Camera question

solo

The answer is probably available, but with so much info I cannot find it in search.

I have two models of the same building one in early construction and the other in completion, I need to set up a camera so that both models have the same view, how do I do that?

In other words, can one save a camera position and use it in another model?

Aerilius

I don't know, would be a good feature/ruby plugin.

I did it always the complicated way: copy one model file, open the copy, delete all geometry, open second model and draw a reference line to the origin, paste it in the copy of the first file and move the reference to the origin. Eventually change the mid number.

Has someone a better solution?

remus

I believe this will do what you want: http://www.smustard.com/script/PageExIm

alternatively you could set up the scenes in a template file then copy/paste your models in to it and 'save as...'

Ecuadorian

You can also do it manually with great precision if you use Tomasz' Bring My View Back:
http://www.tomaszmarek.eu/sketchup_1.html
After executing the script in one model, copy/paste the component to the other, and use SketchUp's "position camera" tool with a height offset of 0 to place the camera exactly in the same point. Then all you have to do is frame it precisely with SketchUp's "look around" tool. As Tomasz' component provides a precise reproduction of the frame size at 1 meter from the camera, this is a trivial task.

UPDATE: A more automagic way: After placing the camera with "position camera", select the component, right click on it, and choose Twilight > Set Camera Target. This will place the target in the middle of the component. Voilá. You have copied the camera and the target with 100% accuracy.

EDIT: Just make sure that you set SketchUp's Field Of View angle to be the same in the second model before using these tools and you'll be fine. If you try to correct the FOV afterwards you'll lose your camera position, unless you copy Twilight's focal length instead. Hey, that's another trick in itself: To change the FOV without moving the camera, type a new focal length in Twilight. It will alter SketchUp's camera angle without moving it.

Panga

Hi,

I already used a plugin which was designed to do exactly what you want :

http://www.crai.archi.fr/RubyLibraryDepot/Ruby/em_cam_page.htm , look at camera_parameters.rb

Hope it helps.

Anssi

How about the old Film and Stage plugin: could you use Copy and Paste In Place to copy a camera component?

Anssi

Chris Fullmer

@anssi said:

How about the old Film and Stage plugin: could you use Copy and Paste In Place to copy a camera component?

Anssi

That is my preferred and free method.

Chris

Ecuadorian

Wow, I'm trying that Film & Stage plugin and I have to say it's amazing! Thanks for digging it up! Who is this Dr. No, anyway?

UPDATE: This is too cool. I can visualize what each camera sees just by activating the FOV layer. I say it again: Great find!

Here it is:
http://sketchup.google.com/download/previousplugins.html

Just scroll down until you find "Film & Stage plugin for SketchUp 5". During install you'll need to manually specify your SketchUp folder.

honoluludesktop

Hi Solo, Just trying to be creative, and didn't check if the following was previously posted. In the first model, create the desired scene, delete all, and save as a new file name. Then open the new file, find the drawing origin, and import the second model into it (on the origin), and go back to the scene as necessary. Worked on a small example, didn't try with anything big.