Building Scenes
Cameras & saved views
Camera objects set the viewpoint your visitors get; saved views are your own working bookmarks. They are not the same thing.
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"Camera" means two different things in 3dCMS, and keeping them straight saves confusion:
- Saved views are your working camera bookmarks while editing (the 1–4 slots — see Moving around the viewport).
- Camera objects are nodes in the scene that define the viewpoint your visitors start from when they open the published page.
This article is about the second kind.
Adding and aiming a camera
Create a camera with Create ▸ Camera, then position it like any object. The Properties panel's Camera section gives you:
- Set Active Preview Camera — makes this the scene's active viewpoint. The active camera is where the published page (and the consumer preview) opens.
- View from camera — snaps your editor view to look through it, so you can frame the shot.
- Align to viewport — moves the camera to match your current editor view (frame it by eye, then lock it in).
Lens controls
| Control | Notes |
|---|---|
| FOV presets | Quick buttons: Close (28°), Medium (42°), Wide (65°). Each also sets sensible near/far values. |
| FOV | Field of view, 10–120°. Lower is more telephoto; higher is more wide-angle. |
| Near / Far | The clip planes. Anything closer than Near or farther than Far isn't drawn — set Far too low and distant objects vanish. |
Preview cameras are perspective only
A camera object always uses perspective projection today — there's no orthographic toggle on the node. (The Top/Front/Side and ortho options in the Camera menu control your editing view, not the camera object.)
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