360 degrees

Salem2007

Ok--I want to move the camera around a standing character in a full circle. When I keyframe the camera movement, though, the camera jerks in, tilts, or points off into space.

I think I need to move the camera along a path and lock the orientation of the camera, but I can't figure out how to do it. Does anyone know--or can you point me to a tutorial? Is there a better way?

Headwax

hmmm assuming cameras dont have hot points parent the camera to a vertex object, place the hot point of the object on the rotation point that you want to focus on (via caps lock on whilst you move the hot point) , take caps off
then either keyframe the vertex movement by hand or add a spin modifier?
the other thing you can do is have a point at modifier with the camera
you can also uses target helpers as well I guess

hope this helps :) as andy used to say

Salem2007

ahhhh--I think I get it. I'll give that a try...

Thx

edit: It looks like that will work--thanks, again...

edit: Anyone know what happened to Andy?

Headwax

pleasure :)
ah I think Andy got worn down by a particular member here.
perhaps he just needed a rest.
we all miss him of course.

Salem2007

head wax said:

pleasure :)
ah I think Andy got worn down by a particular member here.
perhaps he just needed a rest.
we all miss him of course.

Indeed. Thanks again for the help.

PGre

Cameras do have their own hot points! No need to parent to another object. Unless you want to.

P

Headwax

pgre said:

Cameras do have their own hot points! No need to parent to another object. Unless you want to.

P

aha there you go, I live and learn :)

evilproducer

As mentioned above, the camera does have a hot point. To move the hot point, but not the object (in this case, the camera) make sure your Caps Lock key is enabled and you can move the hot point.

This is what I do:

1) Aim the camera towards the object I want to orbit.

2) Select my isometric views, such as top, left, right, front, etc.

3) Enable the caps lock key and using the isometric views center the camera's hot point on the object I wish to orbit. You can do this numerically in the motion tab as well if you want it to be exact. Uncheck the Lock Hot point checkbox, and just make a note of the object's hot point X, Y and Z locations and use those coordinates for the Camera's hot point. When you are done, disable the the Caps Lock button or if done numerically in the motion tab, re-check the Lock Hot Point checkbox..

4) Now select the rotation manipulator and you can orbit the object.

5) (Optional) Instead of manually orbiting the camera, you could also use a spin modifier on the camera.

Salem2007

Thx--I'll give that a try when I get home. I thought I had success from the previous suggestion last night, but I wound up screwing something up.

It sounds like the goal is to make the camera hot point be the object I want to circle--is that correct? By using the spin modifier with the hot point moved out gives me an orbit rather than a spin--or am I way off?

evilproducer

Salem2007 said:

Thx--I'll give that a try when I get home. I thought I had success from the previous suggestion last night, but I wound up screwing something up.

It sounds like the goal is to make the camera hot point be the object I want to circle--is that correct? By using the spin modifier with the hot point moved out gives me an orbit rather than a spin--or am I way off?

Think of it like a bicycle wheel. The hub spins fastest, the rim slowest because it's further away, but they're both spinning. The hot point is spinning and so is the camera, but now, the camera is offset from the hot point, so it spins slower.

BTW, the offset of the camera in relation to it's hot point can be keyframed, so the "orbit" can be increased or decreased concentrically by moving the camera further or closer to it's hot point over time.

GrokDD

Here are two video tutorials I made. Both produce the same effect, but with different methods.
I ran into a situation where I needed one over the other, but I forgot why that was.

Anyways, here you go!

the first one is using a Target Helper object
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GWioUkqQ8I

The second one is rotating around the camera's hotspot
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jXTMWwdFmI

Hope they help!

Salem2007

Thanks everyone--so many ways to do this--I'm glad I asked instead of adding more key frames. I really never played with the hot-spots before (never really used them for anything). They are clearly quite helpful....

Thanks again!

Boojum the brown bunny

Use a motion path instead of a keyframe for the camera. You can see instructions on how to do that at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2LlMcAOqK8

Boojum the brown bunny

Salem2007

The target helper was a little easier for me. I saved an empty scene with only a helper object and camera linked and rotating so I can import it into other scenes later.

I'll check out the motion path as well--I really need to learn how to do that....