GETTING STARTED:

Advanced Camera Tools

Table of Contents
■ Introduction
■ Downloading and installing the Advanced Camera Tools plugin
■ Touring the Advanced Camera Tools user interface
■ Creating a new camera
■ Repositioning a camera in your model
■ Looking through an existing camera
■ Moving and aiming a camera with your keyboard
■ Manually editing a camera’s properties
■ Deleting a camera
■ Seeing all of the cameras in your model
■ Showing and hiding your cameras’ frustums
■ Clearing the aspect ratio masking bars
■ Showing your cameras’ safe zones
■ Adding a camera to the list of default Camera Types
  
Introduction
The Advanced Camera Tools plugin for Google SketchUp Pro 8 allows you to
create optically and physically modeled professional cameras that can be
configured and manipulated just as they would in the real world. Cameras you
create with the ACT provide precise controls for properties like Focal Length,
Aspect Ratio and Image Width, allowing you to accurately model and preview
real camera shots inside any model you’re working with.

With the Advanced Camera Tools, you can:

● Add any number of physical cameras to your model.

● Choose from dozens of pre-configured camera types, or create your own.
● Position and aim your ACT cameras using familiar moves like Pan, Tilt, Dolly,
Truck and Pedestal.
● Set the Focal Length of any camera to simulate a large number of physical
lenses.
● Look through your ACT cameras to preview Aspect Ratio and Safe Zones for the
shots you’re planning.
● Toggle on and off all of your ACT cameras’ frustums to clearly see what is—and
isn’t— visible in your shots.
● Edit the properties of any ACT camera in your model at any time.

From loose storyboarding to advanced shot analysis, you can use the Advanced
Camera Tools throughout the planning phases of any film, video or photography
project.

Example: Scene 17 from “Danger From Above, Mr. President”

The following images show a street scene with three ACT cameras placed in the
model. In this case, all three are 35mm Super 35 3-Perf 2.40 Extracted Area film
cameras. Camera A has a focal length of 50mm, Camera B has a focal length of
135mm, and Camera C has a focal length of 85mm. The aspect ratio for all three
cameras is set to 2.40.
THE SETUP. ​This model includes three 35mm film cameras.

CAMERA A​ is positioned 8.25 inches from the sidewalk, tilted up at an angle of 4

degrees.
LOOKING THROUGH CAMERA A.​ The shaded bars at top and bottom indicate which
parts of the image are visible at this aspect ratio (2.40).

CAMERA B​ is positioned in the window of an adjacent building 132’–11” above the 

ground, tilted down at an angle of 38.4 degrees.
LOOKING THROUGH CAMERA ​B​.​ ​The Center Mark in the middle of the view indicates
the center of the image.

CAMERA C​ is positioned 60.75 inches above the sidewalk. Tilt is dead level.
LOOKING THROUGH CAMERA C.​ Camera Properties appear as a group in the lower-left 
corner of the modeling window.
  
Installing the Advanced Camera Tools plugin
Note: In order to install the Advanced Camera Tools plugin, you must have
Google SketchUp Pro 8. Either a time-limited trial version or a fully-licensed
installation will do. To download a trial version of SketchUp Pro 8, please visit the
Google SketchUp website​.

Follow these steps to download and install the ACT plugin on your computer:

1. Visit the ​Plugins page​ on the Google SketchUp website.

2. Download the Advanced Camera Tools plugin installer file for your
operating system.

3. Open the downloaded file called:

GSU8AdvancedCameraTools.msi (Windows) or
GSU8AdvancedCameraTools.dmg (Mac OS X) to launch the plugin
installer.

4. Follow the instructions to install the ACT on your computer.

5. Relaunch SketchUp Pro 8 to activate the Advanced Camera Tools.

 
Touring the Advanced Camera Tools user interface
You can think of the ACT user interface as a combination of tools, onscreen
visual elements, physical objects and navigational devices. For the sake of
explanation, we’ve broken it down into three major areas.

Tools and Commands

With the Advanced Camera Tools plugin installed, you can find the individual
ACTs in three locations. In most cases, the same tools appear in two or three of
the these locations. Which you choose to use is a matter of personal preference.

