Frankly the default 3dsMax render settings bug me. They don’t deal with modern cameras. The proxy settings are hard coded and can’t be changed. There’s no easy way to create over-scanned frame without a calculator. So I’ve written my own tool to fix these problems and you can download it for free. If you want to know more read my article on basic camera maths in 3dsmax
It’s worth checking out arenafilm who have a detailed database of filmbacks and lens combinations for various cameras.
Also dpreview have a review of sensor sizes for DSLRs.
I’ll try and keep a useful summary here.
| Company | Model | Film Back | aspect | Pixels |
| Arri | Alexa | 26.136 x 14.702 mm / 1.0290 x 0.5788” (Monitoring/EVF) | 16:9 | 3168 x 1782 |
| Arri | Alexa | 23.760 x 13.365 mm / 0.9354 x 0.5262” (ProRes) | 16:9 | 1920 x 1080 |
| Arri | Alexa | 23.760 x 13.365 mm / 0.9354 x 0.5262” (RAW) | 16:9 | 2880 x 1620 |
| Red | Epic | 5120 x 2700 |
This tutorial will shows the relationship between Filmback, Aperture, Field of View, and Lens size.
Understanding the 3dsMax camera filmback is useful if you want to replicate real world cameras or accurately extend the frame size and crop it later in a composite package.
The setup for the 3dsMax camera is slightly buried. To replicate real world cameras we’ll look in two areas: the render dialog and the camera dialog.
To simplify the process I have developed this MaxScript which is free to download here.
