Using Flyaround Mode
The Flyaround button toggles on Flyaround mode, which spins the camera about the figure’s center and animates the scene objects, as shown for three frames in Figure 6-8. This provides a quick view of all sides of the scene. While in Flyaround mode, you can move the cursor in the Document Window up and down to change the angle of the spinning camera. Clicking again on the Flyaround button returns the view to its previous setting. You can also access Flyaround mode using the Camera Controls pop-up menu and the Display, Camera View menu or by pressing Ctrl+L.

Moving and Rotating a Camera
The hand icons in the Camera Controls are used to move the camera view within the YZ plane, the XY plane, or XZ plane. To use these icons, just click them and drag. The view in the Document Window is updated as you drag. The sphere with arrows on it at the bottom of the Camera Controls, called the Trackball, is used to rotate the camera. It is used like the move icons by clicking and dragging in the direction you want to rotate the camera. You can also access the Trackball by holding down the Alt key and dragging in the Document Window. The Roll button tilts the figure within the Document Window about its center. You can also change the camera’s position and rotation by dragging the parameter dials in the Parameters palette.

Mini-sized controls for positioning and rotating the camera view are included on the top-right corner of the Document Window.

Changing a Camera’s Scale and Focal Length
The final two Camera Controls buttons to the left of the Trackball are for adjusting the camera’s scale and focal length. Dragging on the Scale button changes the size of the figure within the viewpane and dragging with the Focal Length button changes the center focus point for the camera, which results in how close or far the figure appears from the camera. The Focal Length control in the Camera Control palette is exactly the same as the Focal parameter in the Parameters palette.

The Focal Length parameter is critical when trying to create a Depth of Field effect. This effect is covered in the next section and also in Chapter 16, “Rendering Scenes.”

Undoing Camera Changes
Whenever a camera moves or rotates to show a different view, you can keep track of the view changes in the Undo cache so they can be undone, but frequent camera moves can quickly fill up the Undo cache overwriting any figure posing changes that have recently been made. If you disable the Remember Changes for Undo option in the Properties palette, shown in Figure 6-9, for the selected camera, view changes aren’t kept in the Undo cache.

Using Display Guides
The Display, Guides menu command includes several useful display guides that can help as you begin to move the cameras about the scene. In addition to the two guides used to indicate the relative size and proportions of the figure, the Display, Guides menu command also includes the following guides, shown and labeled in Figure 6-10:

*      Ground Plane. Can be turned on and off. It is useful to help set the vertical alignment of objects in the scene. The Material Room can also be used to apply a unique material to the ground plane.

* Horizon Line. Adds a set of horizontal dashed lines across the Document Window to show where the horizon in the distance is located.

*      Vanishing Lines. Marks the point off in the distance where all objects converge to show perspective. This guide is helpful for determining the amount of perspective distortion in the scene.

* Focus Distant Guide. Marks the point where the camera is in focus. This is used to determine the center point for the Depth of Field render effect. This point is set uniquely for each camera.