■ Tools Menu:​ Choose ​Tools ➔ Advanced Camera Tools​ to access the ACT
toolset from SketchUp’s menu system.
■ Context menu:​ Right-click any ACT camera in your model to open a context
menu. The specific commands in the context menu depend on the type of
camera you’ve selected.
■ Advanced Camera Tools toolbar:​ Choose​ View ➔ Toolbars*​ ​➔ Advanced
Camera Tools​ to show the ACT toolbar.

* Mac users choose ​View ➔ Tool Palettes ➔ Advanced Camera Tools​.

 THE ACT TOOLBAR​ includes buttons for most common operations.

Onscreen Visual Elements

When you’re “looking through” an ACT camera, several user interface elements
are visible:

■ Aspect Ratio Masking Bars:​ When your camera’s aspect ratio doesn’t match
that of your modeling window, these bars indicate the visible area of the frame.
■ Camera Stats Heads-Up Display:​ All of your camera’s properties are displayed
in the lower-left corner of the modeling window.
■ Center Mark:​ A small, black crosshairs indicates your camera’s center of focus.
■ Safe Zones:​ Some ACT cameras include one or more preset safe zones. These
blue rectangles denote parts of the frame that will be visible on certain output
resolutions, aspect ratios and display devices.
 ONSCREEN VISUAL ELEMENTS​ help you aim and position your camera.

Cameras and Scenes

With one or more ACT cameras in your model, there are two important elements
that are always present:

■ Camera object:​ Creating a new ACT camera automatically generates a physical

camera object in your model. You can move and look through these cameras any
time you like.
■ ACT camera scene tab:​ Each ACT camera in your model has a corresponding
scene tab that appears at the top of your modeling window. Clicking an ACT
scene tab “looks through” its corresponding camera and puts you in camera
editing mode.
 CAMERAS AND SCENES​ are permanently linked together.

 
Creating a new camera
A basic workflow that seems to work for most people is as follows:

​ ​ Advanced Camera Tools ​➔​ Select Camera Type.

1. Choose Tools ➔

Select a camera type from the pre-configured cameras listed in the drop-down
menus. If the camera you select has an aspect ratio which is different from that of
your SketchUp modeling window, shaded ​letterboxing​ or ​pillarboxing​ bars appear
to mask off the area which is not visible through your camera.

If the camera type you need isn’t included in the list, choose a close match and
edit its properties to produce exactly what you need. See ​Manually editing
camera properties​ for more information.
 THE CAMERA TYPE YOU SELECT​ comes with a built-in aspect ratio. The letterboxed
image on the left comes from a camera with an aspect ratio of 2.40. The pillarboxed
image on the right is the result of a camera whose aspect ratio is 1.33. The aspect ratio
of the modeling window in each case is identical.

​ ​ Advanced Camera Tools ​➔​ Create Camera.

2. Choose Tools ➔

In the dialog box that opens, give your new camera a meaningful name and click
OK. SketchUp creates a new ACT camera and a linked ACT scene tab appears
at the top of your modeling window. Learn more about these scene tabs in
Looking through an existing camera​.

Right now, you’re looking through the camera you’ve just created.

Create Camera

You can also create a new camera by clicking the Create Camera button in the
ACT toolbar.
CLICK CREATE CAMERA​ when you’ve settled on a Camera Type.

NAME YOUR NEW CAMERA.​ Meaningful names help a lot.

 ONSCREEN ELEMENTS​ and a Scene Tab appear after you create a camera.

3. Frame a view of your model.

Use SketchUp’s standard Orbit, Pan and Zoom tools (using your mouse if you
like) to physically reposition the camera in your model. Keep in mind that using
the Zoom tool actually moves your camera towards (or away from) your subject.
To “zoom in” as you would with a physical lens, adjust your Focal Length. See
the next step for more information.

To center your view on any point in your model, double-click that point with your
cursor.
 FRAME YOUR SHOT​ using SketchUp’s regular navigation tools to move your camera
around: Orbit, Pan and Zoom.

4. If you like, fine-tune your new camera’s position and properties.

You can use the arrow keys on your keyboard to Pan, Tilt, Dolly, Truck, Pedestal,
Roll and adjust Focal Length while you’re looking through an ACT camera. For a
complete list of commands, see ​Moving and aiming a camera with your
keyboard​.

