Redshift Camera Object

The easiest way to work with the Redshift Camera object is by using the Create menu and choosing one of the Camera objects there. If you only need a normal camera, select the Standard camera. Otherwise, additional camera types are available, e.g. for rendering special perspectives such as a spherical or cylindrical panorama. However, all these perspectives can also be switched later on the camera.

Native Redshift cameras can be added from the 'Create' menu.

 

Converting camera types

If you already created a standard Cinema 4D camera object or have an older scene with a Cinema 4D camera in combination with a Redshift Camera Tag, you can use the Convert Scene to Native RS Cameras button, that is found in the Redshift tab of the Cinema 4D Project Settings. The Project Settings can be opened from the Cinema 4D Edit menu or by using the Shortcut Ctrl-D.

Many of the settings of a Redshift Camera are already known from the Cinema 4D camera object. Nevertheless, there are also functions here that are only available when rendering with Redshift.

Type

In this menu the projection type of the camera can be changed between a standard perspective camera or more specialized cameras.

Focal Length (mm)

In a real camera, the focal length represents the distance between the lens and the sensor. Small focal length values are used for wide-angle shots and present a wider view of the scene, but also distort the image (especially very short focal lengths). Larger focal length values zoom into the given scene accordingly. The greater the value, the less distorted the image will be until the perspective effect is lost completely with extremely large focal length values and the parallel projection effect increases.

The Focal Length is directly linked to the Angle of View in the formula illustrated below and works for the horizontal (X) and vertical (Y) direction. Larger Focal Length values produce a smaller field of view and vice versa.

Angle of View (X/Y)

The field of view represents the camera's horizontal and vertical angle, respectively, to the scene. The field of view is directly linked to the focal length. The greater the focal length, the smaller the field of view and vice versa. A small field of view represents a camera with a telephoto lens; since only a small portion of the scene to be photographed enters the camera, this portion naturally appears very large on the light-sensitive surface of the camera, resulting in a zoomed-in image. Incidentally, Field of View changes if the proportion between Width and Height are modified in the Render Settings.

Shift (X/Y)

Suppose the Redshift camera worked like a traditional, analog film camera, with images being recorded onto photographic film one after the other. Now imagine if additional image information could be recorded by moving this film along the X and Y axis. This is exactly what these parameters do. Redshift takes this one step further in that it does not restrict itself to the size of the filmstrip.

This can be very useful as it lets you move the rendered objects without changing their perspective. Objects that might have been placed too close to the border of the rendered frame can be visually moved more towards the center of the image. Another application is the correction of vertical lines in architectural renderings. In such cases, rotate the camera so that the scene horizon passes exactly through the center of the image (P-rotation = 0°). By using the Shift Y component, you then shift the horizon back to the desired height in the image. The vertical lines are preserved because there is no third vanishing point above or below the horizon.

Sensor

The sensor of a camera is usually a fixed element that evaluates the incident light. In conjunction with the focal length, the size of the sensor determines, among other things, the field of view of the camera. The aspect ratio of the sensor can be set freely, but does not necessarily affect the aspect ratio of the rendering. This is defined exclusively by the render resolution that you set in the Render Settings.

If you like to reuse different Sensor Size settings, the Preset menu offers commands to add or delete presets for them.

Preset

In this menu you can manage various presets for the sensor size. The currently set sensor size can be saved here with an individual name using the Add Preset menu item and thus accessed again at any time. Entries that are no longer required can also be deleted from the list by selecting Delete Preset.

Size (mm)

Here you set the size of the sensor in X and Y direction. If you want to keep the existing aspect ratio when resizing, activate the Lock Ratio option.
Both values are not necessarily required. The following Fit menu controls how the Sensor Size is to be evaluated.

If you like to reuse different Size settings, the Preset menu offers commands to add or delete presets for them.

Lock Ratio

Activate this option if you like to keep the ratio of the sensor size during editing.

Fit

Here you select the dimension of the sensor which, in conjunction with the selected render resolution and Focal Length, define the Angle of View (X/Y) on the camera.

