Camera view items provides the ability to :-

• store multiple camera view positions in 3D that can be easily placed onto a Plan View page (discussed in this tutorial) or used for a Walkthrough Animation;
• dynamically update camera view items when the drawing changes;
• switch rapidly between a number of "good" views.

For this tutorial, simply place cabinets on your plan. Used in this example are 2 x Floor 2 Door and 1 x Floor 4 Drawer (dimensions are not important).

Define Camera View

Now we will add and define a camera view.

 

Step 1

Change your View to 3D which will make available the 3D Tools | Display commands, as shown.

• Select a Render Mode - in this tutorial, Textured has been selected.
• Click on the 'Add Camera' command button.
  
  

  'Add Camera' allows you to create multiple 3D views defined as required i.e. you can zoom and/or crop portion of a view in any Render Mode.

 

Step 2

A red rectangle will be automatically presented, showing the portion of the 3D view selected.

• A new camera view will be created and added to the list of camera views, in this example 'Camera 1'.
• You can pan, rotate or zoom in/out etc to adjust the view. This is the area that will appear when placed on the plan.
  • In this example, we have zoomed in and slightly rotated the image.

  

A great way to navigate around in 3D is by clicking and dragging the mouse on the 3D view. Hold down [Shift] at same time to pan.

Use the scroll wheel on your mouse to zoom in/out or use the 'Update Cropping' command (example below) to change the selected portion of the 3D view.

You can even Format individual cabinets at this stage, for example to open/close doors/drawers.

Step 3

Switch back to Plan View and select the Cameras tab on the ribbon.

• Select the 'Place Camera View' command button.
  (If you have created more than one camera view, you will first need to select the required Camera for placement).
• Click and drag on the plan to place the camera view item to the desired size.
  (The black arrow is appearing because the 'Show Focus' check box is turned on).
  
  

 

Camera Management

You can create as many camera positions as you want by using the Add Camera command icon.

The Save Camera command will be made available only if you make adjustments (i.e. rotate, pan or zoom) to a selected camera view.

Switch between camera view items by using the left and right arrows or selecting them from the camera drop list, as shown.

You can also...

• Rename the selected Camera;
• Delete the selected Camera;
• Update Cropping to a previously created Camera or a new view (using the 'Add Camera').
  • Click on the presented 3D view and you will be able use your mouse to manually select an area.
    • The red rectangle will change as per your new selection - see example.
  • This will automatically save the selected Camera with cropped view.
    • The 'Save Camera' command will only be required if you rotate, pan or zoom the cropped section.

Example: Update Cropping

In this example, we selected Camera 1 and ...

• clicked on the Update Cropping command;
• clicked on the 3D view and using the mouse, selected the required area i.e. click and drag;
• a red rectangle will display the area of selection.
  • You can now place on plan or, if previously place, it will be dynamically updated.
  • Click on image to view cropped selection.

Click to view cropped selection of Camera 1 previously placed

Dynamic Updating of Camera View

The camera view item is dynamic, which means that as the drawing changes, the 3D view will update automatically.

Example 1 - Open and close doors and drawers

The first example shows the drawers on an individual cabinet opened and displayed dynamically as settings are changed. (Click on image)

Opening Drawers on individual cabinet  -  Click to view cabinet options

 

The second example shows the drawers and doors opened dynamically for the whole drawing by amending the settings in the Drawing Properties.

Click to view Drawing Property options

Example 2 - Change placement of cabinets

In this example we placed three cabinets and created a camera view.

As the cabinet on the plan is moved, the camera view is dynamically updated.

Adjust and Save Camera Position

To adjust the viewpoint of a single camera view item, you need to be in 3D Display and ... 

1. ensure the 'Camera View Item' is selected;
   • in this example 
2. adjust the camera position;
   • in this example we have rotated the image. Notice that the 'Save' icon is no longer greyed out.
3. click the 'Save Camera Position' command button.

The following image shows the result on the Plan.