This page provides information on the Camera settings in the Asset Editor.

 

Overview


The Camera rollout controls the way the scene geometry is projected onto the image. The cameras in V-Ray generally define the rays that are cast into the scene, which essentially is how the scene is projected onto the screen.

The main place to adjust the Camera settings is the Camera rollout. If you need to fine-tune the settings, you can also use the Advanced Camera Parameters rollout. 

 

 

UI Paths


||V-Ray Asset Editor|| > Settings > Camera

||V-Ray Asset Editor|| > Settings > Advanced Camera Parameters



Camera


Type – Specifies the type of the camera. This is where you can define the output required for VR rendering or standard imaging.

Standard – A standard pinhole camera.
VR Spherical  A camera that is useful for generating latlong images for spherical VR use. 
VR Cubemap
 – A Cubic/Box camera with the cube side arranged in a single row. It is useful for generating cubic VR output.

VR Camera types require a viewport with perspective projection.

Stereo  – Enables or disables the Stereoscopic rendering mode. Stereoscopic images are rendered "side-by-side" or "one on top of the other" based on the Output Layout option. You do not need to re-adjust the image resolution as it adapts automatically.

Exposure – Enables the Physical Camera Exposure. When enabled, the Exposure Value, F-Number, Shutter speed and ISO settings affect the image brightness.

Exposure Value (EV) – Controls the sensitivity of the Camera to the scene lighting levels. The result is a brighter or darker image. If Auto Exposure (by clicking on it) is enabled, the Compensation value becomes available. When the Auto button is enabled, the ISO, F number and Shutter speed are locked.

Compensation – This option is enabled when the Exposure Value (EV) is set to Auto. It is an additional compensation for the auto-exposure value, in f-stops. A value of 1.0 makes the result twice as bright, and -1.0 makes it twice as dark.

White Balance – Renders objects in the scene that have the specified color as white in the image. Note that only the color hue is taken into consideration; the color brightness is ignored. There are several presets that can be used, most notably the Daylight preset for exterior scenes. You can click on the Auto option in order for V-Ray to automatically adjust the White Balance. For more information, see the White Balance example below.

Please note that the Auto option for both Exposure Value and White Balance works only in Production rendering mode and Light Cache must be specified as the secondary GI engine. Light Cache Disk Caching is not supported with the Auto option enabled. You can use it in Single Frame mode instead. 

Auto Values – This option is available when Auto Exposure/White Balance is used. It stores the auto calculated Exposure and White Balance from the last initialized render as values that can be reused in the next render by pressing the check button (). This option helps if you have manually set different values for the Exposure and White Balance and want to return to V-Ray best suggested values (for the last render). Manual refresh is required to get the values from the last render by pressing the update button (). See the short example video below.

 



 

 

Example: White Balance

Using the white balance color allows additional modification of the image output. Objects in the scene that have the specified color appear white in the image. E.g. for daylight scenes this value could be peach color to compensate for the color of the sun light etc.

F Number is 8.0,  Shutter speed  is 200.0, ISO is 200.0, Vignetting is on.

 

White balance is white (255, 255, 255)

White balance is blueish (145, 65, 255)

White balance is peach (20, 55, 245)

 

 


Example: Apply Auto Exposure and White Balance to the Active Camera

 

 

 


Depth of Field


Depth of Field – Turns on depth of field sampling.

Defocus – Determines how sharp or de-focused the image might look outside a plane determined by the Pick Focus Point command. This option is also known as Focus Range.

Focus Source – Chooses the way the camera focus is determined.

Fixed Distance – The camera focus is fixed to the Focus Distance value. Use the button on the right to pick a point in 3D space to set the camera focus distance. The distance between the render camera and the point is calculated and then the result used as Focus Distance. This calculation is not automatic and the same action has to be repeated every time the camera moves.
Camera Target The focus distance is automatically calculated before the rendering starts and equals the distance between the camera position and the target. 
Fixed Point
 – The focus distance is automatically calculated before the rendering starts and equals the distance between the camera position and the 3D point selected. Use the button on the right to select a point in the scene. 

Pick Point – Determines the position in 3D space by picking in the viewport where the camera should be in focus.

Focus Distance  – Affects the Depth of Field of the Camera and determines which part of the scene is in focus.

Picking the Pick Point can also be done from the viewport, just like using the Camera Focus Tool button from the object context menu. A minor difference in selecting Pick Point from the menu compared to the Asset Editor button is that the menu item is always active.

In the Asset Editor, the Pick Point option is not active if the Depth of Field is disabled. From the menu, the Camera Focus Tool command can be fired and a focal distance is set at any point. However, if Depth of Field is not enabled it won't be used.

 

 

 

 

Effects


Vignetting – Determines the reduction of an image's brightness at the periphery compared to the image center. For more information, see the Vignette example below.

Vertical Lens Tilt – Simulates vertical tilting of the camera which allows for perspective corrections or achieving a "2-point perspective" look.