Hint: Using the keyboard commands to control your camera works better with
Shadows turned off.

To edit your camera’s properties (including its Focal Length) right-click anywhere
in the modeling window and choose ​Edit Camera...​ to open the Camera
Properties dialog box. See ​Manually editing a camera’s properties​ for more
information.
5. Lock your camera.

Choose ​Tools ➔ Advanced Camera Tools ➔ Lock/Unlock Current Camera​ to

lock your camera. Locking a camera prevents you from accidentally moving it out
of position.

Lock/Unlock Current Camera

 You can also lock a camera by clicking the ​Lock/Unlock Current Camera​ button
in the ACT toolbar, or by right-clicking anywhere in your modeling window and
choose ​Lock Camera​.

Whatever you do, don’t forget to ​LOCK YOUR CAMERA​ before you finish editing it.

6. Right-click anywhere in your modeling window and choose Done.

By choosing Done, you’re no longer editing your camera’s physical position or

properties. You can now orbit, pan and zoom around your model without moving
your ACT camera.
CHOOSE DONE​ to stop editing your camera.
 
Repositioning a camera in your model
When you create an ACT camera, SketchUp automatically generates a camera
object and places it precisely where it belongs in your model. You can reposition
any ACT camera at any time using SketchUp’s standard Move and Rotate tools.
If the camera you want to move is locked, you’ll need to unlock it before you can
reposition it.
MOVE A CAMERA​ using SketchUp’s regular Move and Rotate tools if you like. The
camera’s corresponding Scene automatically updates to represent the new viewpoint.

When manually positioning an ACT camera, it’s useful to know that the precise
“eye point” of any camera is the center of its lens element. See the image below
for an illustration.

THE CENTER OF THE LENS​ is the pivot point for all ACT cameras.
It’s also the point from which all measurements should be taken.
  
Looking through an existing camera
You can “look through” any ACT camera in your model in four different ways:

○ Click the camera’s corresponding Scene Tab at the top of your modeling window.

OR

○ Right-click the camera and choose ​Look Through Camera.​

OR

○ Choose ​Tools ➔ Advanced Camera Tools ➔ Look Through Camera​.

OR

Look Through Camera

○ Click the ​Look Through Camera​ button on the ACT toolbar.

 
Moving and aiming a camera with your keyboard
While you’re looking through an ACT camera, you can move and aim it using
keyboard commands that correspond to traditional camera moves:

Action Description Use Arrow keys: ...and hold down:

Pan Swivel right and left ←→

Tilt Swivel up and down ↑↓

Truck Move right and left ←→ ⇧Shift

Dolly Move forwards and back ↑↓ ⇧Shift

Pedestal Move up and down ↑↓ ⇧Shift + Ctrl (Option on Mac)

Roll Spin right and left ←→ Ctrl (Option on Mac)

Focal Length Zoom lens in and out ↑↓ Ctrl (Option on Mac)

You can use ​TRADITIONAL CAMERA MOVES​ to aim and reposition your camera
while you’re looking through it.

You can speed up or slow down the speed of your camera movement by tapping
+ (plus) or - (minus) on your keyboard. For example, to Pan in smaller
increments when using the Left and Right arrow keys, tap the “-” key a couple of
times before you start panning.

 
Manually editing a camera’s properties
You can edit an ACT camera’s properties at any time using the Camera
Properties dialog box:

○ If you’re looking through an ACT camera, you can edit its properties by
right-clicking anywhere in your modeling window and choosing ​Edit Camera​... to
open the Camera Properties dialog box.

OR

○ If you’re ​not​ currently looking through the camera whose properties you want to
edit, you can right-click its camera object and choose ​Edit Camera...​ to open the
Camera Properties dialog box.

The Camera Properties dialog box lets you control the following settings:

Name
Enter a unique name; this appears on the camera’s corresponding scene tab.

Height

Enter a height relative the model’s axis origin (ground plane).

Tilt

Enter a tilt angle measured in degrees. Tilting the camera is like bending your
neck to look up and down.

Roll

Enter roll angle measured in degrees. Rolling the camera rotates the horizon as
seen through the lens.

