PerspectiveCamera

The realistic eye on the scene — a camera with true perspective, where distant things look smaller and parallel lines converge, framed with real photographic controls (focal length, sensor size).

Declarative element: <sk-perspective-camera>

Global: available as sk.PerspectiveCamera inside a scene <script>.

Remarks

This is the perspective member of the AbstractCamera family: the camera decides how the 3D scene is projected onto the 2D viewport. Declaring one replaces the scene's default camera.

Aiming a camera is fiddly — a bare camera looks straight down its own local −Z, so you must position AND rotate it by hand to frame the subject, and it does not follow anything. For most scenes it is far easier to let a sk-camera-orbit-control own the framing: it points a camera at a pivot, fits the scene automatically, and gives you orbit / pan / zoom for free. Reach for a hand-placed camera only when you want a specific fixed shot.

Key attributes. The lens is described photographically. focal-length (in mm) sets the field of view — a short focal length (24mm) is a wide angle of view, a long one (85mm+) is a narrow telephoto; it is animatable, so the lens can zoom in and out. (The strength of perspective — how much near things loom over far ones — comes from where the camera stands, not the focal length; a wide lens simply invites you close, where perspective is strong.) sensor-width is the frame that focal length is measured against (36mm = full-frame); focal length and sensor width together (with the viewport aspect) determine the vertical field of view. near and far bound the visible depth range. Position is the usual node transform — a camera on +Z looking back at the origin is the simplest fixed setup.

Related. Its sibling sk-orthographic-camera drops perspective entirely (parallel projection, constant on-screen size). To orbit, pan, and auto-fit instead of hand-placing, use a sk-camera-orbit-control.

Constructor

constructor(config?: { sensorWidth?: number; focalLength?: number; near?: number; far?: number; aspect?: number; autoClipping?: boolean; autoClippingMargin?: number; minNear?: number; maxFar?: number; id?: string; x?: number; y?: number; z?: number; h?: number; p?: number; b?: number; quaternion?: Quaternion; sx?: number; sy?: number; sz?: number; s?: number; class?: string; style?: string })

Inherited from: AbstractCamera, SceneNode, SkenraAnimatable — see those pages for inherited members.

Properties

Config Properties

Other Properties

Methods

Example

// Create camera with 50mm focal length (standard lens)
const camera = new PerspectiveCamera({ id: 'main-camera',
  focalLength: 50,
  sensorWidth: 36,  // Full-frame sensor
  near: 0.1,
  far: 1000
});

// Position camera
camera.z = 5;
camera.lookAt([0, 0, 0]);  // Look at origin

// Wide-angle camera (24mm)
const wideCamera = new PerspectiveCamera({ id: 'wide',
  focalLength: 24
});

// Telephoto camera (200mm)
const telephoto = new PerspectiveCamera({ id: 'tele',
  focalLength: 200
});

Used in guides: Scene basics

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