• Fill-Crop : The ratio of X and Y size of the sensor is set in relation to the render resolution. For example, if you have selected an Film Aspect of 4:3 for the image resolution and are using a sensor that has an aspect ratio of 4:2.5, the X-size of the sensor is used to calculate the horizontal field of view in this case. If, on the other hand, the aspect ratio of the sensor were, for example, 4:3.1, the Y-size of the sensor would control the vertical field of view.
• Horizontal: Only the X-Size of the Sensor Size is used
• Vertical: Only the Y-Size of the Sensor is used
• Overscan-Fit: Always the smaller sensor length compared to the Film Aspect from the Render Settings is evaluated. If a Film Aspect of 4:3 is rendered and the sensor size is 40 * 29 mm, the 29 mm sensor height is used as the basis for calculating the angle of view. If the sensor size is 39 * 30 mm, the width of the sensor would be evaluated instead in this example.
• Square: This mode is using the default 36 mm * 27 mm Sensor Size used in full frame photographic cameras. In case your render resolution is not using a 4:3 aspect ratio, only the x component of the Sensor Size is used for the Angle of View calculation.

Zoom

The Zoom value can only be defined if a parallel perspective (this includes orthographic views) is used. This setting then defines the scaling of the view. The default value of 1 will always cover an area of 1024 units on the horizontal axis.

Clipping

Use the Near Clip Plane and Far Clip Plane options to specify two distances (Depth values) measured from the camera position. Only geometry between these distances is evaluated for display and rendering.

Near Clip Plane

Depth

Far Clip Plane

Depth

These settings define cutting planes that lie perpendicular to the angle of view of the camera. The Near Clip Plane will remove all geometry that is closer to the camera than Depth. The Far Clip Plane will ignore all geometry that is further away from the camera than defined by its Depth value. Note, however, that these objects will remain closed for the renderer with most effects. Shadow casting light sources cannot illuminate the interior of such cut objects. When applying Far Clipping, the Background can be used to avoid rendering objects that lie in cut off regions at the rear of the scene black by default.

Use the Depth values to define the distances from the camera to the given cut plane. In the Display tab of the camera object, you can also find the options for Near Clip Plane and Far Clip Plane, to draw additional frames for these distances in the viewport.

Exposure Type

Choose how you would like to use the following parameters:

• EV only: Sensitivity (ISO), Aperture (f/#) and Shutter Time/Shutter Angle will not affect the exposure of the rendering. This way you can use these settings to just control Depth of Field and Motion Blur. To brighten or darken the rendering, use the Exposure (EV) value.
• Filmic: Sensitivity (ISO), Aperture (f/#) and Shutter Time/Shutter Angle will work a with a regular still or movie camera and not only control Depth of Field or Motion Blur, but also the exposure of the rendered image.

 

Sensitivity (ISO)

This value describes the sensitivity of a negative film or camera sensor to light. In real-life high ISOs mean that the film is very sensitive and will capture a lot of light in a short amount of time, but the image can be grainy. Low ISOs mean that the shutter has to be open for longer for the film to capture enough light (otherwise the image will be too dark) but the final result will be cleaner. Please note that Redshift does not simulate the chemical properties of film or the noise of an image sensor, so there will be no problems with grain at high ISO settings! This value is only available for Exposure Type "Filmic".

 

White Point

Use this value to prevent colored light sources (e.g., sky, sun, candles, etc.) from colorizing white surfaces. Set the White Point color to the color of the light source's color.
Note that you can also use this parameter to color your rendering, by using the Color Wheel input to choose the complimentary color. For example, a bluish color will result in a warm colored rendering.

 

On the left, rendering without the vignetting effect and on the right the same scene with vignetting.

Depth of Field

These settings let you control the transition between in focus and out of focus elements in your rendering.

 

Focus Distance

This value is only used if the Bokeh option is active.
The Focus Distance, measured from the camera's origin out (= film or sensor plane), defines the spacing to a plane that lies perpendicular to the angle of view, on which all objects are displayed perfectly in focus. In front of and behind this plane, all surfaces are rendered progressively blurred, based on the Aperture (f/#) value.

