Camera

Produces scenes containing a camera. To choose which camera is used for rendering, use a StandardOptions node.

user

Container for user-defined plugs. Nodes should never make their own plugs here, so users are free to do as they wish.

out

The output scene.

enabled

The on/off state of the node. When it is off, the node outputs an empty scene.

name

The name of the object in the output scene.

sets

A list of sets to include the object in. The names should be separated by spaces.

transform

The transform applied to the object.

projection

The base camera type.

Supports two standard projections: orthographic and perspective. For less standard projections that require renderer-specific implementations, such as spherical, you will need to use a downstream CameraTweaks node to adjust this camera’s parameters.

perspectiveMode

The input values to use in defining the perspective projection. They can be either a horizontal field of view (fieldOfView), or a film back/sensor (aperture) and focal length (focalLength). The latter two can take the exact measurements from a real camera and lens setup. With either perspective mode, perspective is stored as aperture and focalLength parameters on the camera.

fieldOfView

The horizontal field of view, in degrees.

In the camera’s parameters, projection is always stored as aperture and focalLength. When using the Field of View perspective mode, the aperture has the fixed dimensions of 1, 1, and this plug drives the focalLength parameter.

apertureAspectRatio

The vertical field of view, according to the ratio (horizontal FOV) / (vertical FOV). A value of 1 would result in a square aperture, while a value of 1.778 would result in a 16:9 aperture.

“Aperture” in this sense is equivalent to film back/sensor.

The final projection of a render using this camera will depend on these settings in combination with the resolution and filmFit render settings.

aperture

The width and height of the aperture when using the Aperture and Focal Length perspective mode. Use this in conjunction with a focal length to define the camera’s equivalent field of view.

“Aperture” here is equivalent to the film back/sensor on a real camera. A handful of default camera presets are provided, including Full Frame 35mm and several popular Alexa and RED bodies. Once the aperture is set, the focal length can then be adjusted on its own to control the field of view, just like on a real camera.

When setting the aperture manually, the x and y dimensions can be measured in any unit of length, so long as they use the same unit as the focal length. You can safely follow convention and use millimeters for both.

The final field of view of a render will depend on these settings in combination with the resolution and filmFit render options.

focalLength

The focal length portion of the Aperture and Focal Length perspective mode. This is equivalent to the lens’s focal length in a real camera setup. Use this in conjunction with the aperture to set the camera’s equivalent field of view. Like on a real camera, the aperture is typically constant, and the focal length is then adjusted to control the field of view.

This can be a distance in any unit of length, as long as you use the same unit for the aperture. You can safely follow convention and use millimeters for both.

The final field of view of a render using this camera will depend on these settings in combination with the resolution and filmFit render options.

orthographicAperture

The width and height of the orthographic camera’s aperture, in world space units.

apertureOffset

Offsets the aperture parallel to the image plane, to achieve a skewed viewing frustum. The scale of the offset depends on the projection and perspective mode:

• Perspective projection: - Field Of View mode: 1 offset = 1 horizontal field of view. - Aperture and Focal Length mode: 1 offset = 1 aperture unit of measure (for example, 1mm).
• Orthographic projection: 1 offset = 1 world space unit.

For use in special cases, such as simulating a tilt-shift lens, rendering tiles for a large panorama, or matching a plate that has been asymmetrically cropped.

fStop

The setting equivalent to the f-number on a camera, which ultimately determines the strength of the depth of field blur. A lower value produces more blur. As in a real camera, fStop is defined as focalLength / lens aperture.

To enable depth of field blur (if your renderer supports it), give this plug a value greater than 0, and, on a downstream StandardOptions node, enable the Depth Of Field plug and turn it on.

focalLengthWorldScale

The scale to convert from focal length units to world space units. Combined with f-stop to calculate the lens aperture. Set this to scale the lens units into scene units, to ensure the depth of field blur correctly scales to the scene. Once this plug is set, the fStop plug can be adjusted to match a real-world lens setting.

For example, given a lens with a focal length in mm, and a scene that uses decimeters for its world space units, the Millimeters to Decimeters preset would provide the proper conversion.

The default value of 0.1 scales millimeter (default focal length unit) to centimeter (default world space unit of Alembic and USD scene formats). Other default presets for scaling to decimeter or meter are also available.

