Multiple viewports to aid in positioning items - 3 orthographic, 1 free-form
When trying to position props, such as placing a teacup on a table or putting an object in an avatar's hand, I need to reorient my view multiple times. I need to view it from the front, top, and side because viewing from one angle does not tell you the whole story.
It would be SO helpful if I could have FOUR VIEWPORTS open at one time. The first three would be on either local or global axis, X/Y/Z and the fourth would be at a more "scene-oriented" position that I chose.
Then when I move the prop, I could see clearly what direction(s) I need to move it to achieve the desired position.
It would be best if the gizmo was active in all four views, for greatest convenience, but if you need to pick only one, then the "freeform" view would be the one.
Although my title specifies "orthographic" views, the viewports don't have to be restricted to those views, but I wanted to convey the main purpose behind my request.
In actual implementation, the three "orthographic" views can't be fully locked, because we might need to zoom or pan, or "EASILY" switch 180 degrees (font/back, left/right, above/below). A "flip direction" for that would be cool, where the camera moves 180 degrees to look from the other direction, but still "at" the selected object.
A GREAT DEFAULT "positioning layout" would be for three of the windows "looking at" the selected object along the three global axis.
Lastly, it would be nice to turn easily perspective on/off for this sort of work, but that's not critical.
SEE ATTACHED PICTURE: In the top-right view, the small box appears correctly placed, but the other three views clearly reveal a problem.
Would be good to include measure tools as well to help with layout, as well as snapping
Tarampa Studios
This would be great for positioning props faster and more accurately in our scenes.
I love the align tool, but I hate the way it moves both items during alignment, when it should align a newly loaded prop/avatar with the one that has been positioned in the scene longer to avoid needing to re-position the original prop again.
But even if the align tool did work with more functionality (including aligning the rotations), it would still be much faster to set up our scenes if we could see perspectives from various angles at once... at the moment we can only do it, with limited success via the mini-viewport, which has no boundary box, so it's often hard to see where the mini view finishes, and the main image begins.
justaviking
@Sean,
Thank you for your comment, but I fear you may have misunderstood my intent.
To experience what I'm talking about, add a block and move it to a random location in your scene. Then rotate your camera to view from a different angle. Now add a sphere and place it on top of the block. Does it look correct from all angles? (For bonus points, do this with the grid turned off... Ctrl-G).
This has nothing to do with the camera angle used for the output video, and it would not be the normal screen layout. Think of it as an extension to how you can enable the mini-viewport to display two different views at the same time. It would be nice to be able to have more for the purpose of positioning items in the scene. Things might look correct from one angle (as seen in my top-right quadrant), but then if you move the camera you'll see things are not where they appeared to be.
I find the simple act of placing an object on a table requires numerous viewpoint changes to ensure the object is at the correct position in the X, Y, and Z directions. The four images I composited demonstrate how from one angle something appears to be in a particular location, but it may actually be too high, too far front, and/or too far to the right.
If you don't move the camera, it might not matter (unless you have shadows on or your lights in line with the camera angle), but as soon as you "swoop and curl" in you'll discover the table settings are not where you thought they were.
Once the item is placed, I'd toggle back to the normal single-camera viewport.
I appreciate your comment. It was indeed very respectfully stated. I hope this reply also comes across with equal civility, as intended.
SeanMac
With all due respect, I don't agree. This idea makes everything akin to technical drawing rather than movie making. What we need to be looking for is the most appropriate shot for this moment in the story we are telling. We need to swoop and curl around to see how the shot might fit in to what went before and what comes after in the storyline.
