sorry for the stupid question, but is it possible to zoom out/back in sketchup without changing perspective? what i mean is, i’m working on an indoor room so things are quite close to camera, and i found an angle i like, however when i zoomout / move backwards to view more of the image for export i’m seeings things moving (like in real life that is, kind of like the parallax effect?)
I tried both with middle mouse wheel and with walking tool but both give similar changes. I’m viewing the model in full perspective view.
thanks in advance
What you need to do is increase the angle of view. Set the camera where you want it. Then select the zoom tool from the menu or the toolbar and type a wider FOV or shorter focal length.
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oh my you’re incredible. i mean i knew about the fov button but i didnt even try it as a solution (before posting) since i know that a wider focal length would in reality increase distortion, but infact it is working!!
thanks as always for the quick solution! 
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Remember for this sort of stuff you want to think a bit like a photographer. If you are making a photograph while backed into a corner in a small bathroom and you still can’t see everything, what options do you have? Knock out the wall so you can step back (easier done in SketchUp, of course) or select a shorter lens and take the lumps with the wide angle distortion?
Many years ago I was contracted by the General Services Administration to make photographs of the US Courthouse in Madison, WI.I was initially going to shoot the images with a 4x5 view camera (this was long before digital cameras) which would give me at least some control in the tight locations. They rejected my quote saying it was too high. To get an acceptable price I shot medium format instead but had to use short lenses to work in some areas which created distortion. I warned them ahead of time and they still complained. When I told them I would reshoot with 4x5 but they would have to pay me again, the decided what they had was good enough. 
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Or in some cases, select a longer lens and move farther away so that the perspective effect flattens out somewhat. That produces something closer to the look of parallel projection without actually being parallel. Edit: of course moving back doesn’t work if you run into a wall!
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Right. And in SketchUp you can often manage to move back by using a section cut or strategic use of tags and groups. Not so easy in a judge’s cloak room in a federal courthouse that has just been completed. 
Notice that there are two tools to adjust Field of View. As Dave says, pick the zoom tool and you can change the FOV either typing or holding shift and dragging with the mouse. This works like actually standing there with a camera and a zoom lens. If you choose Field of View from the Camera menu, it behaves differently, kind of odd for my taste. I can never remember which one works which way.
Also, from what I’ve read, Field of View may technically be incorrect. FOV is meausred in units of length (inches, feet, meters) while Angle of View is measured in degrees.
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lol yes indeed when there’s money involved all of a sudden what was ‘bad’ becomes good enough. I only have experience with digital cameras but I did come across some occasions when moving back wasn’t an options, thats why i knew about the distortion (kind of like the selfies from mobile aswell)
im amazed by the vast experience and knowledge you have about lot of stuff
edit @RTCool yes infact i prefer using the shift and drag since i dont have to fiddle with numbers. keep stretching until its good enough!
That must mean I’m old. 
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Hi, Dave! This is exactly what I do but it still distorts all of my models. For example, here is the layout of a bathroom that Im working on, but the photo I need is of the vanity wall. The entire wall can only be seen if I set the field of Zoom to 75* but look at that toilet! I just need a wide angle without the distortion… Is this possible?
You would get the same kind of distortion if you were taking a photograph in a real bathroom with an extreme wide angle lens. In SketchUp there’s no need for that. Use a section cut to remove the shower, tub and the wall they are on. Then set the angle of view to something reasonable and position the camera to show the vanity and toilet as needed.
Unfortunately this then allows all of the outside light to enter into my rendering in Enscape 
Im afraid I will just have to deal with it!
Put your model in a box.
Make an actual object in SketchUp that shades the part of the model where you need to block the light. (Something that photographers refer to as a “flag”) Here’s a vertical one to allow looking down into a plan perspective view with sunlight only coming in the windows, not the ceiling.
Make a scene for any view you want to return to. Click on scene tab, done.
You can make the exterior side of the wall transparent while maintaining the interior one with material. Maybe it stop the exterior light.
Actually it won’t.
