Overview
Prepar3Doffers the capability to create new custom cameras at runtime. Once created, these cameras can be switched to at any time and are persisted if the flight is saved. To create a new custom camera right click anywhere on the Prepar3D window to bring up the context menu, select "Custom Camera", and click "Save Location". This brings up the Manage Camera Views window.
Once the Custom Cameras are created they appear in a list under the "Save Location" option in the "Custom Camera" context menu. Clicking on the custom camera will cause the current view to smoothly transition to the custom camera's viewpoint. Note that only custom cameras created for the current type of view will appear here, i.e. only custom cameras created for the "Cockpit" view will appear when the "Cockpit" view is selected. Also note that when switching between Custom Cameras this only moves the current view's viewport and does not create an entirely separate view. It is recommended to save the default starting view as a custom camera before adding new entries to enable switching back to the default view for the current category.
To edit and delete Custom Cameras click on the "Views" dropdown on the top-level menu, select "Edit Custom Cameras", and select the desired camera. This also brings up the Manage Camera Views windows. All fields perform the same functions except the "Delete" button at the bottom of the window is now enabled.
Custom cameras are saved to the flight file when saving a flight in the "CameraLocation.X" section (Flight files are saved to the %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Prepar3D v2 Files directory). To make custom cameras permanently available in the application copy the appropriate fields to the Cameras.cfg file located in the %APPDATA%\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v2 directory.
Explanation of UI fields
Camera: The current view category of the window, i.e. "Cockpit",
"Virtual Cockpit", etc.
Name: Desired name of the new custom camera
Translation, Rotation, Zoom
X, Y, Z: Position of the camera in meters relative to the origin. These values must be between 0.0 and 100.0 inclusive.
Pitch, Bank, Heading: Rotation of the camera in degrees. These values must be between 0.0 and 180.0 inclusive.
Zoom: Zoom value of the camera. This value must be between 0.3 and 512.0 inclusive.
Preview: This button brings up a preview window that can be used to preview the new custom camera before saving or to modify the camera by hand.
Use Preview: This button will populate all fields in the Translation, Rotation, and Zoom section with the values of the camera in the Preview window.
Field of View
Override Default FOV: Setting this checkbox enables the FOV (Field of View) to be modified for the camera. When unchecked the camera's FOV is based on the window size.
Horizontal: The horizontal FOV of the camera. This value must be between 0.0 and 180.0 exclusive. Vertical: The vertical FOV of the camera. This value must be between 0.0 and 180.0 exclusive.Camera Effects
Effects: This drop-down enables post process effects to be added to the custom camera. This includes standard colorizers (NVG, IR, etc.) and also includes any user-defined post processes. The added effects display in a list below and can also be removed. Additionally post processes can be configured to exclude the virtual cockpit. For more information on creating post processes please refer to the Custom Post-process section.
When saving a camera a popup will appear prompting the user to exit. Click "Yes" to close the window and resume Prepar3D. Click "No" to return to the Manage Camera Views window and create more custom cameras.
Example
Below is a step by step guide on creating and switching to a new custom view.
