# What does the Camera#description method do?

**URL:** <https://forums.sketchup.com/t/what-does-the-camera-description-method-do/45775>\
**Category:** Ruby API\
**Created:** [May 31, 2017, 9:00pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/what-does-the-camera-description-method-do/45775 "2017-05-31T21:00:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![eneroth3](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/eneroth3/32/1222_2.png) [@eneroth3](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/eneroth3)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2017, 9:00pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/what-does-the-camera-description-method-do/45775/1 "2017-05-31T21:00:14Z")

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I’m working with the camera API and just noticed the #description and #description= methods. Does anyone have any idea of what a camera description is in SketchUp? I can’t think of anything like it in the UI.

Could it be related to the Advanced Camera Tools plugin or is it maybe a leftover from some old removed feature?

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**Author:** ![Aerilius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e19b73/32.png) [@Aerilius](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/Aerilius)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2017, 9:32am UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/what-does-the-camera-description-method-do/45775/2 "2017-06-01T09:32:09Z")

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It’s for smuggling secret messages in .skp files!

I think it’s rather a left over from the original design phase of SketchUp’s core classes (it exists in both Ruby API and C SDK, not added by Advanced Camera Tools). Only scenes have been exposed in the UI (and have their own description), but cameras and vertices have never received that honour.

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**Author:** ![eneroth3](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/eneroth3/32/1222_2.png) [@eneroth3](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/eneroth3)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2017, 10:39am UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/what-does-the-camera-description-method-do/45775/3 "2017-06-01T10:39:38Z")

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Too bad I can’t come up with any message to smuggle ☹ . The API works in mysterious ways…

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**Author:** ![DanRathbun](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/danrathbun/32/500_2.png) [@DanRathbun](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/DanRathbun)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2017, 7:26pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/what-does-the-camera-description-method-do/45775/4 "2017-06-01T19:26:37Z")

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At one time there perhaps was an idea to have a camera listing in the UI, and the description would be displayed there.

Or, perhaps it is just something for compatibility with external formats like Collada (DAE) which might have descriptive attributes for camera(s).

* * *

Strange that there is no **`name`** property though.

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**Author:** ![john\_drivenupthewall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c67d28/32.png) [@john\_drivenupthewall](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/john_drivenupthewall)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2017, 8:27pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/what-does-the-camera-description-method-do/45775/5 "2017-06-01T20:27:58Z")

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is it part of the ‘windoze only’ camera stats tool?

john

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**Author:** ![DanRathbun](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/danrathbun/32/500_2.png) [@DanRathbun](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/DanRathbun)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2017, 8:48pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/what-does-the-camera-description-method-do/45775/6 "2017-06-01T20:48:49Z")

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> [@john\_drivenupthewall](#):
>
> is it part of the ‘windoze only’ camera stats tool?

Nope (even after setting the current view’s camera description to some text), …

```ruby
Sketchup.send_action( 10624 )

```

… just shows this:

![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/original/3X/3/f/3f45e41f47fce27fe6571efda5c20e22b3ff0057.png)

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/original/3X/f/2/f2a121500b085ed60806607a82720b092d800bb3.png) [@system](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [September 1, 2017, 12:48pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/what-does-the-camera-description-method-do/45775/7 "2017-09-01T12:48:59Z")

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Closed on September 1, 2017, 12:48pm UTC

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