 




 

Example: Vignetting


This parameter controls the simulating the optical vignetting effect of real-world cameras. When set to 0.0, vignetting is disabled. 

 



 

 

 

Advanced Camera Parameters


V-Ray supports several camera types: Standard, VR Spherical Panorama, VR Cubemap. Orthographic views are supported.

Film Sensitivity (ISO) – Determines the sensitivity of the film and consequently the brightness of the image. If the ISO value is high (film is more sensitive to the light), the image is brighter. Lower ISO values mean that the film is less sensitive and produces a darker image. For more information, see the ISO example below.

Aperture (F Number) – Determines the lens speed and consequently the brightness of the image. Additionally, the f-number affects the Depth of Field of the camera. The smaller the f-number is, the narrower the Depth of Field is. For more information, see the Exposure Control: F Number example below.

Shutter Speed (1/s) – Determines the exposure time for the virtual camera. The longer this time is (small Shutter Speed value), the brighter the image is. In reverse - if the exposure time is shorter (high Shutter Speed value), the image gets darker. For example, a shutter speed of 1/30 of a second corresponds to a value of 30 for this parameter. For more information, see the Shutter example below.

 

 

 


Aperture F-number vs Shutter Speed vs ISO
Cheat Sheet

 

The main options that control the brightness of a V-Ray camera are Aperture F-number, Shutter Speed and ISO. They affect each other and you need to balance them according to your scene. Keep in mind that these settings do not correspond to those of a real-life camera. They apply only to the V-Ray camera.

  • F-number determines the size of the opening in the camera lens. What the number refers to is the ratio between the aperture's focal length and the actual diameter of the aperture. A smaller F-number means a larger aperture. The larger the Aperture, the brighter the scene becomes but that also introduces more Depth of field.

  • Shutter Speed determines how long the lens stays open when taking the photo. The numbers refer to fractions of a second. The slower the Shutter Speed, the brighter the scene becomes but that also introduces Motion Blur.

  • ISO determines the camera's sensitivity to light in the scene. Lowering the ISO means that more light is needed to achieve good lighting. Increasing the ISO means that less light is needed to achieve good lighting. A day scene, lit with a V-Ray Sun, for instance, looks best when captured with around 100 ISO.

 

 

 

 

Camera Clipping


Camera Clipping – Turns on the camera clipping. Enabling the Camera Clipping option shows the clipping planes in the SketchUp's viewport. Objects or parts of the objects outside of the near and far clipping planes are ignored during rendering.

Clipping Near – Specifies the near clipping plane distance relative to the camera position.

Clipping Far – Specifies the far clipping plane distance relative to the camera position.

Left-click on a point in the viewport to adjust the near clipping plane.

 

 

 

Example: Camera Clipping


 

 

 

Bokeh


This rollout becomes available, when Depth of Field is enabled.

Enable Bokeh effects – Defines the shape of the camera aperture. When this option is off, perfectly circular aperture is simulated. When it is on, a polygonal aperture is simulated, with the given number of blades.

Blade – Sets the number of sides for the polygonal shape of the aperture.

Center Bias – Defines a bias shape for the Bokeh effects. Positive values make the outer edge of the Bokeh effects brighter. Negative values make the center of the effect brighter.

Rotation – Defines the rotation of the blades in degrees.

Anisotropy – Allows the stretching of the Bokeh effect horizontally or vertically to simulate anamorphic lenses. If you want the ratio of height to width of the bokeh to be k:1,  then the value for anisotropy should be sqrt(1/k)-1For example, for anamorphic bokeh, which is 2.39:1, the anisotropy value should be -0.353. 

 

 


Example: Film Sensitivity (ISO)

This parameter determines the sensitivity of the film and so the brightness of the image. If the film speed (ISO) is high (film is more sensitive to the light), the image is brighter. Lower ISO values mean that the film is less sensitive and produces a darker image.

Exposure is on, Shutter Speed is 60.0, F Number is 8.0, Vignetting is on, White balance is white.

 


ISO
 is 400


ISO
 is 800


ISO
 is 1600

 

 

 

 

 


Example: Aperture: F Number

Note: All the images from the following examples are rendered using the VRaySunSky set with their default parameters.

This parameter controls the aperture size of the virtual camera. Lowering the F Number value increases the aperture size and so makes the image brighter, since more light enters the camera. In reverse, increasing the F Number makes the image darker, as the aperture is closed.

Shutter speed is 60.0, ISO is 200, Vignetting is on, White balance is white.

 


F Number
 is 8.0 


F Number
 is 6.0 


F Number
 is 4.0 

 

 

 

 


Example: Shutter Speed

This parameter determines the exposure time for the virtual camera. The longer this time is (small Shutter speed value), the brighter the image would be. In reverse - if the exposure time is shorter (high Shutter speed value), the image would get darker. This parameter also affects the motion blur effect, see White balance .

Exposure is on, F Number is 8.0, ISO is 200, Vignetting is on, White balance is white.

 

 


Shutter speed is 125.0


Shutter speed is 60.0


Shutter speed is 30.0