I’m just curious, but how do you choose the right cam focal length for your game or scene? doesn’t the focal length just zoom in or out?
Yup, it ‘just’ zooms in or out.
I just pick a value that feels right when I play it. Try a bunch and pick the best.
I think focal size is not realy common, I recommend setting it to field of view with the dropdownlist tothe right of, wich allows you to set the angle of the camera. A sensefull value would be about 70-90 degrees.
It depends what your background is. Photographers think in focal lengths as this is how the lenses are classified. CGI people think in angles as this is what they can draw in the screen ;).
I do not know what modeler want, but Blender allows both :D. I can’t remember reading an article about good camera views. So I recommend the “feel it” method too ;).
focal length and field of view (fov) are two values for the same thing. when you change one and switch back to the other you get the approproate value there.
Smaller focal length corresponds to tele lenses with narrow angles while a small focal length correponds to wide angle lenses. a camera with ‘zoom’ is basically able to change the focal length with certain limits.
What you choose depends on the type of application you make. Human eyes have a focal length of about 17mm (= fov 86°). For fps games a fov of 90 is ok most of the time, good games allow you to adjust FOV usually in ranges from 70 to 120.
When i doubt, go into camera view and adjust until you like it.