easier way to move 'objects', specifically phsyical lights out of frame

[em3d]

currently to move a physical light you can either

A. type in the numbers (which is great but not when its like .000 of a movement, and middle mouse wheeling is always wayyyy too much)
B. use the 'Move' uh.. tool/feature/option (?) and click on the red, green, and blue (xyz) and drag.  this is awesome and my preferred way of doing this but I wish there was a way to do this without having to change my view.  The light is usually out of the frame and therfore those arrows are also out of the frame, so to move them this way you have to change your camera.

HDR light studio (And the hdr editor) are both awesome because its a second window that you can just move the lights around in and see real time in your camera whats going on.  basically i want that control but with the physical lights.  so I don't know if keyshot would need a second window or how exactly to go about this..   But basically some more user friendly version of B. would be awesome     

[guest84672]

Can't you save the view prior to moving your light?

[KeyShot]

Agreed. We will see what we can do.

[em3d]

yes thomas but then you can't really see what your doing with the accuracy you need.  its like you might as well paint your hdrs in photoshop too. 

[Despot]

Also being able to 'see' the camera would be great...

J

[Despot]

Like this... 

[guest84672]

In KeyShot you are always looking through the camera. I'm not sure how this would apply.

[Speedster]

Thomas points out something that we all tend to forget.  KeyShot IS a camera, unlike other rendering apps.  On a real set we compose and frame in the viewfinder or on ground glass, and don't (or shouldn't unless by cropping choice) see the lamps.  When you dolly the camera in KeyShot, you are physically moving the camera, not the model.  So you really have to zoom out to see real lamps, then back in for the shot.  That's why it's often important to save either the camera or viewset before backing out.  I do both, camera first, then adjust multiple environments, saving each as a viewset.  So I just don't see how it would be possible to implement your request.

Bill G

[TpwUK]

I understand what metal master is getting at. If you set your camera view and then decide you need more lights or to position scenery you switch back to free cam and set view to an ortho type like top, left, back etc, but then you have no 'precise' reference as to where your saved camera view is within the top view or any other view.

Martin

[Despot]

Lol, I don't mean being able to see the camera in the 'main' or Perspective view, but in the Left, Right, Front, Bottom and Top. Or if this cannot be done how about having two different operating modes in KeyShot, 'Render' and 'Scene Navigation' ?

A button could be clicked to jump into Navigation mode, which would put KS in performance mode, change the camera view to top etc, show a ground grid, show the working camera and then allow you to select an object in 3D space and move, rotate and scale it.

Because at the moment it is a nightmare to set up a complex scene in KS and Martin is correct, there are little if no frames of reference.

J

[Despot]

I mean I dearly love KeyShot and all of it's little idiosyncrasies... but you've gotta admit that the current system of navigating a 3D scene is counter-intuitive.

I think you should adopt the system described above...  and pay me royalties

Anyway, just out of interest, and I'm asking this with the greatest of respect  , but Thomas and Speedster - I don't know your backgrounds, but have you used 3D software that has the now (almost) standardized four view viewport system ? - if you have then you must know that moving from that to KS's way of doing things is extremely difficult to get used to !!

I'm not some young whippersnapper you know, Im old (48) and set in my ways... 

J

[guest84672]

I wouldn't necessarily call a 4 view viewport system "standard". Maybe for some applications, but certainly not for CAD applications. This being said, I can see where it could come in handy to have multiple viewports, though.

[DriesV]

It seems to be a trend, as most of the novel standalone renderers have adopted the single viewport 'seen through camera' approach.
Most of the time this works perfectly fine for me. There are times though that another viewport (or should I call it another 'frame of reference') would be a life-saving feature.

F.i. navigating small interior scenes is very cumbersome right now. Of course you can fiddle with manual camera coordinates (which does help a lot, compared to KS3!), but these numbers do not necessarily make much sense. They relate to the origin of the scene, but how do you know how far the camera is positioned from walls/floors?

KS does indeed work like a camera and I like that very much. However, in real life, it is you as a person who is holding the camera. The camera's y-position is 'linked' to your body length. You have your body as a reference to the world and it is much easier to twist your head and jump from one corner to another than doing the same thing in KeyShot.

So sometimes, a small 'performance mode' 3D viewport of the scene with visible and moveable camera would be very handy. Maybe it can be integrated in the camera tab?

Dries

[Despot]

I wouldn't necessarily call a 4 view viewport system "standard"

It seems to be the de facto standard in general 3D modelling/rendering applications, all of the ones I've ever used or have knowledge of use this approach

Cinema 4D
Lightwave
3DS Max
Modo
Maya
Softimage
Rhino
Blender
Moi
Silo

And that list is by no means exhaustive 

The only one I can think of that doesn't is ZBrush.

Although, you could be correct regarding CAD packages, I have little or no knowledge of those

But I'm not saying that KS should adopt the '4 port' approach, but just have a more intuitive way or navigating and organising scenes

J

[guest84672]

We will see what we can do.