Object

Instead of entering a value for the Focus Distance you can also link to any object here, by dragging an object from the Object Manager to this field. The distance between the camera position and the position of the linked object will be used as Focus Distance. This is especially usefull for example during animations, to keep a specific position in focus, even if the camera is moving. You can also use an animated Null object to drive the Focus Distance.

Offset

When using the Object link field to use the position of an object as Focus Distance, you can manually tweak this Focus Distance by entering an Offset value.

Aperture (f/#)

The Aperture value (F-stop) is used to adjust the focal aperture. The larger the focal aperture (i.e. the smaller the Aperture value), the smaller the depth of field will be and vice-versa. So in short, smaller Aperture values result in stronger blur for surfaces that are further away from the Focus Distance plane. If the Exposure Type 'Filmic' is enabled, Aperture (f/#) will also define the amount of light that can enter the camera. Smaller values will then result in brighter renderings.

All blurry effects based on the Focus Distance and the F-Stop value are only calculated, if the Bokeh option is active!

Bokeh

Activate this option to calculate blurry effects for out of focus elements in your scene.

Diaphragm

Ideally, the aperture of a camera lens corresponds to a circle. This results in surfaces lying in the blur appearing magnified in a circle. This can be observed particularly well on small, bright areas, such as those created by highlights or intense reflections.

In reality, however, the aperture opening is shaped by individual blades that allow the aperture size to be changed. You control this size via the Aperture (f/#) value. By using blades, the perfect circular shape can only be approximated, depending on how many blades are installed. Accordingly, the use of 6 blades, for example, results in a hexagonal opening rather than a circle, and the areas lying in the blur are displayed hexagonally enlarged.

If this approach is pursued further, arbitrarily shaped apertures would also be conceivable in principle, which would then also lead to correspondingly shaped blurs.

These three options, a perfect circle, an aperture limited by straight blades, and an arbitrarily shaped aperture, are also available on the Redshift camera by choosing between the modes Circular, Bladed and Image.

Aspect

This parameter can squash the depth-of-field effect and simulate the effect observed on anamorphic lenses. Values below 1 stretch the bokeh vertically, values above 1 stretch the bokeh effect horizontally. A value of 1 preserves the original proportions of the bokeh effect.

Spherical Aberration

With this value you can influence the brightness distribution within the bokeh spots. With small values, the brightness is concentrated more in the center of a bokeh spot. With larger values, on the other hand, the center can remain dark and the outer border of each bokeh spot appears particularly intense. The following images demonstrate this for three-sided bokeh (3 blades).

Blades

This setting is only available for Diaphragm Bladed and sets the number of blades for the simulated aperture opening. The images below show possible results, using different amounts of blades.

Note that the orientation of the bokeh shape changes depending on the position relative to the plane of focus. The bokeh shapes that lie behind the plane of focus are calculated mirrored vertically and horizontally. This also corresponds to the real representation of bokeh in traditional photography or filming.

Angle

This value allows you to rotate the Bokeh shape in Diaphragm Blades mode. Take note, that to direction of rotation is different for the Bokeh shapes in front of the Focal Plane (counterclockwise) compared to the Bokeh shapes behind the Focal Plane (clockwise).

Image

When using Diaphragm Image you can use this input to load a bitmap. A loaded image can be a simple black and white mask to shape the Bokeh effects, as shown in the image below.

As you can see in the images above, the loaded image is used mirrored along the vertical and horizontal direction when used on the Bokeh effects located behind the Focal Plane.

Real-life camera lenses sometimes also exhibit an artifact called "chromatic aberration". Chromatic aberration means that, depending on the angle of the light reaching the lens, certain light wavelengths (colors) are reflected away and never reach the sensor or film. This creates a rainbow effect which is stronger in parts of the image that are out-of-focus. This kind of effect can also be recreated by using an Image for Bokeh, as you can see below.

