?

Right now I use Ctrl + Right Click but that changes the position of camera depending on where you place the mouse to zoom in. Meaning it does not move the Camera along its normal axis.

6

For rendering purpose DollyZoom is my best trick.
It changes the perspective deformation without loosing the subject.

7

I just tried it, DollyZoom does change the lens or am I doing something wrong?

8

Hi @ShynnSup
There might be a alt+shift+ctrl+something-way, but I’m not sure :grimacing: I usually just turn on the camera (camera>toggle), select the camera point and set the gumball to “object” - then you can easily move it along its own axis. Also zoom>out will give a step-by-step version.
HTH, Jakob

9

There is no tool, I don’t think, that lets you track the camera forward and back along its view axis without changing the eye to target distance, is that what you are after?

Zoom > Dynamic (scrolling the mouse wheel) lets you move the camera in and out leaving the camera angle constant, and DollyZoom moves the camera while keepping the view plane constant.

-Pascal

10

In several “zooming” actions in Rhino the cursor position matters and affects the “center” of the operation.
If you keep it perfectly centered, then the target may stay along the original camera-target line. Hard to do “by hand” but you can use this macro first:

_-RunScript (Call Rhino.SetCursorPos(Rhino.XformWorldToScreen(Rhino.ViewTarget(),True)))

And with cursor centered:

  • Alt+ScrollWheel = move camera and target along viewing line together
  • Ctrl+RMB-drag = move camera towards target fixed in place with no lens change

hth,

–jarek