Improved SL Camera Placement

[Penny Patton 1,293]

Hi everyone!

I'm sure some of you are already familiar with my camera settings tutorial but I figured I'd share it here on the forums again so more people can give them a try!

 

 It's really easy to set this up and essentially changes the camera placement from this

Into this;

 By default I recommend offsetting the camera to a "shoulder view" as that's the more popular version, but I include the settings so you can keep the camera centred if preferred.

Again, very easy to set this up.

First you need to reveal the Advanced menu at the top of your screen. To do this simply press ctrl+alt+d and the menu will appear to the right of the Help menu in your menu bar. You can also go to the Advanced tab in Preferences and select to have the Advanced menu shown.

 

 From the Advanced menu select "Show Debug Settings", near the bottom.

 

 

The Debug Settings panel will appear. At the top of the Debug Settings panel is a field where you can type the name of the setting you'd like to adjust.

Type in "CameraOffsetRearView".

 

The panel provides you with three integers to change for the x, y and z placement of your CameraOffset. Change them to these settings;

x: -2.000
y: -0.400 ( Make y positive for a left shoulder offset, leave as 0.000 for a centred view. )
z: -0.200

Once that is done click on the input field again and move to the next setting;

Now type "FocusOffsetRearView".

Once more you will have x, y and z positions, this time for the focus point.
Change them to these settings;

x: 0.900
y: -0.700 ( Make y positive for a left shoulder offset, leave as 0.000 for a centred view. )
z: 0.200

 

 If you entered everything correctly, your view should resemble the second screenshot in this post, with your camera closer to your avatar's eye level and angled over its shoulder.

 You can still zoom in and out exactly as you did before, but the angle of your camera is much less steep so you'll run into fewer camera conflict issues with your surroundings.

 These settings make it both easier and more immersive to explore environments in Second Life.

[Zaphod Kotobide 4]

Great info. If the default position were more sensible in this way, maybe people wouldn't be inclined to insist that buildings have 20 foot high ceilings. 

[Perrie Juran 195]

I've been greatful ever since you first posted about this and have been using revised settings ever since though I've tweaked a little to my indivdual taste.

I've also tweaked my front camera view now but can't get inworld ATM to get the numbers I use.  But I have found it very useful for editing clothes, etc and seeing how I will appear to others when they are looking at me when I am walking, dancing, etc.

I'll try to post the settings later on.

[Ina Fairport 52]

There is only a small problem when wearing a vehicle like a horse. The camera height does not move along with the position of the avatar. When I ride my horse I look at the horse's rear end..

[Penny Patton 1,293]

---

Ina Fairport wrote:

There is only a small problem when wearing a vehicle like a horse. The camera height does not move along with the position of the avatar. When I ride my horse I look at the horse's rear end..

---

Yeah, that';s the problem with scripted cameras. If you change the camera settings right in the debug menu then your camera will adjust for height! No more horsebutt view!

 

 

[Penny Patton 1,293]

---

Perrie Juran wrote:

I've been greatful ever since you first posted about this and have been using revised settings ever since though I've tweaked a little to my indivdual taste.

I've also tweaked my front camera view now but can't get inworld ATM to get the numbers I use.  But I have found it very useful for editing clothes, etc and seeing how I will appear to others when they are looking at me when I am walking, dancing, etc.

I'll try to post the settings later on.

---

Whenever you have the chance I'd love to see the numbers you use so I can give them a try!

[Perrie Juran 195]

 

This is in Firestorm.

Note that this has some strange side effects on Camera Zoom in Front View, so if you use Front View a lot for other things you may find these settings awkward.

[Penny Patton 1,293]

Could you post your tweaked "rear view" settings as well? I love to see how people personalize the settings I post and maybe improve the ones I use.

[Kwakkelde Kwak 213]

I use these:

CameraOffsetRearview (-2.000 , 0.000 , -0.350)

FocusOffsetRearview (1.000 , 0.000 , 0.200)

No "over the shoulder" which I find very annoying when walking around. The horizon is at eyelevel by default. The camera drops slightly as I zoom out with the scroll wheel.

[00stevey 0]

awesome thread

tip: after scrolling with your mouse wheel to zoom in and out or if you zoom in on other things you can press escape to fix it, and you can press shift+escape to reset back to default second life camera but then you gotta do this stuff again

 

 

CameraOffsetRearView

x: -1.200

Y: -0.500

Z: -0.400 (and/or) -0.600

 

 

FocusOffsetRearView

X: 0.800 (and/or) 0.500

Y: -0.800 (and/or) -0.500

Z: 0.500 (and/or) 0.500

 

pics of the first settings (I'll update this again with more settings too I wanna find The Perfect Settings):

http://i.imgur.com/PMia0jK.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/I2fCwtn.png
http://i.imgur.com/XhlQLqt.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/yE1bJQ5.png
http://i.imgur.com/I038Anr.jpg