Normalization

This setting determines how to handle the colors and brightnesses of the loaded image. For example, if a colored image as shown above were used to simulate chromatic aberration, the parts of the rendering in focus should still remain neutrally colored.

To get a neutral result in the focused pixels one would have to draw this picture perfectly. I.e. there should be exactly the same number of red pixels to blue to green. Not doing so would mean that the image would either be too red or too green or too blue and also too dim.

But drawing such an image is almost impossible to do! So, for that reason, Redshift offers several Normalization modes to balance out the different colors of a loaded image:

• Off: The loaded image is used as it is. If all used colors don't add up to "white", the rendered Bokeh will be darker and you might see a color shift in the rendering due to the different amounts of red, green and blue pixels in your loaded image.
• Sum to White: If you want to ensure that the colors you use all add up to white, use this mode.
• Unit Intensity: This is the right mode, if the overall tint is not white, but you still want the final image to not be any darker than it would normally be.

The colorful bokeh image shown above actually suffers from several issues. It contains black, so it means that it doesn't sum to white. Also the red/green/blue circles are not perfect: the red circle has its top chopped off, so there is less red in this image compared to the green and blue pixels. But using the normalization modes, this image can still be used without issues!

Shutter Type

The shutter determines the time period in which light falls into the camera or onto the sensor. There are two different concepts for specifying this exposure time:

• Still: This is the classic behaviour of digital still or movie cameras. The shutter speed is specified in fractions of a second ('Shutter Time'). The 'Shutter Offset' is defined in fractions of a second.
• Movie: On traditional film cameras, the shutter is formed by a disc rotating in time with the frame rate. Inside this disk is an opening whose size is specified by the 'Shutter Angle'. This concept takes care, that the shutter is always in sync with the current frame rate so changing the frame rate will always result in a correct shutter speed for animations. The 'Shutter Offset' is defined in degrees too.

Shutter Time (1/s)

This parameter controls the duration the camera's shutter will stay open in Still mode. A value of 30 means 1/30, i.e. a 30 th of a second. Therefore, the smaller the value, the longer the shutter stays open. In combination with the Filmic Exposure Type, using a longer Shutter Time will result in a brighter rendering. On the other hand, a longer Shutter Time also results in more blur for moving objects, if the cameras Motion Blur option has been activated.

Shutter Angle

This setting is available in Movie mode. Movie cameras use a rotating shutter disc, that is doing a full 360° rotation for every recorded frame. This rotating disc has an opening to allow light to enter the camera. The Shutter Angle defines the size of the opening relative to the 360° rotation. A 180° Shutter Angle in combination with a 30 fps recording would result in a 1/60 of a second shutter time (1s/30fps * 360°/180°). Changing the frame rate will always provide a correct shutter speed for animations. Used for filmic exposure and motion blur. With Filmic Exposure, larger Shutter Angles will result in brighter renderings.

Motion Blur

Since cameras always capture and evaluate light through the sensor over a certain period of time, blurring occurs on objects that move relative to the camera during the exposure. The intensity of this motion blur depends on the relative speed of the objects and the exposure time. These options are available:

• Off: No Motion Blur will be calculated during rendering
• Render Settings: The global Render Settings are used for Motion Blur.
• Override: The camera's settings for Motion Blur are used. Motion Blur must still be enabled overall in the Render Settings.

Camera Motion

In real-world conditions, motion blur occurs whenever something moves relative to the camera. For example, imagine you are sitting in a train filming the landscape out the window. Although the landscape itself is still, your images will contain motion blur because the camera has moved relative to the landscape during the exposure. If you only want to see motion blur when the objects you are rendering are themselves in motion, turn this option off.

Shutter Offset

This offsets the opening and closing of the shutter and can be useful for matching footage or for fine tuning the motion blur, e.g. in particle situations or animations. In Still mode, you specify a fraction of a second here. In Movie mode, you specify an angle at which the rotating shutter disk is to be rotated.

