Camera and Depth of Field

Overview#

A render is a photograph of a virtual scene, and camera choices matter as much as materials. The canvas view is the camera: whatever you see when you start a render is what is rendered. Three decisions shape the result.

1. Projection: perspective or orthographic.
2. Framing: position, angle and field of view.
3. Focus: whether everything is sharp or only a chosen distance is sharp (depth of field).

Fusion does not have a separate camera object for stills. You set the canvas view, optionally save it as a Named View, and the render uses it. In the Animation workspace, camera positions can be captured into the storyboard (see the animation pages).

Where to find it#

• Perspective / Orthographic: the Camera setting in Scene Settings, or the View Cube menu.
• Focal length: Scene Settings > Camera > Focal Length, by numeric value or slider (the API documents millimeters).
• Named Views: saved views for reuse; not covered in the render help, see the general Fusion navigation topics.
• Depth of field: Render workspace > Setup > Scene Settings > Camera > Depth of Field. Autodesk notes it is displayed only when ray tracing is enabled.
• Navigation Bar (bottom of canvas): Orbit, Pan, Zoom, Fit, Look At, and Display Settings.

Step by step#

Frame a hero shot#

1. Switch the camera to Perspective (Scene Settings or the View Cube menu).
2. Orbit to a three-quarter angle (roughly 30 degrees from the front, 20 degrees above).
3. Use Zoom with the mouse wheel and Pan with Shift + middle mouse to center the product.
4. Turn on in-canvas rendering (see that page) and look for clipped edges or awkward reflections.
5. Save the view as a Named View and name it "Hero" (see the Named Views topics in the Fusion help).

Reduce perspective distortion#

1. Zoom out so the camera is farther from the model.
2. Raise the focal length (a longer lens, narrower field of view); the model then fills the frame without exaggerated near-far scale.
3. For technical product shots with no convergence, use Orthographic. Mirrors and glass sometimes look less natural in orthographic, so compare.

Add depth of field#

1. Open Scene Settings and find Depth of Field.
2. Enable it.
3. Select the object for the Center of Focus.
4. Set the blur amount by numeric value or slider. Autodesk's API documents it as 0.001 to 2.0. There is no photographic f-number on this control.
5. Turn on In-Canvas Render or run a quick local render to preview the result.

Rotate with a locked view#

1. Once framed, avoid touching the canvas. Any orbit restarts the in-canvas render and changes the final image.
2. Use Capture Image or the Render command immediately.

Options reference#

Tips and pitfalls#

Tip: Set the output aspect ratio before composing. A shot framed in a wide canvas will crop badly if the final output is square. Use the render dialog's preview frame or the in-canvas aspect ratio overlay when available.

Tip: For product photography the rule of thumb is a modest field of view and a three-quarter angle slightly above the object. Hold the camera at roughly the product's eye level for lifestyle shots.

Warning: Depth of field can make small parts look like miniatures when the blur is extreme. A model at real scale with a very high blur value will look like a tilt-shift photograph.

Warning: The scale of your model affects how strong DOF looks. The same blur value gives a stronger look on a small part than on a large machine. Adjust by eye rather than copying numbers.

Tip: Place the center of focus on the visual hero of the picture, such as a logo, a button or the nearest edge, not at the geometric center.

Note: not confirmed in Autodesk's documentation: that switching projection changes the focus. Recheck the center of focus anyway.

Tip: Use Look At on a face to produce exact front or side shots with no tilt, then orbit slightly for pleasing off-axis composition.

Additional guidance:

• Keep the horizon level. The Fit command and the View Cube Home keep orientation consistent, and holding Shift when orbiting with some navigation presets constrains the motion.
• Leave breathing room around the product. A tight crop feels cramped; around 10 to 15 percent margin works for most shots.
• Avoid placing the camera inside the environment geometry. If you zoom very close, the camera may appear to clip through bodies. Pull back and use a narrower field of view.
• For close-ups of details such as screws, ports, or engravings, increase the render quality, because noise is more obvious in magnified detail.
• A series of renders for a catalog should share the same field of view, camera height and environment; save each as a named view so you can return to them.
• Section Analysis cut views: not confirmed in Autodesk's render documentation; test before relying on them.

