Move camera to coord on drawing

[CadUser46]

I'm struggling to grasp this camera object.  I want to move the camera as if the user zoomed/panned to point on a sheet.

I have the XY values from the balloon I'm looking for but I cant do what I want.  The CameraPosX and Y are passed into this sub.  e.g X=9.5, Y=11.0

    Dim oDoc    As Inventor.DrawingDocument: Set oDoc = ThisApplication.ActiveDocument
    Dim oSheet  As Sheet: Set oSheet = oDoc.Sheets(SheetName)
    
    'Actions
    oDoc.BrowserPanes("Model").Activate
    oSheet.Activate
    
    ' Get the active camera.
    Dim cam As Camera: Set cam = ThisApplication.ActiveView.Camera
    Dim tg As TransientGeometry: Set tg = ThisApplication.TransientGeometry
    
    ' Define the distance between the eye and target.
    Dim eyeDistance As Double: eyeDistance = 1
    
    ' Set the eye with a hard coded z value.
    cam.ViewOrientationType = kFrontViewOrientation
    cam.Eye = tg.CreatePoint(CameraPosX, CameraPosY, eyeDistance)
    cam.Target = tg.CreatePoint(CameraPosX, CameraPosY, 0)
    
    ' Define the up vector as positive z.
    cam.UpVector = tg.CreateUnitVector(0, 0, 0)
    
    'Dim cameraOr As ViewOrientationTypeEnum
    'cameraOr = kFrontViewOrientation
    
    'Call cam.SetExtents(CameraPosX + 10, CameraPosY + 10)
    
    ' Apply the current camera definition to the view.
    cam.ApplyWithoutTransition

[asiteur]

Hi,

I do not completely understand what you want to do, but there are some things in your code that don't work I think:

1) You set cam,Eye.Z=1. I have had only trouble when I changed the Z. I always maintain cam.Eye.Z=point(X,Y,cam.Eye.Z)

2) You set cam.UpVector to the Null vector. If I were the program I would have a hard time to interpret that. When I did this I couldn't find my drawing back on the screen. Use the default (0,1,0) or don't change at all if you don't want to rotate your sheet (likely).

3) You send SetExtents() , Target and Eye the same X and Y (almost), while there are very different. Target and Eye are for the location, SetExtents for the Zoom (how close you are to the object). I think it is unlikely that you want to zoom the same amount as the location you are...?

4) You use cam.ApplyWIthOutTransition, while from your description I read that you want a nice smooth pan/zoom movement. That is achieved with the normal cam.Apply.

I hope this helps!

[CadUser46]

Hi.  I tried to reply earlier but it crashed.

I got it to work although I didn't understand why.

1)  I don't understand what you mean.

2)  No I don't want to rotate the sheet, you are correct and I removed this.

3)  I don't understand the purpose of the Z value if it does not define the distance from the sheet.  It seems to have no effect on the code.

4)  Sorry for the confusion.  I just meant I want to zoom in.  The transition is not important.

The following code works for me although I still haven't fully grasped why.

    ' Get the active camera.
    Dim cam As Camera: Set cam = ThisApplication.ActiveView.Camera
    Dim tg As TransientGeometry: Set tg = ThisApplication.TransientGeometry
    
    ' Set the eye with a hard coded z value.
    cam.ViewOrientationType = kFrontViewOrientation
    cam.Eye = tg.CreatePoint(CameraPosX, CameraPosY, 5)
    cam.Target = tg.CreatePoint(CameraPosX, CameraPosY, 0)
    
    Call cam.SetExtents(CameraPosX, CameraPosY)
    Call oDoc.SelectSet.Clear
    Call oDoc.SelectSet.Select(MyBalloon)
    
    ' Apply the current camera definition to the view.
    cam.ApplyWithoutTransition

[adam.nagy · Accepted solution]

Hi,

I think it would be useful for you to read through these couple of posts on this topic:

http://modthemachine.typepad.com/my_weblog/2013/09/working-with-cameras-part-1.html

http://modthemachine.typepad.com/my_weblog/2013/09/working-with-cameras-part-2.html

Because the Drawing View camera has a parallel view (and not perspective) therefore the distance between the target and eye does not change the field-of-view.

When calling SetExtents() you should pass in width and height of the field-of-view. You should probably check the extents of the object you want to zoom on and use the values from that.

Cheers,

[CadUser46]

@adam.nagy Thanks.  Certainly explains the upvector better than the help file and explains why the distance between the target and eye makes no difference when in rectangular mode.