Efficiency

Real-life camera shutters don't open instantaneously – they open gradually. The Efficiency parameter controls how fast the shutter opens. A setting of 1.0 means the shutter will open instantaneously, while a setting of 0.0 means that it will open as gradually as possible. The images below show how the Efficiency parameter affects the shutter opening speed.

The Efficiency parameter affects the look of motion blur trails, as it will be shown in the example pictures below. The smaller the Efficiency is, the softer the motion blur trails will appear.

Distortion

Due to their lens geometry, real-life cameras tend to distort the captured images. If the user needs to add CG elements to real-life (distorted) camera footage, the CG elements will also have to be distorted. To be able to control this effect, activate this option and load an RGB image to the Image slot.

Image

The distortion is calculated by UV coordinates, projected onto the rendered scene. The U direction is represented by the color red (1, 0, 0) and the V direction is represented by the color green (0, 1, 0). Therefore an image that wouldn't add any distortion to the rendering will look like this:

This type of image can easily created in Redshift by rendering a UV gradient on a plane. To achieved this use a State node and connect the "Uvwcoord" output to a Vector to Scalars node which then passes the "Out X" and "Out Y" to a Color Maker's "Red" and "Green" channels as seen in the example image below.

 

When saving a UV Distortion image make certain to save it in Linear Color Space, so no Gamma curve is applied!

Using the same principle, even more complex distortions can be achieved as demonstrated in the following images. By repeating the standard red/green UV gradient several times in the loaded distortion image, the scene will also be arranged multiple times in the final rendering.

Tone-Mapping

LUT

• Off: No LUTs are used for rendering.
• Render Settings: The camera uses the global LUT settings from the Render Settings dialog. This is the default mode.
• Override: The LUT settings from the camera are used, even if the Render Settings are configured in another way.

 

File

Here you can load your *.cube or *.3dl LUT file. If the directory of this file contains other LUT files, you can browse this folder by using the LUTs menu.

LUTs

Here you can select and browse all available LUT files from the specified directory.

Intensity

This value sets the strength of the LUT color transformation. A value of 0% means no color changes occur and the LUT will have no effect on the rendered image.

Convert to Log-Space before LUT

When enabled your rendered image will be converted to the logarithmic color space before the LUT is applied.

Apply Color Management before LUT

When enabled your Color Corrections will be applied to the rendered image before the LUT is applied.

Color Controls

The Color Controls section lets you make overall color and brightness adjustments to your rendered image.

Color Controls

• Off: Color controls are disabled for rendering.
• Render Settings:The camera uses the global color controls from the Render Settings dialog. This is the default mode.
• Override: The local color controls from the camera are used, even if the Render Settings are configured in another way.

 

Contrast

Here you can increase or decrease your contrast.

RGB

The RGB curves allow you to tweak the brightness of your image on all color channels or individually.

Bloom

This adds a glowing effect to bright areas and highlights of the rendering and can happen if you use a smudged lens with a real life camera.

Bloom

• Off: No Bloom effect is used for rendering
• Render Settings: The camera uses the global Bloom settings from the Render Settings dialog. This is the default mode.
• Override: The local Bloom settings from the camera are used, even if the Render Settings are configured in another way.

 

Intensity

Use this value to scale the brightness and strength of the Bloom effect. Adjusting the Threshold value can also help control the amount and intensity of the blooming effect.

 

Threshold

This value determines from which pixel brightness blooming occurs. With smaller values, blooming already appears with less bright pixels. This means that the effect will be visible more often in the rendering.

 

Softness

This can be used to control the size of the blooming effect. It also makes the blooming appear softer and covers additional areas of the image.

 

Tint

By default, blooming takes over the coloring of the bright areas of the image that triggered the effect. However, by activating this option you can also assign your own colors, like up to five, to color the blooming gradient from the inside to the outside. Tint 1 colors the bright center and Tint 5 the border area of the blooming effect.

 

1/2/3/4/5

If Tint is active, you can use these to color the Blooming effect from its bright center (1) to the outer radius (5).