Focal Length

Enter a focal length measured in millimeters. Higher numbers are more zoomed
in; lower numbers yield wider shots.

Aspect Ratio

Enter an aspect ratio. You can express this aspect ratio as a decimal (1.78); a
ratio (16:9); a product (16x9); or a fraction (16/9).

Image Width

Enter the physical film or sensor width in millimeters. Keep in mind that this isn’t
as simple as entering “35” for a 35mm camera. In most cases, you’ll need to look
up this figure—this information isn’t always easy to find.

 
Deleting a camera
To permanently remove an ACT camera, delete its camera object from your
model. When you do, its corresponding scene will be deleted, too.

Note: It doesn’t work the other way around; deleting an ACT scene does not
automatically delete the corresponding camera.
  
Seeing all of the cameras in your model
Sometimes it’s useful to be able to be able to show or hide all of the ACT
cameras in your model at once. To do so, choose ​Tools ➔ Advanced Camera
Tools ➔ Show/Hide All Cameras​ or click the ​Show/Hide All Cameras​ button on
the ACT toolbar:

Show/Hide All Cameras

Note: All ACT cameras objects exist on a layer called “Cameras”. Choosing the
Show/Hide All Cameras command simply toggles the visibility of this layer.

 
Showing and hiding your cameras’ frustums
A camera’s frustum is all of the space in front of it that it can “see”. When you
create a camera with the Advanced Camera Tools plugin, SketchUp
automatically generates a three-dimensional object that you can use to visualize
its frustum.

By looking at the frustums of all of your ACT cameras at once, you can quickly
see which parts of your model will be visible in the shots you’re planning—and
which parts won’t.

The ACTs include two different ways to see your camera frustums; you can use
them separately or together:

● Lines: ​Seeing your camera frustums as dashed outlines is helpful when you’re
looking at a top-down view of your model.
● Volumes:​ Visualizing your camera frustums as volumes with translucent planes
makes them easier to understand when you’re viewing your model from all
angles.
FRUSTUMS​ are the areas in front of your cameras that they can “see”. The top image
(above) shows the view through a camera. The middle image shows a top view of the
model with Frustums Lines turned on. The bottom image shows the model with Frustum
Volume turned on.

To toggle the visibility of your camera frustum ​lines​, choose ​Tools ➔ Advanced
Camera Tools ➔ Show/Hide Camera Frustum Lines​ or click the ​Show/Hide
Camera Frustum Lines ​button on the ACT toolbar:

Show/Hide Camera Frustum Lines

To toggle the visibility of your camera frustum ​volumes​, choose ​Tools ➔

Advanced Camera Tools ➔ Show/Hide Camera Frustum Volume​ or click the
Show/Hide Camera Frustum Volume​ button on the ACT toolbar:

Show/Hide Camera Frustum Volumes

Note: All camera frustum objects exist on two layers called “Camera_FOV_Lines”
and “Camera_FOV_Volume”. Choosing the above frustum visibility commands
simply toggles the visibility of these layers.
  
Clearing the aspect ratio masking bars
When you select a camera with an aspect ratio that differs from that of your
modeling window, SketchUp draws shaded masking bars to help you preview
your shot. It’s sometimes easier to model without these bars; to clear them, follow
these steps:

1. Make sure you’re not currently looking through (editing) any of your
cameras.

Clearing the aspect ratio masking bars ​while you’re editing a camera​ resets that
camera to a default state. This probably isn’t what you intended to do. If you’re
currently editing a camera, right-click anywhere in the modeling window and
choose ​Done​ to stop editing it.

​ ​ Advanced Camera Tools ➔

2. Choose Tools ➔ ​ ​ Reset Camera.

​Reset Camera

You can also click the ​Reset Camera​ button on the ACT toolbar.

 
Showing your cameras’ safe zones
A camera “safe zone” is a sub-area of what’s visible through the lens. Some safe
zones represent different output resolutions. Some show different aspect ratios.
Some indicate which parts of the frame will be cropped when displayed on
different viewing devices. Different ACT cameras have different safe zones.
Some have many; others have none.

When you create a new ACT camera that includes one or more safe zones, they
can be displayed as blue rectangles in your modeling window. See the image
below for an example.
Some cameras (like this RED® Mysterium® Full CCD Area) include multiple ​SAFE ZONES​.

