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Transcript
00:00
A camera is simply an object, but by default, it's not displayed on the screen.
00:07
Once we can work with a camera in this way, then we simply animate it in the same way as we do other objects.
00:15
But there are a few specific things that apply to camera animation.
00:19
So, the first tip is to create an additional camera specifically for animation, and to give that a name.
00:28
So, if I go to my Object Lister, my default camera is on my default layer,
00:33
and I'd set this layer up for this one, and I can rename that to be like, “Anim_Camera”.
00:40
The second thing is to select that camera, and in the Camera, Editor lock it.
00:46
So, what a lock in the Camera Editor means is, if I use my Shift+Alt and try to tumble the view, it won't move.
00:52
If I want to look around my model, I should switch back to my working camera,
00:58
but if I accidentally tumble the animation camera, I will mess up my animation.
01:04
So, I'm going to show you three different ways of animating, and this setup applies to all of them.
01:11
So, the first method requires me to pick the camera as a whole group and then to use simple keyframe animation.
01:20
So, I can't tumble the view.
01:22
I need to move and rotate the camera, get the view that I want, for example, to start,
01:31
and then just come and set the keyframe, move to the next location, make whatever move I want to make on the camera,
01:41
and set a keyframe.
01:50
So that simply lays back between those keyframes.
01:54
And it'll work well with maybe two or three keyframes, but as you can see, there's a little bit of a wobble going on as the camera moves.
02:00
To stop that, we have a second method which involves ungrouping the camera.
02:05
So, the camera is made up of these three components, and the wobble comes from the up vector not being in sync with the eye point.
02:13
So, in my model, I can take that camera and ungroup it.
02:17
So, then I spend a little bit of time just arranging that camera so I've got a really good vertical relationship between my up and my eye point.
02:28
And then I'll group these two together, and I'll just call it “lens”, for example.
02:36
Now I've got a much more straightforward way of controlling my camera view, I can just put my viewpoint where I want it to be on the car,
02:44
and I can take that lens point and I can move that up.
02:47
And as I move that around, you see that's got a lot more control over that view.
02:51
I'm not getting that wobble that I saw before.
02:55
So again, once you've got that set up in that way, you can simply set a keyframe for that grouped up vector and eye point component.
03:04
So finally, we can use a motion path for the camera animation.
03:09
And the way I use this is, I'll start by just moving the viewpoint into the center of the car in this case, if that's what I want to be the focus.
03:17
And then I need to pick the eye component.
03:19
And in the motion path, set the camera Up vector.
03:24
And this will keep it stable as it goes around the path.
03:27
So if I select my path that it moves the camera onto the beginning of the path.
03:32
It's also created a control curve for the Up vector.
03:37
And if I open my Animation Editor and play that back, you see that we get quite a nice smooth and level animation around the car.
Video transcript
00:00
A camera is simply an object, but by default, it's not displayed on the screen.
00:07
Once we can work with a camera in this way, then we simply animate it in the same way as we do other objects.
00:15
But there are a few specific things that apply to camera animation.
00:19
So, the first tip is to create an additional camera specifically for animation, and to give that a name.
00:28
So, if I go to my Object Lister, my default camera is on my default layer,
00:33
and I'd set this layer up for this one, and I can rename that to be like, “Anim_Camera”.
00:40
The second thing is to select that camera, and in the Camera, Editor lock it.
00:46
So, what a lock in the Camera Editor means is, if I use my Shift+Alt and try to tumble the view, it won't move.
00:52
If I want to look around my model, I should switch back to my working camera,
00:58
but if I accidentally tumble the animation camera, I will mess up my animation.
01:04
So, I'm going to show you three different ways of animating, and this setup applies to all of them.
01:11
So, the first method requires me to pick the camera as a whole group and then to use simple keyframe animation.
01:20
So, I can't tumble the view.
01:22
I need to move and rotate the camera, get the view that I want, for example, to start,
01:31
and then just come and set the keyframe, move to the next location, make whatever move I want to make on the camera,
01:41
and set a keyframe.
01:50
So that simply lays back between those keyframes.
01:54
And it'll work well with maybe two or three keyframes, but as you can see, there's a little bit of a wobble going on as the camera moves.
02:00
To stop that, we have a second method which involves ungrouping the camera.
02:05
So, the camera is made up of these three components, and the wobble comes from the up vector not being in sync with the eye point.
02:13
So, in my model, I can take that camera and ungroup it.
02:17
So, then I spend a little bit of time just arranging that camera so I've got a really good vertical relationship between my up and my eye point.
02:28
And then I'll group these two together, and I'll just call it “lens”, for example.
02:36
Now I've got a much more straightforward way of controlling my camera view, I can just put my viewpoint where I want it to be on the car,
02:44
and I can take that lens point and I can move that up.
02:47
And as I move that around, you see that's got a lot more control over that view.
02:51
I'm not getting that wobble that I saw before.
02:55
So again, once you've got that set up in that way, you can simply set a keyframe for that grouped up vector and eye point component.
03:04
So finally, we can use a motion path for the camera animation.
03:09
And the way I use this is, I'll start by just moving the viewpoint into the center of the car in this case, if that's what I want to be the focus.
03:17
And then I need to pick the eye component.
03:19
And in the motion path, set the camera Up vector.
03:24
And this will keep it stable as it goes around the path.
03:27
So if I select my path that it moves the camera onto the beginning of the path.
03:32
It's also created a control curve for the Up vector.
03:37
And if I open my Animation Editor and play that back, you see that we get quite a nice smooth and level animation around the car.
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