Frame and move the camera

Every scene has one shot camera. The render follows its framing, its lens and its move, and the prompt describes them in words as well.

A new camera sits 1.6 m off the ground, 6 m back, on a 35 mm lens at f/4, focused at 6 m.

Frame the shot with the Camera tool

The Camera tool flies the shot camera from inside the Lens view.

1. Switch to Lens (press C if you are in Free).
2. Press Q, or click the Camera tool in the viewport toolbar.
3. Move the camera with the keyboard:
   • ↑ and ↓ move forward and back along the view.
   • ← and → move sideways.
   • ⌥↑ and ⌥↓ raise and lower the camera.
   • Hold Shift to move 5 times faster. Each press moves 10 cm.
4. Drag in the viewport to look around. A plain click still selects.
5. Press Q again to turn the tool off.

The tool works in the Lens view only. Pressing C for Free view turns it off. Esc does not: Esc goes back to the Storyboard.

A burst of key presses is one undo step, Move camera. A look drag is Rotate camera.

The tool changes the base camera. It sets keys only on properties that already have keys, at the playhead. To animate the camera, see Plan shots and keyframes.

In Free view you can also select the camera frustum and drag its move and rotate gizmos. While the camera is selected in Free view, a preview in the bottom-right corner shows its frame, for example Camera · 35 mm. Click the preview to switch to Lens.

Set the lens and focus

Open the Camera tab in the inspector, or click Shot camera in the Objects rail.

• Camera: position X, Y, Z, and rotation as P (pan), T (tilt) and R (roll).
• Focal length: 12 mm to 200 mm, with chips for 18, 24, 35, 50, 85 and 135. The line below gives the horizontal field of view.
• Aperture: f/1.4 to f/22.
• Focus: choose Distance and set 0.1 m to 50 m, or choose Object and pick a Target. Focus on an object follows it as it moves.

Depth of field previews in the Lens view only. The guide frames the model receives are always sharp, and the prompt states the focus in words instead. See How Scene Explorer writes the prompt.

The viewport footer reads the camera back to you, for example Shot 1 of 3 · 0:12 · 35 mm · f/2.8 · Focus Mara, 10 m.

Add handheld shake

Under Camera effects, turn on Handheld. Strength goes from 5% to 100% and starts at 40%. The shake sits on top of the camera’s motion, so it works on a static shot and on a moving one. The prompt adds “handheld drift”.

Give the camera a move

Motion presets write a complete camera move. A preset replaces the camera’s motion in the whole scene, or in the selected shot if you have one selected. The caption above the chips says which.

Preset	Default amount
Push in, Pull out	1.5 m
Truck left, Truck right	1.5 m
Pan left, Pan right	30°
Tilt up, Tilt down	15°
Orbit left, Orbit right	45°
Crane up, Crane down	2 m
Pedestal up, Pedestal down	1 m
Zoom in, Zoom out	25 mm
Static	Holds the camera still

Each move eases in and out over the span. Applying one is a single undo step named after the preset. To shape it further, edit its keys on the Camera lane.

Result

The Lens view shows your framing at the lens and aperture you set. Pressing Space plays the move, and the footer reads the lens, aperture and focus at the playhead.

If it doesn’t work

The arrow keys don’t move the camera. The Camera tool is off, you are in Free view, or the viewport lost focus. Click in the viewport or press Q again.

A preset wiped the move you built. Presets replace motion. Press ⌘Z to get your keys back, or select a single shot first so the preset applies only there.

Object focus is greyed out. The scene has no objects yet. Add one, or focus by distance.