Camera
The Camera object is used to display the objects in your scene. Each effect requires at least one Camera to render out the scene. The Camera will also render everything in the selected Layer to the Render Texture. A project can have multiple objects rendered on different layers.
Add a Camera Object
You can add a Camera object by selecting the Add button [+] > Scene > Camera in the Hierarchy panel. You can watch your scene render in the Preview panel.
Object Hierarchy
Starting in Effect House v2.0.0, the Camera object is automatically added to the General render group in the Hierarchy panel. Learn more about render groups.
Each render group automatically comes with a Camera object that is responsible for rendering objects in their respective render group. You can add more cameras in an render group and set their render order and layers to achieve your desired effect.
Perspective Camera (3D) and Orthographic Camera (2D)
There are two types of cameras you can select from:
- Perspective (3D)
- Orthographic (2D)
A perspective camera (3D) displays objects in a virtual world in three dimension, allowing for the perception of depth and volume. When you add the Camera object to the scene, it is a 3D camera by default.
An orthographic (2D) camera displays objects in a virtual world in two dimensions, making your scene appear flattened. To configure a 2D camera, select the Camera object in the Hierarchy panel. Then under the Camera component, use the Camera Type dropdown to select Orthographic in the Inspector panel.
Move Your Camera in a 3D Scene
Select the Camera object and adjust the Transform component attached. Doing so adjusts the camera’s transform properties, including Position and Rotation.
You can either adjust the gizmo to manipulate the position, rotation, or scale, or type the value in the Transform component under the Inspector panel.
Certain settings can cause the camera’s transform function to be overwritten. In these cases, nothing will affect the final render, no matter how you adjust the camera’s transform or camera parameters. The camera settings may be overwritten when a 3D Face Binding component is assigned to the scene object.
Preview
Preview in Effect House
After configuring your scene and cameras in Effect House, you can view the Preview panel to get a sense of how your final project will look. You can see your scene objects overlaid on default preview videos, your webcam video, or your uploaded local media. You can use this panel to configure the exact positions and render textures of your camera(s) while you are developing your effect. What you see in the Preview panel matches the Final Render Output render texture.
Preview on TikTok
For more accurate testing, use the Preview on TikTok button to preview your project in the TikTok app.
Use Multiple Cameras in the Scene
When you want different cameras to render different objects or render one object on top of other layers, you must set up the render order and render layers. Learn more about how to set up the render layer and render order.
Customize the Camera’s Render Texture
You can also use a custom render texture to have a sneak peek into what the camera is viewing in the scene and display it onto an image. Learn more about how to play with the render texture.
Camera Component Properties
Layers: Render all scene objects that are set to the selected layers. You can select multiple layers for one camera. Select Default Layer, or from Layer 1 to Layer 63.
Render Texture: Set the render output of the camera to a render texture. You can use the default render texture, Final Render Output. This render texture uses the webcam video frame by default so it shows what the webcam or phone camera is viewing. Alternatively, you can create a new render texture and assign it to this property.
Render Order: A camera with a higher render order will render in front of camera with a lower render order (or the higher the render order, the later it will render).
When there are multiple cameras in the scene, you need to change layers as well as the render order. If camera A’s render order is 3, in order to make camera B be rendered on top of camera A’s rendering result, we should set camera B’s render order to be greater than 3.
Viewport: Indicate where on the screen the camera is viewing.
- X: The beginning horizontal position of the camera view.
- Y: The beginning vertical position of the camera view.
- W: The width of the camera output on the screen.
- H: The height of the camera output on the screen.
Camera Type: How the camera projects the scene objects onto the screen.
- Perspective: Simulate how perspective and depth-perception work in the real world. Everything looks smaller in the distance and larger when they are closer to the camera.
- Orthographic: This does not represent the object as it would be recorded photographically or perceived by a viewer observing it directly. It is a parallel projection where the lines will stay parallel in every circumstance.
FOV (Field of view): The view angle of the camera. Only applies to a perspective camera.
Ortho Height: The height of the camera clip plane. Only applies to an orthographic camera. The max value is 99.
Near: The closest distance the camera can render.
Far: The furthest distance the camera can render.
Clear Type: Define what to use to clear the previous frame.
- Color: Fill the render texture with the selected solid color.
- Depth: Clear the depth buffer from a previous render texture. Redetermine the depth when drawing the new render texture.
- Color Depth: Fill the render texture with the selected solid color. Clear the depth buffer and color buffer from a previous render texture.
- Don’t: Do not clear any buffer the from the previous render texture.
- Depth Stencil: Clear the depth buffer with a stencil buffer from a previous render texture.
- Color Depth Stencil: Fill the render texture with the selected solid color. Clear the depth buffer with both a stencil buffer and color buffer from a previous render texture.
Clear Color: If Clear Type is set to Color, Color Depth, or Color Depth Stencil, the render texture of the camera will be filled with the selected solid color.