Command: camera

Usage:
camera [ mode ] [ eyeSeparation  distance ] [ fieldOfView  field-angle ] [ convergence  angle ] [ pixelEyeSeparation  pixels ] [ cubePixels  cpixels ]

The camera command sets mono or stereo viewing and related parameters. If given without arguments, it reports the current settings in the Log, including position and view direction. See also: view, zoom, scalebar, getcrd, vr roomCamera, Side View, virtual reality, making images

The camera mode can be:

• mono (default) – monoscopic with perspective (apparent size decreasing with distance from the viewer)
• ortho – orthographic, monoscopic without perspective
• crosseye – side-by-side left- and right-eye views for visualization with crossed eyes; defaults aim to place the virtual scene 30 cm from the eyes with the screen 60 cm away so that the whole scene is visible: eye separation twice the scene diameter d, camera distance 10d, field of view 6°, and convergence 6°. Ideally, the window width onscreen should be about 12 cm.
• walleye – side-by-side left- and right-eye views. for visualization with diverged eyes; defaults aim to place the virtual scene 60 cm from the eyes with the screen 30 cm away so that the whole scene is visible: eye separation same as the scene diameter d, camera distance 10d, field of view 6°, and convergence 3°. Ideally, the window width onscreen should be about 12 cm.
• stereo – sequential stereoscopic; see also the --stereo startup option
• sbs – stereoscopic side-by-side layout (similar to walleye)
• tb – stereoscopic top-bottom layout
• 360 – 360° equirectangular projection with longitude 0-360° along the X axis and latitude −90-90° along Y, rendered from a cube map
• 360sbs – 360° stereoscopic side-by-side layout
• 360tb – 360° stereoscopic top-bottom layout
• dome – 180° (half-sphere) projection in which the distance from the window center is proportional to the angle from the view direction up to 90° at the nearest window edge, rendered from a cube map; see also using ChimeraX fullscreen

The eyeSeparation option specifies the distance between left- and right-eye viewpoints in scene distance units, usually Å, for all stereo modes (default 0.2 for 360° modes, twice the scene diameter for crosseye, same as the scene diameter for walleye, otherwise 5.0).

The fieldOfView option specifies the horizontal angular field of view (default 6° for crosseye and walleye, otherwise 30°) for all modes except 360° and orthographic.

The convergence option sets the angle of convergence between the eyes and applies only to the crosseye (default 6°) and walleye (default 3°) modes.

The pixelEyeSeparation option specifies the distance between left- and right-eye viewpoints in screen pixels (default 200) for sequential stereo only. This is usually determined adequately by the display, but adjustments may be needed for comfortable viewing when sequential stereo is projected.

The cubePixels option sets cube map size for the 360, 360sbs, 360tb, and dome modes (default 1024, meaning 1024 x 1024 pixels per cube face). Powers of 2 are recommended.

Restoring a mode will set parameters to the default values for that mode, except as specified in the command; previous settings are not retained.

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Zooming in Stereo

In stereo modes (those with separate views for left and right eyes), the zoom mousemode adjusts the eye separation proportionally to moving the camera closer or farther away so that the apparent distance to a model stays the same while its apparent size changes. Holding the alt key (option key on Mac) in addition to the zoom-assigned button, however, moves the camera without changing the eye separation, allowing the apparent distance to be adjusted. See also: zooming in VR