The Universal camera is a full-featured camera, with support for:

  • Thin Lens
  • Orthographic
  • Fisheye
  • Equirectangular
  • Cubemap

Simliar to the Lens or Panoramic camera type, the Universal camera's parameters change depending on whether Perspective or Panoramic is selected as the lens Type. If Panoramic is selected as the lens Type, the Camera Mode parameter becomes active to determine the panoramic lens types associated with the Universal camera (figure 1).


Universal Panoramic

Figure 1: Universal Camera set to Panoramic


Universal Camera Parameters

Camera Data Node

Always use camera resolution - Used the camera view resolution in preview. 

Used as Universal Camera

Camera Mode - This parameter is active when the lens Type is set to Panoramic. There are three camera projection types to choose from: 

  • Fisheye
  • Equirectangular
  • Cubemap

Use F-Stop - Use F-Stop setting instead of aperture. 

F-Stop - This paramerter is active when Use F-Stop is selected and determines the aperture-to-focal-length ratio.

Viewing Angle

Perspective correction - Perspective correction keeps vertical lines parallel if up-vector is vertical.

Keep Upright - If enabled, the panoramic camera is always oriented towards the horizon and the up-vector will stay in its default direction of 0,1,0.

Fisheye

Fisheye angle - The camera's field of view, measured in degrees.

Fisheye Type - Choose between covering the lens circle in the sensor, or covering the whole sensor.

Hard Vignette - Renders the lens (Circular fisheye only).

Fisheye Projection - The projection function used for the fisheye.

Panoramic

FOV X - The horizontal field of view, in degrees. This sets the X-coordinate for the camera's horizontal field of view in the scene. This is ignored when cube mapping is used.

FOV Y - The vertical field of view, in degrees. This sets the Y-coordinate for the camera's vertical field of view in the scene. This is ignored when cube mapping is used.

Cubemap Layout - Determines the configuration for laying out the cubemap.

Equi-angular Cubemap - Activates an equi-angular cubemap projection.

Distortion

Use Distortion Texture - Enables the distortion texture.

Distortion Texture - The Distortion texture input.

Spherical Distortion - The amount of spherical distortion.

Barrel Distortion - Straight lines appear curved.

Barrel Distortion Corners - Straight lines appear curved, affecting corners.

Aberration

Spherical Aberration - Rays hitting the edge of the lens focus closer to the lens.

Coma - Rays hitting the lens edge have a larger field of view.

Astigmatism - Sagittal and tangential rays focus at different distances from the lens.

Field Curvature - The curvature of the plane in focus.

Depth of Field

Autofocus - Keeps focus on the closest visible surface at the center of the image, regardless of the Aperture, Aperture Edge, and Focal Depth values. 

Focus Object - If Autofocus is disabled, you need to define the depth-of-field focus point relative to an Object in the scene

Focus Distance - If Autofocus is disabled, you need to define the Camera's distance from the focus point.

Aperture - The radius of the camera's lens opening, measured in centimeters. Low values have a wide depth-of-field, where everything is in focus. High values have a shallow depth-of-field, where objects in the foreground and background will be out of focus.

Aperture Aspect - This allows users to squash and stretch the depth-of-field disc.

Aperture Shape - Controls the shape of the aperture.

Aperture Edge - Modifies the relative distribution of rays across the aperture, impacting the hardness of the edges of bokeh shapes. Higher values increase the contrast towards the edge. Values between 0 and 1 simulate an apodization filter.

Aperture Blade Count - The number of blades forming the iris diaphragm.

Aperture Rotation - The rotation of the aperture shape in degrees.

Aperture Roundedness - The roundness of the blades forming the iris diaphragm.

Central Obstruction - Simulates the obstruction from the secondary mirror of a catadioptric system. This option is only enabled on circular apertures.

Notch Position - Determines the position of the notch on the blades.

Notch Scale - Scale of the notch.

Custom Aperture - Sets the custom aperture opacity map. The projection type must be set to OSL Delayed UV.

Optical Vignetting

Optical Vignette Distance - The distance between the lens and the opening of the lens barrel.

Optical Vignette Scale - The scale of the opening of the lens barrel relative to the aperture.

Split-Focus Diopter

Enable Split-Focus Diopter - Enables the split-focus diopter.

Diopter Focal Depth - Depth of the plane in focus measured in meters.

Diopter Rotation - Rotation of the split-focus diopter in degrees.

Translation X and Y - Translation of the split-focus diopter.

Diopter Boundary Width - Width of the boundary between the two fields.

Diopter Boundary Falloff - Controls how quickly the Split-Focus diopter focal depth blends into the main focal depth.

Show Diopter Guide - Displays guide lines, toggling this option on or off will restart the render.