Key Terms from This Chapter
• Background image. An image that is set to appear behind the scene.

• Camera Dots. An interface control used to remember and recall camera position and properties.

• Clipping plane. A plane positioned parallel to the camera that defines the border beyond which scene objects aren’t visible.

• Depth of field. An optical effect that focuses the view at the focal point and gradually blurs all objects further than the focal point.

• Dolly. A camera motion that moves the view closer or farther from the scene.

• Focal length. The distance from the camera’s center where the image is in focus.

• Flyaround mode. A toggle mode that causes the camera to spin about the central axis of the current scene, animating its view from all angles.

• F-stop. A camera setting that determines the size of the aperture and that affects the intensity of the blurring for a depth of field effect.

• Motion blur. An optical effect that causes objects in motion to appeared blurred as they move through the scene.

• Orthogonal camera. A camera that is positioned at the end of an axis and displays the scene as a 2D plane where all dimensions are accurate. Top, Bottom, Front, Back, Left, and Right are examples of orthogonal cameras.

• Perspective. A optical property that displays depth by having all object edges gradually converge to a point in the distance.

• Posing camera. A camera that stays focused on the scene’s selected figure.

• Shadow camera. A camera that is positioned in the same location as a light.

• Trackball. A ball-like control within the Camera Controls that rotates the scene.

• Vanishing lines. Guide lines that lead from the edges of an object to the perspective converging point.

Kelly L. Murdock has more than 15 years experience in the computer graphics arena, especially in the area of 3D graphics. Included in the experience is a variety of tasks from high-end CAD product design and architectural pre-visualization to virtual reality and games. Kelly is best known for his international best-selling books on graphics including the 3ds max Bible, Illustrator Bible and Naked Maya. He also is the author of Poser 6 Revealed and Poser 7 Revealed as well as Edgeloop Character Modeling for 3D Professionals. Kelly currently works as a freelance designer for Logical Paradox Design, a company that he founded with his brother.