Alight camera horizontally in Sketchup

immarkkim · Aug 23rd 2019

Hello,

as you know, two-point perspective or vertical tilt shift is a critical feature in arch viz, and is almost always turned on when I export my image.

Another nice feature would be a button that aligned the camera perpendicular (e.g. front/back/left/right) to the view so that the grid like elements in the scene are 'flat' and not skewed.

For example, when I render a scene with a ceiling grid, it is really hard to make sure the camera is perpendicular to the scene, causing the ceiling grid to be ever so slightly skewed to one side of the view.

The only solution right now is to use num pad to align the camera perfectly to front/back/left/right, but again the problem is moving the camera up/down with mouse makes it no longer perfectly perpendicular.

Right now, the num pad align view sets the camera to 'zoom extent' when aligning to front/back/left/right. As you may imagine, this is not particularly useful especially when you have a scene with large context/environment/landscape. It causes the camera to pull back wayyyy outside. It would be nice if the numpad did not zoom or recenter the camera to the middle, but simply snapped the camera to perpendiculars. That way, I find my view I want, then press the numpad to make the camera perfectly perpendicular to the scene.

This solution only works when the building is aligned to the main axis. But it would still be a nice feature to the workflow.

Thanks!

Gadget · Aug 23rd 2019

Similar to this? : Eye level reset button

bsfranza · Aug 23rd 2019

why dont you align the view inside of sketchup when making a scene? you can select a face and then use rightclick align camera to face... then you are looking straight onto it then only use zoom and the hand tool + eye height.. voilla

best, franza

immarkkim · Aug 26th 2019

Hi franza, that could work for certain moments, but there are many times where I need to look at the ceiling/ground like you are looking up or down, from a specific height. For example, in an office building, how the ceiling looks from sitting down etc. Or in competition renderings where you want to get extreme angles while maintaining axis alignment.

In programs like Max, you can simply click on the camera target gizmo and move the z axis, allowing you to look up without moving the camera. Since in Enscape there is no camera gizmo, this is currently impossible to do.

bsfranza · Aug 26th 2019

hm yes, but you have all camera control inside of sketchup - the only adventure is aligning the visible sketchup screen ratio to the render view

if you can show preciser your problem i would love to help, so for the example of your initial post, i would first align my view to a face i want to orthogonaly look onto, then i would use z for zoom too take the desired zoom level and also h hand tool to find the right position. complementary you can then use the eye tool again to set camera height manual via numbers?!

immarkkim · Aug 26th 2019

In sketchup, if you set 2 point perspective, and use the hand tool, you can pan up and down to see more ceiling/ground. However, enscape only matches the 2 pont perspective but does not sync to the pan/shift movement of the sketchup view.

bsfranza · Aug 26th 2019

yes thats right.. but its only a problem if you want to make composite of sketchup render and enscape render... otherwise you can also use 2pp in enscape and use hand tool there, or not?

immarkkim · Aug 26th 2019

hand tool in enscape moves the camera position, where what I need to do is keep the camera in the same spot but just look up. What I'm trying to do is not something unusual or difficult. It is a very common practise in arch viz... Most of the times, it's not a huge deal, but becomes a problem when you have a tiled floor or ceiling...

bsfranza · Aug 26th 2019

when 2d perspective in enscape is on, "looking around" is same as camera shift, or not?!

immarkkim · Aug 27th 2019

In sketchup, when two point perspective is on, it freezes the camera, so panning around is like camera shift as you said.

In enscape, when you pan, even with two point perspective on, it moves the camera around rather than shifting.

EGIE · Aug 27th 2019

Hi All - I also don´t get this strange enscape 2P perspective feature neither in my head nor handled
Within Sketchup you can set a pedestrian`s view looking upward and set this view as a 2P perspective as well - this is completely normal, necessary and also common practise in arch viz as immarkkim mentioned above (please see my exaggerated example)

To make this possible, SketchUp allows the chosen 2P perspective view to be tilted upwards or downwards too.
Now comes the Enscape Dilemma (at least also for me, acknowledging that I'm just again too stupid to find a way )
Unlike SkUp, Enscape doesn't keep SketchUp´s camera tilt, but seems to switch to a somehow horizontal view and provides a 2P perspective - yes! but one that is not wanted or needed in this way. Regardless of what I wish - I only get, for which Enscape is just capable ...

Also in this context I wish so much a complete synchronization with the SketchUp´s camera settings and not Enscape´s self-interpretation of any kind

But if there is a way out, I ask the Enscape team kindly to capture a tutorial video instead of discussing too much - so that we can all get ahead faster in our work ...