Focus and the canvas#

Because the canvas is the camera, you can use the Display Settings > Visual Style, Effects (shadows, reflections, ambient occlusion) for a quick preview while framing, then switch to full rendering for the check. The preview effects do not equal the final result but they are fast.

Composition checklist#

• Is the key feature visible and in focus?
• Are reflections free from distracting shapes?
• Is the background uncluttered and consistent with the story?
• Does the aspect ratio match the destination (web, print, slide)?

Focal length in practice#

The render camera is described by a focal length in millimeters (Fusion's API states that it shares a setting with the active viewport's perspective angle), so the field-of-view discussion above can be made concrete with the familiar photographic scale.

A worked example, assuming a 36 mm wide full-frame equivalent: to fill the frame with a 600 mm wide product, the camera distance is roughly object width x focal length / frame width. With a 50 mm lens that is 600 x 50 / 36, about 830 mm; you will normally back off 30 to 50 percent for margin, so around 1.1 m. With a 100 mm lens the same framing needs about 1.7 m for exact fill, or 2.2 m with margin. The point of the arithmetic is the relationship, not the exact figure: doubling the focal length doubles the distance for the same framing, and the longer the lens, the less the near corner of the part grows relative to the far corner.

Depth of field: how the controls really work#

Fusion's depth of field is controlled by two things, not by a photographic aperture. According to Autodesk's API reference for scene settings, you set a center of focus (a point whose distance from the camera defines the in-focus depth) and a blur amount, documented as a value from 0.001 to 2.000 applied to everything outside that distance. In the API, setting the blur value turns depth of field on. There is no f-number on this control, so earlier mentions of an F-stop in tutorials from other software do not map directly: treat the blur value as the equivalent of opening or closing the aperture, with larger values giving stronger blur.

General starting guidance, not Autodesk data: low values for a subtle product shot, mid values for a clearly shallow close-up, and values near the 2.0 maximum only for deliberate miniature effects. Because the blur is relative to distance from the focus plane, a part that is 400 mm deep blurs far more visibly than a part 40 mm deep at the same setting. When you change the camera distance or focal length, re-evaluate the blur by eye.

Failure modes and fixes#

Workflow advice for a series#

For a catalog of six variants, set the camera once, save it as a Named View ("Hero 3Q"), set the focal length, aspect ratio and depth of field, and record the values. Then change only appearances between renders. Return to the Named View before each render rather than trusting the current canvas, since an accidental scroll-wheel nudge changes framing by a few millimeters and the series will not align when flipped in a presentation.

Two more habits help. Save an additional Named View for the straight-on orthographic front, because it is useful for checking logos and alignments before returning to the perspective shot. And when you need a close-up of a feature, make a second Named View rather than zooming the first; the first stays valid for the hero shot.

Practice exercise#

1. Open an assembly with at least three identical parts in a row (a row of bolts or a stack of washers 40 mm apart).
2. Set Perspective, orbit to a low three-quarter angle looking along the row, and save the Named View "Row".
3. Set the aspect ratio to 16:9 before framing and set a 50 mm focal length in Scene Settings. Record how much of the row fits.
4. Change to about 100 mm and move the camera back until the row fits again. Compare how much the near bolt dwarfs the far bolt in the two shots and write the difference down.
5. Enable depth of field, pick the center of focus on the middle bolt, and try blur values 0.1, 0.5 and 1.5, capturing each with In-Canvas Render.
6. Move the focus to the nearest bolt at blur 0.5 and capture again.
7. Expected result: the 100 mm shot shows smaller scale difference between bolts; at 0.1 all bolts are almost sharp, at 0.5 near and far bolts are clearly soft, at 1.5 the scene looks like a miniature, and the last capture proves focus follows the picked point.

Related#

• Scene Settings and Environment
• In-Canvas Render
• Tips for Photoreal Output