 

Variation of Flares, created just by moving the object in the scene.

Flare

• Off: No Flare effect is used for rendering.
• Render Settings: The camera uses the global Flare settings from the Render Settings dialog. This is the default mode.
• Override: The local Flare settings from the camera are used, even if the Render Settings are configured in another way.

 

Intensity

Use this value to set the opacity of the Flare rendering.

 

Threshold

This value determines which pixel brightness must be reached for Flares to occur. Smaller values mean that even lower brightnesses are sufficient to contribute to the calculation of Flares.

 

Softness

This adds additional blur to the Flares, as you can see in the images below. This effect is often rather subtle.

 

Chromatic

By default, the Flares take on the color of the bright pixels on which they are based. This option simulates the natural effect of lenses that are not optimally coated, on which the light is refracted differently depending on the color. This results in the typical rainbow colors that we can also observe, for example, in the dispersion effects.

 

Size

Use this to scale the individual Flare elements.

 

Halo

A Halo is an additional, circular or elliptical glow effect that can be added to the Flare overlay. Increasing the value will scale the Halo up. A Halo is always centered in the view and adapts to the aspect ratio of the render resolution.

 

Tint

By default, the Flares takes over the coloring of the bright areas of the image that triggered the effect or get some Chromatic coloring. However, by activating this option you can also assign your own colors, like up to five, to color the Flares individually. Tint 1 colors the first and Tint 5 the last Flare. The Halo is not colored by the Tint effect.
By entering dark colors, you can also use the Tint feature to remove some of the Flares from the rendering.

 

1/2/3/4/5

If Tint is active, you can use these to color the Blooming effect from its bright center (1) to the outer radius (6).

 

Streak

The finest scratches or disturbances in the surface of the front lens can cause intense light to be scattered radially. These settings simulate this effect.

Streak

• Off: No Streak effect is used for rendering.
• Render Settings: The camera uses the global Streak settings from the Render Settings dialog. This is the default mode.
• Override: The local Streak settings from the camera are used, even if the Render Settings are configured in another way.

 

Intensity

Use this value to set the opacity of the Streak rendering.

 

Threshold

This value determines which pixel brightness must be reached for Streaks to occur. Smaller values mean that even lower brightnesses are sufficient to contribute to the calculation of Streaks.

 

Tail

This value sets the length of the light rays of the Streak effect.

 

Softness

This parameter can be used to blur the Streaks.

 

Number

This sets the number of directions used to draw the Streaks.

 

Angle

Use this value to change the direction of the streaks.

 

Frustum

Near Clip Plane

Far Clip Plane

Within the Object settings of the camera, two clipping distances can be activated and set, to prevent the camera from always rendering everything within its field of view. Using these options will add frames to the viewport, representing the different Depth settings for the clipping planes.

 

Composition

Here you will find settings that, when enabled, will display guidelines in the Viewport that you can use to arrange your scene.

• These Helpers are only visible in the Viewport for which the camera is defined.
• These Helpers will be adjusted to fit within the Render Safe region.
• These Helpers will normally be invisible when the scene is rendered (unless the Viewport renderer make an exception).

This does not mean that all objects in your Project must be arranged according to these Helpers (which in most cases is not useful) but it can often help arrange a distinctive object or objects along a visual line or lines (this can be done by either repositioning the object(s) or by simply zooming or repositioning the camera accordingly). Repositioning the camera can often achieve a more subtle effect.

The various options can be combined.

Background

• Off: Background is not used for rendering.
• Render Settings: The camera uses the Background settings from the Render Settings dialog. This is the default mode.
• Override: The Background settings from the camera are used, even if the Render Settings are configured in another way.

 

Type

This setting determines when the color or background image is applied when rendering - critically, it controls if the background is color corrected or takes part in effects such as depth of field.

• In-Render: The background is used during object rendering and is therefore subject to all the same lens effects - essentially this is the same as if you were to render an image plane in the scene at infinite distance. The background will be affected by anti-alising, bent rays for refractive materials, depth of field and all the same exposure and color correction settings as the other 3D objects in the scene.

