camera positions?

[STRAT]

hi guys

 

i have a exactly the same model in max and sketchup.

 

in max i've set up a simple 50mm camera and picked my view.

how would i EXACTLY emmulate this view in sketchup, considering sketchup doesn't use cameras (it has a nomonal 55mm 'lense' i'm told), and sketchup's co-ordinate system isn't as solid as max's.

 

remember, i'm looking for PRICISELY the exact same view, no eyeing it up. any ideas?

[Jape]

well, not really my turf, but maybe you can achieve this by using a reference raster (or grid) builded up of splines (in ACAD for accuracy) wich then can be imorted in both max and sketchup and consists the exact building dimension for alligning the grid and your model, that way you can exactly position the camera, only thing you have to do then is adjusting the camera so they both have the same viewing width (dunno the correct word)

 

(just an idea, never tried it though !!)

 

Like this -->

 

[bigcahunak]

Start man.

I dont think u can.

Email me if you do find out how, though...

[V_Type]

...considering sketchup doesn't use cameras (it has a nomonal 55mm 'lense' i'm told)...

 

switch the zoom icon on and enter the focal length you need (120mm, 50mm or 14mm or...).

then place a point were you nedd a camera and use "display-->camera's position". Then enter the eye hight...

[V_Type]

I used to work with SketchUp 3.0

[GaryR50]

V-Type is correct; you can emulate camera focal lengths in SketchUp. You can use his method, which is a more precise emulation, or you can just type in a zoom angle to get an approximation. For working on interiors of my models, I typically switch from 30 to 70 to take in more area. This gives me a wideangle lens effect.

 

Gary

[Ernest Burden III]

Strat

 

Remember what I was asking you about whether SU can position a camera via direct coords? What I would look for is how to type position/target in like " X 102.6754m Y -67.004m Z 1.825m ", with the bonus being " angle degrees 72 " Either SketchUp read in data in proper absolute cartesian or it doesn't, it can either support direct coord entry for camera/target or it can't. Figure that out and you will have your method for exact match. And I have found this works in MOST 3D software, so please let us all know if it CANNOT in SU. It would be a big drawback if SU cannot.

 

It seems barbaric with such advanced software to be writing down a bunch of numbers to transfer a camera position, but I've been doing it for years. I always work with a paper and pen handy because I have to write down a lot of stuff to get the most accurate results.

 

If SU only has position/look angle (the second expecting a vector) you could model the position/target in CAD and measure the vector angle manually.

 

Finally, you should remember that matching the view angle (aka lens mm) is not critical. You will be using Photoshop top lay the results over a render out of another program (which is the only reason you need an EXACT camera match) so the view angle can be different and still line up. The result will be limited to the narrower view, of course. But if you shoot a photo with a wide angle lens and another with a long lens, once the center area of the wide angle has been cropped to match the telephoto, you cannot tell them apart. The same works for CG 'lenses'.

 

I started doing exactly what I have described probably ten years ago. It works. You only need to find out whether SketchUp can do what I said.

[STRAT]

well i further looked into it with the office SU wizard, considering what v-type said up there.

 

it transpires that SU's perspective views do have a focal length of your choice, there by making it a camera in effect.

 

also, SU does have it's own user co-ordinate system. Now i've repeatedly found this SU ucs is located differently than the acad/max norm, but, it's 0,0,0 point is floating, so you can type in a new possition for 0,0,0 and lock it down that way.

 

So the trick is to import an object from autocad at autocad's 0,0,0 then move SU's ucs to the point the acad object was imported, ie, the same 0,0,0 will be accomplished. then pick your view point and take a note of the view point's origin and target point co-ordinates, and the focal length, then type these figures into max or c4d to see if a match can be found!

 

sounds good in theory, but been too busy to try it at the mo. hopefully i'll try it on monday and report back. stay tuned!

 

thanks v-type and ernest for the input

[Chad Warner]

Keep us posted. I am curious to know if this works. Could you do this in the reverse method--create the camera in sketchup and then export to MAX? I just started playing with Sketchup, so I've no idea.

 

-Chad

[GaryR50]

Strat is correct, in that, SketchUp's normal viewing mode emulates a camera view. You can control your angle of view by simply typing "30" for a standard view, "70" or greater for a wide angle view. There are no camera "objects" to be positioned, as in some other 3D software. Frankly, this is a blessing, not a drawback. It means there is less to f**k around with to get what you want. In other words, SketchUp is not CAD, so if you're trying to apply your CAD thinking to it, you're missing the point; i.e., SketchUp is all about simplicity, not complexity. If you want your software to be complex and difficult to use, go back to whatever you were using before.

 

Gary

[Ernest Burden III]

also, SU does have it's own user co-ordinate system...So the trick is to import an object from autocad at autocad's 0,0,0 then move SU's ucs to the point the acad object was imported, ie, the same 0,0,0 will be accomplished. then pick your view point and take a note of the view point's origin and target point co-ordinates, and the focal length, then type these figures into max or c4d to see if a match can be found!

Strat

 

That is exactly what I have done--use triangle polys in the model to locate a camera and target, so I can be sure to get exact XYZ even if software fails to maintain an ABSOLUTE 0,0,0

 

I had asked in the C4D forum a bit ago about import scales of C4D (I was getting odd results) but found the problem was my DXF import was set to 100 (I had thought percent, it is really a multiplier). So as long as SketchUp complies, you should be all set.

 

I have also tested C4Ds ability to output layered files, and found it fantastic. You can get the line drawing you are looking for by processing C4D layered images, I've already done it. It was a lot slower to render the C4D view, unfortunately, with the layers. But it really worked.