Quite often I need to generate a rendered view of a model in order to virtually place it into a background scene, usually a JPEG. I use Photoshop to do the composite but I've had to take my models into Autocad in order to create an accurate viewpoint / distance snapshot of the model so that it appears to be in the proper place in the scene. I've been trying to get rid of Autocad for years, is there a way to do an accurate camera position in Solidworks? I've only been able to find the crude perspective setting (1,2,3 etc.) that doesn't seem to relate to anything in the real world. Help is always appreciated, thanks in advance.
The perspective numbers do relate to something in the real world - the model size. Lets say you are rendering a breadbox thats maybe 2' across - the perpective will be as if you were standing 2, 4, 6' away for a perpective of
1,2,3. Its kind of wierd, but I've gotten used to it. Makes some things easy - I know that I would normally photograph a breadbox from about 5 feet away, so I would use a perspective of 2.5. I've never bothered to see which dimension is used on long thin things.
Lining up a model to a picture is quite easy. You will have to customize your 'insert' and 'view-modify' menus in SolidWorks to even get the function you need - its called insert.picture and modify picture, and allows you to put an RGB TIFF image (sorry, no JPEG, and no CMYK art) into the background of your SWx work space. You can then rotate the model and change the perspective to match the virtual eactly to the real (ironically just did it this afternoon, as a matter of fact).
The only catch when inserting pictures is that the picture proportions are not constrained to the original proportions. It gets stretched to whatever size your workspace area is.
I like to resize my workspace numerically so the picture is the right proportion. I note the X and Y dimensions of my TIFF in my image software, then create a sketch of a rectangle in SolidWorks that has that same X and Y dim. Now I've got something dead on size that I can use as a local reference for resizing my work window- I zoom in and out, and slide over the bar that defines the feature manager area, until the sketch is exactly on the edge of the work window. When I put my TIFF in, it will be the right proportion.
Tip - 9 times out of ten, I get lazy and just make my tiff a square. Then I draw a squre sketch in SWx that I will resize my workwindow to.
I pretty much use the same method Ed uses with one difference. I use the image (usually jpg format) as a background image in PhotoWorks. I then go to photoWorks/ interactive rendering (check it to turn it on). My image then shows in the background and I can adjust my model location and perspective to match the picture. Once I save out the final rendering I switch the background to a solid color for easy cropping. I then take the rendered image and do the overlay on the background picture in Corel PhotoPaint.
Thanks to everyone! The macro is very nicely done and Rob's answer makes total sense. I'll try them both. Maybe we can get Solidworks to add a camera position tool to a future release.
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