Cameras

Overview

The camera in Rayscaper controls how your scene is viewed and rendered. Camera settings are managed in the Camera section of the Scene Editor, where you can configure:

• Camera synchronization with SketchUp
• Projection types (Perspective, Orthographic, Panoramic)
• Resolution and output settings
• Depth of field, near clipping and pixel filtering

Camera Synchronization

The Rayscaper camera determines the viewpoint of your scene and automatically syncs with the SketchUp camera. When you navigate your viewport in SketchUp, the camera updates in Rayscaper in real-time.

Locking the Camera

If you don’t want the SketchUp camera to sync with the Rayscaper camera, you can lock the camera via the SketchUp toolbar ( ) or via the SketchUp menu Extensions > Rayscaper > Lock Camera. The button is only available while Rayscaper is rendering.

Matching the Viewport

If you want to match the SketchUp viewport in camera setup and resolution exactly, you can use the match viewport option, either via the SketchUp toolbar ( ) or via the SketchUp menu Extensions > Rayscaper > Match SketchUp Viewport.

Match SketchUp Viewport copies the SketchUp camera to Rayscaper: the view, the projection type (perspective or parallel projection) and the field of view or orthographic height. It also sets the render resolution to the size of the SketchUp viewport, and turns off Override FOV and Override Height, so Rayscaper follows SketchUp again.

To see exactly which part of the SketchUp viewport ends up in the render, use the Composition Guide.

Projection Types

Rayscaper supports three camera projection types: Perspective, Orthographic, and Panoramic. You can switch between them using the projection buttons at the top of the Camera section.

Perspective

Orthographic

Panoramic

Perspective

The perspective camera simulates a real-world camera where objects appear smaller as they get further away. This is the most common projection type for architectural visualization and product renders.

By default, the field of view follows SketchUp’s camera, so Horizontal FOV and Focal Length are greyed out.

Override FOV: Turn this on to set the field of view in Rayscaper instead of synchronizing it from SketchUp’s viewport. This is useful when you want a specific FOV or focal length for your render that differs from the SketchUp view.

Horizontal FOV: The horizontal field of view of the camera, in degrees (1-180°). A small value gives a narrow, zoomed-in view; a large value a very wide view.

Focal Length: The same field of view expressed as the focal length of a 35 mm camera lens (1-1000 mm). Shorter focal lengths (e.g., 24 mm) give a wider view, longer ones (e.g., 200 mm) a narrower, more zoomed-in view. Focal Length and Horizontal FOV are linked: adjusting one updates the other.

Depth of Field (DOF)

Depth of field simulates how a real camera lens focuses on objects at a specific distance while blurring objects closer or further away. This effect is only available for perspective cameras.

No DOF

Weak DOF

Strong DOF

Enable: Turns the depth-of-field effect on or off (in the Depth of Field (DOF) group). When disabled, everything in the scene is in sharp focus.

Blurriness: Controls the amount of blur applied to out-of-focus areas. Higher values create a more pronounced bokeh effect with stronger blur. The slider ranges from subtle (0.1) to very strong (100) blur.

Autofocus: When enabled, the camera automatically focuses on whatever is at the center of the image. This is convenient for most scenes where you want the main subject in focus. If there’s nothing at the center, for example only sky, autofocus can’t find a distance; turn it off and set the focal distance yourself.

Focal Distance: Only shown when Autofocus is disabled. Controls the distance from the camera to the focal plane in meters (0.01-10000 m). Objects at this distance will be in sharp focus, while objects closer or further away will be progressively blurred.

When Autofocus is disabled, you can click the “Pick Focal Distance” button and then click on any surface in your scene to set that point as the focus distance. This is often easier than manually entering a distance value.

Orthographic

The orthographic camera renders without perspective distortion - parallel lines remain parallel regardless of distance. This is useful for architectural elevations, technical drawings, or achieving a specific visual style.

Override Height: Turn this on to set the orthographic height in Rayscaper instead of synchronizing it from SketchUp’s viewport.

Ortho Height: The vertical size of the view in meters (0.001-100 m). A smaller value zooms in, while a larger value shows more of the scene. Only editable when Override Height is on.

Panoramic

The panoramic camera renders a full 360-degree spherical view of your scene as an equirectangular image. This is useful for creating VR content, environment maps, or interactive walkthroughs.

The panoramic projection type uses the common settings described below (resolution, near clip depth, and pixel filtering) but does not have projection-specific parameters like field of view or ortho height.

Tip

Equirectangular panoramas are twice as wide as they are high. Use a 2:1 resolution, such as 4000 × 2000, or the panorama will look stretched in a 360° viewer.

Resolution

The resolution settings control the output image size for your renders.

Width: The horizontal resolution in pixels (100 to 4000, default 1000).

Height: The vertical resolution in pixels (100 to 4000, default 400).

Double: Doubles both the width and height of the current resolution. Useful for quickly scaling up for final renders.

Halve: Halves both the width and height of the current resolution. Useful for quick preview renders at lower resolution.

Note

Width and height are each kept between 100 and 4000 pixels. If doubling or halving would go past that limit for only one of them, the aspect ratio of your render changes.

Near Clip Depth

Near Clip Depth is at the bottom of the projection settings, for every projection type. It controls the distance to the near clipping plane in meters. The clipping plane is perpendicular to the camera direction, and everything in front of it is not rendered. This is useful for cutting away foreground objects that might otherwise block your view, such as walls in interior scenes.

You can either enter a value manually or click the Pick button next to it and then click on a surface in your scene to use that distance as the near clip depth.

Pixel Filter

Pixel filtering controls the sharpness of your image and can be a handy tool to blur rendering noise or avoid hard, jagged edges. Rayscaper offers the following pixel filters in the Filter Type list:

• Box: Averages all pixel samples within the filter bounds with equal weight. A higher filter radius will make the image more blurry.
• Gaussian (default): Averages the pixel samples within the filter radius, giving samples less weight the further they are from the pixel center. This results in a smoother blur than Box.
• Off: Disables pixel filtering.

Filter Radius: Controls the size of the pixel filter in pixels (0.1 to 5.0, default 1.25). Higher values result in more blurry renders. This setting is only available when a filter type (Box or Gaussian) is selected.

The examples below are zoomed in 2× so the individual pixels are visible.

No Filter

Gaussian Filter - Radius 1.25

Gaussian Filter - Radius 2

Gaussian Filter - Radius 5

---

Credits

The example scene on this page is built from CC0 models, textures and HDRIs from Poly Haven.