If using Field Of View projection mode, you won’t have a focal length plug to work with, and the aperture size will be (1,1). To compensate, select Custom and then input a value that scales the scene unit of measure to a realistic aperture size. For example, 3.5 would convert 1 centimeter (Alembic/USD default) to 35mm, which would simulate a 35mm lens.

focusDistance

The distance from the camera at which objects are in perfect focus, in world space units.

clippingPlanes

The near and far clipping planes, defining a region of forward depth within which objects are visible to this camera.

renderSettingOverrides

Render settings specified here will override their corresponding global render options.

renderSettingOverrides.filmFit

Overrides the filmFit render option:

How the aperture gate (the frame defined by the aperture) will fit into the resolution gate (the framed defined by the data window). Fitting is applied only if the respective aspect ratios of the aperture and the resolution are different. The following fitting modes are available:

• Horizontal: The aperture gate will fit horizontally between the left/right edges of the resolution gate, while preserving its aspect ratio. If the aperture’s aspect ratio is larger than the resolution’s, the top/bottom edges of the aperture will be cropped. If it’s smaller, then the top/bottom edges will capture extra vertical scene content.
• Vertical: The aperture gate will fit vertically between the top/bottom edges of the resolution gate, while preserving its aspect ratio. If the aperture’s aspect ratio is larger than the resolution’s, the left/right edges of the aperture will be cropped. If it’s smaller, then the left/right edges will capture more horizontal scene content.
• Fit: The aperture gate will fit horizontally (like Horizontal mode) or vertically (like Vertical mode) inside the resolution gate to avoid cropping the aperture, while preserving its aspect ratio. If the two gates’ aspect ratios differ, the aperture will capture extra horizontal or vertical scene content.
• Fill: The aperture gate will fill the resolution gate such that none of the aperture captures extra scene content, while preserving its aspect ratio. In other words, it will make the opposite choice of the Fit mode. If the two gates’ aspect ratios differ, the aperture will be horizontally or vertically cropped.
• Distort: The aperture gate will match the size of the resolution gate. If their aspect ratios differ, the resulting image will appear vertically or horizontally stretched or squeezed.

renderSettingOverrides.shutter

Overrides the shutter render option:

The interval over which the camera shutter is open. Measured in frames, and specified relative to the frame being rendered.

renderSettingOverrides.resolution

Overrides the renderResolution render option:

The resolution of the image to be rendered.

renderSettingOverrides.pixelAspectRatio

Overrides the pixelAspectRatio render option:

The width / height aspect ratio of the individual pixels in the rendered image.

renderSettingOverrides.resolutionMultiplier

Overrides the resolutionMultiplier render option:

Multiplies the resolution of the render by this amount.

renderSettingOverrides.overscan

Overrides the overscan render option:

Whether to enable overscan, which adds extra pixels to the sides of the rendered image.

Overscan can be useful when camera shake or blur will be added as a post-process. This plug just enables overscan as a whole – use the Overscan Top, Overscan Bottom, Overscan Left and Overscan Right plugs to specify the amount of overscan on each side of the image.

renderSettingOverrides.overscanLeft

Overrides the overscanLeft render option:

The amount of overscan at the left of the image. Specified as a 0-1 proportion of the original image width.

renderSettingOverrides.overscanRight

Overrides the overscanRight render option:

The amount of overscan at the right of the image. Specified as a 0-1 proportion of the original image width.

renderSettingOverrides.overscanTop

Overrides the overscanTop render option:

The amount of overscan at the top of the image. Specified as a 0-1 proportion of the original image height.

renderSettingOverrides.overscanBottom

Overrides the overscanBottom render option:

The amount of overscan at the bottom of the image. Specified as a 0-1 proportion of the original image height.

renderSettingOverrides.cropWindow

Overrides the renderCropWindow render option:

Limits the render to a region of the image. The rendered image will have the same resolution as usual, but areas outside the crop will be rendered black. Coordinates range from (0,0) at the top-left of the image to (1,1) at the bottom-right. The crop window tool in the viewer may be used to set this interactively.

renderSettingOverrides.depthOfField

Overrides the depthOfField render option:

Whether to render with depth of field. To ensure the effect is visible, you must also set an f-stop value greater than 0 on this camera.