When you’re looking through (editing) a camera, you can show all of its safe
zones by right-clicking anywhere in the modeling window and choosing ​Safe
Zone Visibility ➔ Show All Safe Zones​. You can also control the visibility of each
safe zone by choosing ​Safe Zone Visibility​ and selecting the ones you want to
show or hide one at a time.
  
Adding a camera to the list of default Camera Types
If there’s a specific camera you want to use with the ATC plugin in SketchUp that
doesn’t appear in the list when you choose ​Tools ➔ Advanced Camera Tools ➔
Select Camera Type​, you can add it yourself. Doing so isn’t difficult, but it does
require you to edit a CSV file that resides elsewhere on your computer system.
To open and edit a CSV file, you can use any spreadsheet software; Microsoft
Excel, Numbers and Google Docs are popular choices.

You’ll find the CSV file that lists the ACT’s camera types in the following location:

● Windows:​ C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Google SketchUp

8\SketchUp\Tools\Advanced Camera Tools\cameradata\​cameras.csv

● Mac:​ Hard Drive\Library\Application Support\Google SketchUp

8\SketchUp\Tools\Advanced Camera Tools\cameradata\​cameras.csv

With the file “cameras.csv” open in your spreadsheet software, you’ll see a long
list of camera types. To add a camera to the list that appears in SketchUp, add a
row containing its camera data to this spreadsheet. Save it with the same name,
in the same location on your computer, then re-launch SketchUp.

Here’s some information about what to put in each of the columns in the
spreadsheet:

ID

Enter a unique string for each camera you add to the list.

Name

Give your new camera a descriptive name.

Description

Provide a more detailed description of your new camera.

Category

Use this field to tell SketchUp where to display your new camera in the
drop-down list of camera types. If it’s a 35mm camera, entering “35mm” will list it
with the others in that category.

To create a submenu, use a forward slash (/) character. Entering “Digital/RED®”

lists your new camera in the RED® submenu of the Digital category.

Use the category “mask” to denote a row that should be referenced by ID as a

safe zone by other cameras in the list. Rows with the category “mask” don’t
appear as separate cameras in the SketchUp user interface.

Image_Width

Enter the physical width of the film or sensor for your new camera, in millimeters.
Keep in mind that this isn’t as simple as entering “35” for a 35mm camera. In
most cases, you’ll need to look up this figure. This information isn’t always easy
to find.

Aspect_Ratio

Enter the aspect ratio (width/height) of the film or sensor as a decimal number.
1.33 and 2.4 are common aspect ratios for film.

Absolute_Safe_IDs

An Absolute Safe Zone represents an area of the frame that’s limited by a

physical reality such as a film or sensor size, or a maximum resolution for a given
frame rate.

Use this field to include other cameras’ image widths and aspect ratios as safe
zones for the camera you’re adding. Enter their IDs separated by vertical bars (|).
The RED® Mysterium® Full CCD Area camera in the list is a good example. Its
Absolute_Safe_IDs field includes these IDs:

23|24|25|26|27|28|29|30|31|32|33|34

The above string of IDs means that each of these referenced cameras will
appear as safe zones when you’re looking through a RED® Mysterium Full CCD
Area camera in SketchUp.

Relative_Safe_IDs

A Relative Safe Zone represents an area of the frame that will be visible if the
image is displayed in a particular way. Safe zones for SDTV (aspect ratio of 1.33)
and HDTV (aspect ratio of 1.78) are good examples.

Similar to Absolute_Safe_IDs, Relative_Safe_IDs are used to reference other

cameras (rows) in the CSV as safe zones for the camera you’re creating. List the
IDs for the cameras you want to reference, separated by vertical bars (|).

Camera_Model

In SketchUp, if you select a camera type before choosing Create Camera, the
ACT plugin checks this field in the CSV to see which camera SKP file it should
draw in your modeling window. The available camera SKP files live in the same
Cameradata folder as the CSV you’re editing.

To specify a particular SKP file that’s inserted when you create a new camera in
SketchUp, enter its name here. The SKP file name you enter must exist in the
Cameradata folder.