Help: Matching a Reference image with the Perspective Camera in 3dsMAX

Rogue One

Hello everyone. I need of a bit of help here as I am going slowly crazy trying to find a method of matching a 2D Reference Image with the Perspective Camera in Max.

I tried following these tutorials here, here and here but no luck getting things to work they way I want them.

Being a new max user I may not be following it correctly but I sure I am.

This is the Image I am trying to Match up

Two problems I am coming across are If I create a new camera and select it in the Perspective view port and then move it dont see any updates in the Camera001 viewport ???

I also tried applying the background image to the default perspective camera and I kinda get what I am looking for but I can not find a way to edit the FOV or any other attributes related to the default perspective camera.

Finally, is there any way to Look Through Selected camera Like you do In Maya and also can you key frame the cameras view once I have it set up?

If anyone know how to go about doing this please chim in I know this sounds confusing but if you ask me questions I will hopefully be able to explain better.

Noors

The perspective camera is a default camera, just used for navigation purposes. Its parameters can't be accessed through the UI (maybe trough maxscript) . You can change it's FOV visually tho, with the field of view button, located at the bottom right corner of the screen.
You need to create a new camera. You can create it from the perspective view
create>camera>create camera from view (which is ctrl+c by default i think, since i've change my shortcuts). Then you can access to its parameters in the Modify pannel. You can look trough it by right clicking the name of the current camera (top left corner of the viewport) and cameras>your_camera.
Beware, weirdly the navigation ain't the same with custom cams. I use the walktrough mode to set them roughly, then tweak with basic transformations. You can keyframe a cam once selected, but you might want to freeze it instead, because keys doesnt act like in maya where it resets everyting if you go back to your key. In max, if you move an object that has keys, then entire animation is moved in relative.

animax

Hi,

Another method you can try is:

First create a block mode using standard primitives.Only the bigger chunks from the image.

Then use the image as viewport background as described in the tutorial(Lock Pan/Zoom,Match Bitmap).

Then in perspective view try to match the block mesh with the image.I mostly work with fiew-of-view tool and zoom tool to match.

Try matching the base first and some key points of the object.You can never be completely sure.You have to keep changing the mesh also to make it a perfect match with the image.

Then you can create a camera from that perspective view by pressing (Ctrl+C) as "Noors" described.You can go back to perspective and modify further and if you want to, you can select the existing camera and press (Ctrl+C) which will automatically align the existing camera to the viewport.

Hope that helps.

Rogue One

Thanks guys for taking the time to help a fella out! Much appreciated. What I ended up doing was adding my background image to my default perspective camera/view port and then pressing Ctrl+C and then Freezing the camera which works great so THANKS

Now I have another slight problem which am sure there is an easy solution that I cant find being new to Max. I am working in wireframe mode to help match the geometry to the image which is great but when I select a polygon face it turns red and I cant see my Image. Any ideas how to stop this or make it Transparent?





Thanks again!

monster

The default hotkey is F2.
If you changed it you can find it in the Customize User Interface menu. It's called Shade Selected Faces.

BadgerBaiter

Or Alt + X to make it semi-transparent

Rogue One

Thanks man!! That was fast!! I was trying all the function keys but I guess I didnt try F2 :poly136:

Once again thanks for helping out. These small hurdles can be a game stopper when you are just learning.

Rogue One

Also while I have someone to ask. I must have pressed a button by mistake cause now when I go to edge or vert mode I get some Manipulate Dialogue Box thing pop up and I can close it? Any ideas.

Gooner442

If I ever have interface problems I just go to 'Customize' and 'Custom UI and default switcher' and revert to the default UI, make sure that beforehand you save any preferences out and shortcuts etc, you'll then have to reload them