The real advantage of the 3D world is the ability to view the scene from any position[md]upside, downside, and even inside out. This is made possible using virtual cameras that are positioned within the scene. Poser includes several default camera types that you can choose. These camera types include a set of orthogonal cameras, cameras that can be rotated and cameras that can be focused on specific body parts like the face and hands.

Once a camera is selected, you can use the Camera Controls to change its position and orientation. The Camera Controls also let you change specific camera motions such as rolling the camera and toggling flyaround mode.

Cameras can also be selected from the Action List that makes the camera parameters and properties visible. Camera parameters offer a way to precisely move cameras to specific positions and orientations. You can also change camera properties such as focal length, F-stop, and clipping planes.

Poser also includes some specialized features that let you point cameras at specific items in the scene. For example, you can quickly animate the rotations of a camera by pointing the camera towards the figure’s head or torso or you can have a specific body part set to point at a camera.

You can load a custom background of the Document Window to display a color, a picture, a movie, or particular texture. This background is displayed in the Document Window and can be included when the image is rendered.

Learn The Available Cameras
Cameras provide you a view of the scene and can be manipulated to show you the exact portion of the scene that you want to concentrate on. You can select preset cameras from the Display, Camera View menu, the Select Camera icon, and the pop-up menu in the Camera Controls. You can also select a camera for the current view by right-clicking on the Document Window and selecting Camera View from the pop-up menu.

You can also select from the various cameras using the Actor List at the top of the Document Window and the Parameters/Properties palette, but doing this only selects the camera icon and does not change the view.

Cameras within the current scene are represented by a camera icon, but most are set to be invisible by default. To see the camera icons, simply enable the Visible option in the Properties palette. Figure 6-1 shows a camera icon in front of the default figure.

Using Camera Presets
The available preset camera views including the Main, Auxiliary, Left, Right, Top, Bottom, Front, Back, Face, Posing, Right Hand, Left Hand, Dolly, and Shadow Light cameras. Each of these camera types has its own icon in the Camera Controls, as shown in Figure 6-2, which you can access by clicking the Select Camera icon or by clicking and dragging to the left or right. If the Display, Show Camera Names option is enabled, the camera name appears in the upper-left corner of the Document Window.