Frame Buffer Camera Lock

[tjconnors]

Hello Everyone,

Is there a way to lock a camera in the framebuffer instead of locking it in the render setup? If not it might be something to consider for a lighting workflow.

Cheers

[Pixelcon]

Yes I would also find a simple feature like this really handy.

[vlado]

Yes, this has been on the wish list for a while. Would this button simply lock the frame buffer to the camera/view that is currently shown there?

Best regards,
Vlado

[Pixelcon]

Yes, this has been on the wish list for a while. Would this button simply lock the frame buffer to the camera/view that is currently shown there?

Best regards,
Vlado

In my opinion, yes exactly this.

[Syclone1]

In my opinion, yes exactly this.

+1 !!
This would be beyond awesome!

[tjconnors]

Yup it would lock the view / camera to the framebuffer so you can work in another viewport when using the IPR.

[^Lele^]

So, not like the Max's render settings with a dropdown of sorts to choose which camera to lock to?
Wouldn't in this case be a bit too separated from the quick render buttons which allow for picking which camera to render?
I was imagining we could add the locking to those buttons themselves, say, with a right click, or a control+click or something along the lines, to keep the UI less cluttered (an icon would show up by the camera name to show which is the locked one).
You'd rather it was a locking button, the choice of what to lock separate from it, in other words?

[JD3D_CGI]

The main reason I would like the lock on the VFB frame buffer is because of this use case:

1. I'm looking at the VFB
2. I hit the Interactive Render button with the intention to jump back into Max to make some edits
3. I select objects to move around and I have now selected a different viewport
4. I now have to pause and hunt around and bring the render settings menu up and ,lock it

So for me, the lock button is just enough.

[^Lele^]

The main reason I would like the lock on the VFB frame buffer is because of this use case:

1. I'm looking at the VFB
2. I hit the Interactive Render button with the intention to jump back into Max to make some edits
3. I select objects to move around and I have now selected a different viewport
4. I now have to pause and hunt around and bring the render settings menu up and ,lock it

I have ideas i'd like to share, please feed back.

Suppose we have a separate lock icon in the VFB, without a list.
If you got to point 3 before locking, you still have to go back to the right max viewport, then instead of "f10 -> click on the camera lock", you have to click on the VFB (or alt-tab to it) and then click the VFB lock icon, as the icon has no way to let you choose a camera.

My proposal is that the locking is a mode of the IPR start button, activated by default on IPR start (assuming one starts the IPR in the right view, initially), and that can be toggled with a right mouse click.
The render icon would have a lock overlay of some sort when locked, and a long key press, like now, shows the list of cameras in the scene (maybe we should then also add the non-camera views in the current max layout?) which stays persistent (allowing for easier navigation/interaction. can disappear if one clicks out of it.), and a lock icon besides the chosen one.
At that point, supposing a locked IPR view, one can move through each camera with the render button long press list, overriding the lock by left clicking to select a new one, which in turns becomes the new locked one.
Other than the operation above, no max viewport interaction can change what the IPR is rendering, nor toggle a refresh on viewport selection.
One RMC on the render icon unlocks the view and returns the VFB to its current functionality.
The viewport locking, however, will have to be broadcast back to the Max settings, otherwise we risk monsters.

[JD3D_CGI]

Actually - yes, locking the viewport by default when the IPR starts makes good sense. Good idea!

As for the overlay - I know you are worried about UI real estate - but I don't think we are anywhere near the point where we need to worry.

I think a lock toggle icon on the VFB would make sense because that is where we look to for such things, and we need to be looking there for other reasons, such as the reduced render size function.

The icon could be like the other icons, in that, if we hold down the mouse we can switch to another camera or view and have that locked. I'm not a fan of the RMB idea.

I just don't even encounter a situation where I want to lurch from one view to another view in the IPR whilst I work, and so we should move away from that being a thing. So locking by default makes the best sense.

[kosso_olli]

A dropdown list seems quite useful, +1 on that.

[GregoryVFX]

Redshift kind of solved this by adding a dropdown list with the available views and a lock button next to that, in their Render View.
But, it can be messy as the changes there do not sync back to Max and you can end up sending scenes for network rendering and getting the wrong viewport rendered!