[Paul Orwig]

I know how to change the grid size in lightwave with the [ and ] keys, but how can I make sure that the camera inside my scene is accurately to "SIZE" I have a 10 mile by 10 mile land and when I change the grid size to 5,280 feet the camera inside lightwave looks to BIG for a real world comparison. How do I know what grid size to change it to so my Lightwave camera matches the size of my scene?


Paul.

[Paul Orwig]

My goal is to do this. The camera is going to be 1 to 2 miles above the earth pointing straight down at land, trees etc. But I don't think the openGL can "view" all of this because of the amount of data, I know most people just "guess" at it until it looks good. I don't want it to look "good" I want it to look accurate. The camera will then come down and get close to one of the trees in my scene, all in one shot. If ILM does not do this for their elaborate shots, then how do they do it?

[rwhunt99]

The Grid is used for reference only, by using the keys you described, you will adjust the size of the grid and the size reference of the camera, the camera size is only a reference, what you see in the camera view port is the size of your camera resolution, for instance, if your camera properties has a value of 640 x 480, and your default lens, which is I believe 24 mm, described as focal length, no matter what, you will get a resolution (picture size ) of 640x480, and the actual focal length of a real camera. You can change thisto use the actual camera lens of many different real world cameras and focal lengths in the camera properties panel. This will really change the perspective of the shot and add a dynamic reality to your scenes.

I hope this helps :beer:

[rwhunt99]

For your scenario, you might start out with a wide angle lens for a panoramic shot and and then as you descend you can and gradually go to a telephoto shot of your destination and rack in as you get closer. You can do this in the camera properties panel with the "E" button (stands for envelope), this will open up the Graph editor that will allow you to adjust your focal length along the timeline

You can also use a null to control anything from path of the camera to how and where to focus.

I think as of this time, layout will still only allow you to render from one camera at a time, you can then edit your scenes and put a scene together with a video editor.

I didn't ask what version you use, but anything after v8 will use a variety of cameras, have fun exploring the different effects you can get from the many different cameras inside Light Wave!