Adjust the near and far plane view in scenes

The visible features in a 3D scene are contained within a truncated, pyramid-shaped volume called a frustum. The frustum represents the camera's field of view. Features that fall outside of the frustum do not draw.

To correctly determine which objects are in front of other objects, the size of the frustum must be finite, and it should ideally be as far from the camera as possible. The sides of the frustum parallel to the camera's lens are called the near and far clipping planes, because anything outside the frustum, beyond these planes, is omitted from view.

The frustum is a truncated pyramid. Features within the pyramid between the near plane (in red) and the far plane (in green) are visible in the scene.

The distances of the near and far clipping planes from the camera are determined automatically. The distance from the camera to the nearest object in the scene is estimated, and the near clipping plane is placed just in front of it.

But, there are cases in which this estimated distance is inadequate, and relevant features are clipped from the scene. This can happen when viewing very large-scale scenes, such as an indoor setting, or viewing small objects that are high above the ground. To avoid this, you can adjust the view clipping manually.

Adjust the near and far plane manually

If you see objects near the camera disappear, follow these steps to manually adjust the distance between the camera and the near clipping plane to a smaller value:

1. In a local or global scene, on the View tab, in the View Clipping group, from the Mode menu, choose Manual.
2. Reduce the Distance value until objects near the camera are visible.

   Use the largest distance possible that leaves nearby objects visible. This distance specifies where the near plane of the frustum lies in relation to the camera, but it also impacts the far plane. When a very small near plane distance is used, the far plane is set too close, and objects in the distance may be omitted from view.

Switch between automatic and manual view clipping

If necessary, you can set the near plane distance manually, and then switch the mode back to Automatic The manual distance is retained in the scene, and you can revert to it by setting the mode to Manual again.

Caution:

The manual near plane distance is not retained in bookmarks.