Animate Camera Problem

[Mitsu50]

I am trying to to a fly through animation of some of our product. I haven't done this in a while so i'm testing the concept since i forget.

I have swept a surface about a 3d spline. create a dummy part, and attach the part to spline. then attach camera to dummy. when i drag the dummy the camera follow fine. when i go to motion study, and create key points all is well till about half way point. this is where camera goes crazy and flips around and goes back to original spot. i don't recall this ever happening. Thoughts on what may be wrong? thanks!

 

[Eltron]

My guess is that it's following the twist of your sweep, and once it gets past the magical 180° point all hell breaks loose. Try splitting up the animation into two or more sections and adding them together later.

Dan

http://www.eltronresearch.com

Dan's Blog

 

[JMirisola]

Attach the camera view to a path, along with the camera.

Jeff Mirisola, CSWP
Design Manager/Senior Designer
M9 Defense
My Blog

 

[Mitsu50]

jeff, not sure i follow you. can u explain a bit more? thanks!

 

[JMirisola]

It's been a while since I've done it, but you can set the camera's view to follow a path in addition to the camera itself. It requires a bit more work when moving the camera, but it should take care of your flipping issue.
I believe Rob has a tutorial at robrodriguez.com.

Jeff Mirisola, CSWP
Design Manager/Senior Designer
M9 Defense
My Blog

 

[Theophilus]

Jeff's right--if you want to, you can animate the focus of the camera as you move through the animation. So you move the camera along a path AND where the camera is looking if you like. This used to be very difficult, but last time I tried it in v2010 it was much easier.

I believe you change your camera's focal point in the animation by editing your camera view on one of your animation points. Edit the view, drag your focal point to the new location, and this will run in the animation as programmed.



Jeff Mowry

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

A people governed by fear cannot value freedom.

 

[Mitsu50]

do i still need to create a camera sled and attach to path, then attach camera to sled. i've tried this with no luck...

 

[Theophilus]

No, you can attach the camera directly to a path (since v2007, I think) without a sled.

Have you read the Help files on these questions? I think they have better details for camera and camera path ideas.



Jeff Mowry

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

A people governed by fear cannot value freedom.

 

[Mitsu50]

yeah i've gone through the help in detail, and it says to use sled, but i recall not having to do this. when i follow the help i get these flipping results. guess i'll keep trying.

 

[rockguy]

In your camera properties manager you can select a path for both the camera target and the camera location. If you pick the path you created there will be a slider underneath the TARGET selection and CAMERA selection. The sliders allow you to control where you are on the path.

In motion set a key frame with the sliders set so you are at the position you desire on the path and looking in the desired way. Then, set another key point and adjust the sliders to change the camera and target potions. Motion will do the rest.

Rob Rodriguez CSWP

http://www.axiscadsolutions.com

http://www.robrodriguez.com

http://www.robrodriguezblog.com

Eastern Region SWUGN Representative

http://www.swugn.org

http://www.nvtswug.com

SW 2007 SP 2.0

 

[Mitsu50]

Thanks rob! i kind of went down this road. seems like i have to manually add a lot of key points depending on the length of the path.

Wish it was easy like 3ds max, create a spline, attah camera with a path constraint, and it automatically creates the animation... wishful thinking i guess.

 

[Eltron]

2011 has the walkthrough function, which seems like what you are looking for.

Dan

http://www.eltronresearch.com

Dan's Blog