Pixero · Aug 27th 2019

I have made a script to control camera orientation numerically. Maybe it can help.

It's called JS Camera Tool and you can get it here: http://pixero.com/downloads_sketchup.html

Unzip and place the rb file in you SketchUp plugins folder

(typically found here: C:\Users\"USERNAME"\AppData\Roaming\SketchUp\SketchUp 2019\SketchUp\Plugins

Then restart SketchUp.

bsfranza · Aug 27th 2019

hm - still - i dont get it

you set 2pp in sketchup - open enscape, unlink camera, set 2pp manually and can then click and drag in the enscape view and have the same pan effect?!

of course its not same 1:1 view as sketchup but as i have pointed out, this does not matter as long as you dont want to composite both "images"

EGIE · Aug 27th 2019

Thanks bsfranza Yes! - Your view is kind of what I try to get !! - but I don´t get it to work ?? Enscapes camera sticks to any horizontal "plane" continuously.
Is there any Shortcut-trick maybe? Even focusing on the desired scene content as shown below is an unbearable fumbling

immarkkim · Aug 27th 2019

EGIE, basically you have to untoggle 'synchronize view', then you can look upwards.

bsfranza, yup, it is largely not a problem, especially for exterior scenes

but for interior scenes with grid floor or ceiling, by manually clicking and dragging in enscape, the camera is no longer perpendicular to the object/building/scene because it is impossible to move the mouse just vertically,

you can see in my image (in the first post) where the grid floor/ceiling lines are slightly skewed.

Of course, you can meticulously adjust the camera so it aligns horizontally, but when you have multiple views, and since enscape does not match 2 point perspective scenes from sketchup, I have to do fiddle manually each and every time.

Gadget · Aug 27th 2019

Quote from immarkkim

...

but for interior scenes with grid floor or ceiling, by manually clicking and dragging in enscape, the camera is no longer perpendicular to the object/building/scene because it is impossible to move the mouse just vertically,

I highly recommend getting a space mouse (https://www.3dconnexion.co.uk/products/spacemouse.html)

I can navigate with ease in SU and am decent at FPS on PC's, so navigation with keyboard and mouse isn't a problem; however nothing compares with the smoothness and ease of use with one of these. I just use the wireless and wouldn't use anything else to navigate in Enscape. (You can just move vertically if required.)

EGIE · Aug 27th 2019

Thans to all here - I will try to video capture how I proceed this evening,

hoping you will realize what I'm doing or is going wrong - I'm unable to realize that

bsfranza · Aug 28th 2019

Quote from immarkkim

EGIE, basically you have to untoggle 'synchronize view', then you can look upwards.

bsfranza, yup, it is largely not a problem, especially for exterior scenes

but for interior scenes with grid floor or ceiling, by manually clicking and dragging in enscape, the camera is no longer perpendicular to the object/building/scene because it is impossible to move the mouse just vertically,

you can see in my image (in the first post) where the grid floor/ceiling lines are slightly skewed.

Of course, you can meticulously adjust the camera so it aligns horizontally, but when you have multiple views, and since enscape does not match 2 point perspective scenes from sketchup, I have to do fiddle manually each and every time.

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ha yes that is right... if you want it 100% perfect its fiddling.. i always just give it a eyeballing approach or hold a paper up the monitor to make sure i have the lines horizontal as good as possible...

but you are right here... IDEA > give us dedicated controls, either as slider or as modifier key for the shift camera value when using enscapes 2pp?! @ dev team - how about that - should be easy to implement, or not?

bong2x · Sep 24th 2019

Quote from Pixero

I have made a script to control camera orientation numerically. Maybe it can help.

It's called JS Camera Tool and you can get it here: http://pixero.com/downloads_sketchup.html

Unzip and place the rb file in you SketchUp plugins folder

(typically found here: C:\Users\"USERNAME"\AppData\Roaming\SketchUp\SketchUp 2019\SketchUp\Plugins

Then restart Sketch

Hi, Greetings,

I was trying to install the plugin, but unfortunately gives me an error . the plugin is not loading.

any fixation process?

thanks and regards,

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arqcova · Dec 9th 2020

Quote from Pixero

I have made a script to control camera orientation numerically. Maybe it can help.

It's called JS Camera Tool and you can get it here: http://pixero.com/downloads_sketchup.html

Unzip and place the rb file in you SketchUp plugins folder

(typically found here: C:\Users\"USERNAME"\AppData\Roaming\SketchUp\SketchUp 2019\SketchUp\Plugins

Then restart SketchUp.

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Hello Pixero any chance that you have this plugin available, and I'm also looking for the "mover" plugin?