Setting Up Cameras

Let’s unleash the director or photographer within us and discover how to use cameras in Unreal Engine! When it comes to architectural visualization, we’re delving into the realm of beautifully composed shots and, by extension, the wise use of cameras. Similar to the real world, capturing a stunning picture with a camera demands a blend of technical and artistic skills, which is especially crucial in architectural visualization.

Unlike movies, where subjects are often standard-sized, in architectural visualization, our subjects are large, tall, and wide, making perspective distortion a crucial factor to consider. Photographing architectural structures and buildings requires not only a keen eye but also technical expertise: selecting the right format, angle, and lens, along with mastering exposure, plays a vital role. Photographers and artists understand this very well, and as virtual photographers within Unreal, we need to thoroughly acquaint ourselves...

Technical requirements

The project files for the chapter can be found at https://github.com/PacktPublishing/Architectural-Visualization-in-Unreal-Engine-5

Essentials of cinematic cameras

In this section, we are going to learn the essentials of cinematic cameras, including how to create and handle them and everything we need to know about their controls. But before we begin, let’s clarify a misleading notion: Unreal Engine offers two camera actors, but you will only need one of them. So, don’t get confused:

• Camera Actor: This works but has fewer controls and is designed to be used for games and playable experiences. It’s the camera that follows the player.
• Cine Camera Actor: This is the camera that’s needed to shoot pictures and animations. It replicates real cameras and offers a ton of additional options (needless to say, you want to use this one):

Figure 13.1: The two types of cameras available in Unreal Engine

While both types of camera actors might technically function, you should exclusively use cinematic ones for creating stills and animations. Cine Camera...

Preparing cameras for shooting

Unreal Engine provides a comprehensive set of tools and features that cater to real-world filmmaking needs. Once you’ve set up your camera, the next step is to prepare for the shooting session. One method that’s used by real-world filmmakers to achieve smooth and sweeping shots is by utilizing Camera Rigs: apparatuses that securely attach the camera to specific setups. In Unreal Engine, you can take advantage of Rail and Crane rigs, which allow you to create lifelike camera movements, adding a touch of realism to your scenes.

Now, let’s take a closer look at what you should consider before embarking on your shooting session.

Locking your camera (only for static images)

This isn’t an actual rig, just some helpful tips. Is your scene using only a static camera? If so, you mainly need to be cautious about unintentional movements. So, why not lock the camera’s transform? To do this, simply select the camera and...

Advanced functionalities

Unreal Engine’s cinematic system has evolved significantly over the years. However, in my opinion, it may lack certain functionalities that are essential for architectural visualization, especially for users accustomed to VRay cameras or traditional Archviz cameras. Let’s look at some of these missing functionalities.

Two-point perspective

Unreal Engine cannot distort images to eliminate perspective inclination and achieve parallel vertical lines (like the automatic vertical lines correction found in software like 3ds Max). Also, there’s no command for using a shift lens offset to move the frame while maintaining the camera’s position:

Figure 13.27: Verticals correction in 3ds max

To address these limitations, I recommend exploring additional tools available in the marketplace. Several products on the marketplace offer similar functionalities to enhance your Archviz workflow. You may consider checking...

Project – creating your final cameras

Now, it’s time for you to unleash your inner photographer and create some cameras in your scene project. I won’t go into specific details here since it’s a personal creative process, but remember the general rules highlighted earlier and follow these steps for each camera:

1. Create cinematic cameras from the cinematic section of the Place Actor panel by dragging them into the scene.
2. Organize the cameras by placing them inside a folder in your world outliner named Cam or Cinematic to keep things tidy.
3. Decide on a Filmback size and keep it consistent for all the different cameras.
4. Choose a lens for each camera and set its Focal Length, Focus Distance, and possibly Cropped Aspect Ratio.
5. Compose your shots according to your preferences. You can use any of the methods described previously but I’d personally go with piloting cameras: select the camera and switch the viewport to Cinematic Viewport...

Summary

This chapter might have felt easier compared to others as it covered concepts you may already be familiar with. The primary difference in setting up cameras in Unreal is learning where to find the tools and buttons you are accustomed to. Once you become familiar with the camera’s new commands, you’re good to go. In short, during this chapter, we learned how to add cameras to the scene and use them to frame shots; we explored the various settings available and how to adjust them and, additionally, we gained insights into the cinematic viewport. Then, we delved into some advanced functionalities that are crucial for shooting animations: the camera Rig Rail and camera Rig Crane, their purposes, and how to utilize them effectively. Toward the end, we discussed some tools that are currently missing from Unreal’s native cameras, such as perspective correction and stereoscopic cameras, which are significant for Archviz. We also explored how to compensate for these...