Camera

V-Ray makes use of the regular Rhino camera position and parameters. It can also make use of certain attributes to add more advanced functionality to a scene camera beyond the regular Rhino camera controls and attributes. These additional camera functions and controls are based on the VRayPhysicalCamera plugin which uses real-world camera settings such as f-number, film sensitivity (ISO), and shutter speed to set up the virtual camera. It also makes it easier to use light sources with real-world illumination, including V-Ray Sun and Sky texture, or add effects such as depth of field, vignetting, and simulating vertical camera tilting. A couple of camera types and the stereo functionality allow producing output for VR imagery.

The main place to adjust the Camera settings is the Camera rollout. If you need further advancement of the settings, you can also use the Advanced Camera Parameters rollout. Note that the Advanced Camera Parameters rollout is visible only in Production mode.

Image courtesy of Ken Vollmer

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

Standard – Simulates a real-world camera with equivalent parameters such as film sensitivity, f-number, and shutter speed.
VR Spherical – A camera setup with the same properties as the Standard type that is useful for generating latlong images for spherical VR use.
VR Cubemap – A Cubic/Box camera setup with the same properties as the Standard type. The output of the cube sides is arranged in a single row. It is useful for generating cubic VR output.

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 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 enable the Auto option in order for V-Ray to automatically adjust the White Balance. For more information, see the White Balance example below.

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.

Depth of Field – Turns on the 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. During animation rendering, this value does not change between frames.
Camera Target – The focus distance is automatically calculated before the rendering starts and equals the distance between the camera position and the target. During animation rendering, the focus distance is recalculated for each frame.
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. During animation rendering, the focus distance is recalculated before each frame.
Rhino – Renders scenes with the original defocus set from Rhino.

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

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.

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 (the 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 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.

Camera Clipping – Turns on the camera clipping. 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.

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, a 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)-1. For example, for anamorphic bokeh, which is 2.39:1, the anisotropy value should be -0.353.