  The In-Render type matches the backplate render behavior of previous versions of Redshift when the backplate was controlled by a Dome Light.

  It is also the only type that is compatible with the Legacy setting "Refractions Affects Alpha Channel."

• Pre-Composite: The background is applied after the rendering is complete but before the post effects are calculated. In this way, a background image can still influence the calculation of bloom or flare effects, for example, but will exclude the background image from anti-alisasing and bent rays for refractive materials and depth of field.

• Post-Composite: The background is applied only after scene rendering and post effects have been calculated. Camera level exposure, color corrections, and all other post effects do not affect the background image.

In the example images below take note that while the In-Render and Pre-Composite types can look very similar, only In-Render is affected by depth of field and transmissive materials. All the while, Post-Composite is not affected by any camera effects.

 

Affected by Bent Rays

When enabled, the background is rendered like a normal 3D object in the scene and is therefore also subject to changes, e.g. when viewed through a refractive/transmissive object or when rendered with depth of field. When disabled, the background is not affected by these effects but is still subject to changes to exposure and color correction.

In the example images below notice how the background is bent by the transmissive glass sphere and car windows or blurred by depth of field when enabled. By comparison, the background is completely clear and the rays are not bent by transmissive objects when disabled, instead they pass right through and only the actual 3D scene is affected by these types of effects.

 

Color

This is the plain color used in the background of the rendering. The background color is overridden when a background image is loaded.

 

Alpha

Controls the alpha channel output for the background.

 

Image

An image loaded here replaces or covers the solid Color of the background. The background color may still be visible in the render if the background image does not cover the entire framebuffer (see Frame or Offset parameters) or if the loaded Image has an alpha channel.

 

Color Space

Controls how the colors of the background image are interpreted. In general low dynamic range images like PNG and JPG should use the sRGB color space and high dynamic range images should use the scene-linear Rec709-sRGB color space. If you know your background image should use a different color space then use that. For more information please see the Color Management section.

 

Alpha from Image

When enabled the alpha channel from the loaded background image is used for alpha output in renders. When enabled and using Pre and Post-Composite modes with a background image that does not have an alpha channel the background will be rendered out with the alpha channel set to 0.

When disabled the render will have no alpha output from the background.

 

Frame

If you have loaded an Image for the background, this setting adjusts the scaling of the image in the rendering. This is only relevant if the width to height ratio of the image does not match the aspect ratio of the rendering:

• Stretch: The width and height of the Image are changed to match the aspect ratio of the renderings. The background image will cover the entire background in any case, however, the image will be distorted if it doesn't have the same aspect ratio as the render.

• Crop:The background image is scaled evenly to fit the longest side of the rendering. For portrait rendering, this is therefore the height of the rendering, and for landscape rendering, it is the width. The image portion along the shorter side may overhang the rendering and will therefore be truncated for the rendering.

• Fit: The background image is scaled evenly to fit the shortest side of the rendering. This always leaves the entire background image visible in the rendering, but there may be areas that are not covered by the image. The plain background color is then displayed there.

 

Offset X

Allows you to move the background Image horizontally. In the areas that become free as a result, the plain background color becomes visible.

 

Offset Y

Allows you to move the background Image vertically. In the areas that become free as a result, the plain background color becomes visible.

 

Gamma

Changing the Gamma value lightens or darkens only the midtones, without significantly affecting the highlights and depths. This means: Black remains black even after a Gamma change, white remains white.

 

Exposure

All brightnesses of the loaded Image can be raised or lowered evenly.

 

Hue

This allows all color values of the loaded Image to be shifted evenly. The basis for this is a color ring on which all colors are applied. The color shift can then be specified via an angle between 0° and 360°. For this reason, a color shift of 360° also shows the original color values again.

 

Saturation

Use this value to decrease or increase the color saturation of the loaded background Image.

 

Compensate for Exposure

When disabled, the loaded background image will be affected by the camera's Exposure settings.