Wide Ratio Camera Tool

16 votes
Version: 
0.1
Date Updated: 
12/23/2010

The Wide Ratio Camera Tool creates a camera rig that overrides the project's image output ratio.

Example :

- The final output image is for tv (HDTV 1280x720) : ratio 1.77.
- We want to display some 2.35 ratio for a "movie effect".

It works with 3dsmax's default cameras (free and target), and VrayPhysicalCameras.
The ratio is handled by a Custom Attribute in the created "c" helper.
The masks are properly wired : the ratio and the camera's focal length can be animated.

Original image output ratio 1.77

Overridden ratio 2.35

The camera rig

Additional Info: 

There is an issue with VrayPhysicalCam that can be easily bypassed.

Vray includes the target distance in its field/angle of view calculation :

When target distance > 5 meters, everything is ok
When target distance < 5m, you have to check "Specify focus", and set a huge value on the "focus distance" (like a focus set to "infinity"). If you don't do this, the camera rig will produce unexpected results.