A camera with no discipline

starboard

I don't understand the cameras.
The main camera I understand. Every time you move it there is a key in the timeline. However if you go to "save Position" in the drop down menu for the cameras, and save the camera position, it is supposed to save that position..fair enough. I did that. But now when I go back to that position..its there ok, but when I scrub the timeline the camera position wanders. There are no keyframes for this variant of the main camera that I can see so why is it wandering ? Also I have the main camera (camera 1) without keyframes.

I would have thought that the camera would be permanently locked in that place along with its view angle, etc. until it was decided to delete it.

Starboardtack

starboard

OOPS .

I found a keyframe way along on the timeline..out of sight - on Camera 1. Now it has stopped wandering. But still why is the keyframe on Camera 1 effecting what I assume is a frozen position in a "saved" camera position. Why would you want a "saved position" camera to move in the first place ? Shouldn't it stay put no matter what you do with Camera 1 ? And stay put all the way through the timeline.

Starboardtack

Steve K

I'm not sure I understand the situation, but maybe just create another camera, and fix its position? I do this fairly often and it keeps things simple.

BC Rice

msteaka said:

OOPS .

I found a keyframe way along on the timeline..out of sight - on Camera 1. Now it has stopped wandering. But still why is the keyframe on Camera 1 effecting what I assume is a frozen position in a "saved" camera position. Why would you want a "saved position" camera to move in the first place ? Shouldn't it stay put no matter what you do with Camera 1 ? And stay put all the way through the timeline.

Starboardtack

What are you trying to accomplish?

If you don't want a camera to move, then simply don't move it at any point when you're animating. If you accidentally move it, simply delete the keyframe that you created.

If you want the camera to stay fixed on a certain object or something in a figure's hierarchy, then you need to parent that camera to that object or the figure's hierarchy.

evilproducer

Also. to build your scene, try using the Director's camera. It is not a render camera and doesn't generate key frames. If you come across an angle you like while using the director's camera, you can leave it where it is, use the camera pulldown menu and select one of your rendering cameras, such as Camera 1, and then use the Set Position to... Director's camera.

starboard

I was under the misconception that if you chose a "save camera position" that it would lock that position so that it could not be changed. Apparently what happens it only locks that position for the first frame of the timeline.
I have created a new conical camera and brought it to bare on my subject. How do I lock it in position so that it cannot be changed. In my old 3D program you could lock the xyz axis of the camera and then you could lock the xyz axis of its target. I have tried locking the xyz axis in Carrara but nothing seems to be secured.

Thanks for your time,
Starboardtack

mikael-aronsson

Save camera will save the camera position so you can go back there later on (it will be available in the menu), it does not do anything else.

You can set a constraint on the camera to LOCK, then you cannot change it (select camera->properties->constraints).

BC Rice

msteaka said:

I was under the misconception that if you chose a "save camera position" that it would lock that position so that it could not be changed. Apparently what happens it only locks that position for the first frame of the timeline.
I have created a new conical camera and brought it to bare on my subject. How do I lock it in position so that it cannot be changed. In my old 3D program you could lock the xyz axis of the camera and then you could lock the xyz axis of its target. I have tried locking the xyz axis in Carrara but nothing seems to be secured.

Thanks for your time,
Starboardtack

And why wouldn't you just not move the camera? I guess I'm just not understanding why you'd want an extra step. If you don't move the camera it won't move.

starboard

Ii don't want to move the camera because I want to make a number of clips on an alpha so that I can composite them in AE. In between shots I want to be sure that the camera has not moved. It is true if you are careful and don't move the camera you can pull it off. However, sometimes you can move the camera just a little and not be aware that you have done it.

I have the conical camera and I have locked every thing I could get my pointer on..but no matter what the camera still moves when clicked and dragged. Why is this...It should be locked right....At least that was what happened in my old program.

Thanks again for the time,

Starboardtack

de3an

Here's the setting that you want.

starboard

Thanks Everybody,
De3an suggestion helped , I selected lock as suggested but the camera still moved when clicked and dragged. However when I clicked on the "use Constraint" icon, that did the trick. It is odd that it takes that much to lock a camera. A combination of both.

Anyway, time to move on and put it to use.. Thanks everybody for troubling to answer.

Starboardtack

evilproducer

Saved camera positions, like nearly everything else in Carrara, are keyframe-able.

If you switch between the two positions at frame 0, then no keyframe will be generated. If you advance along the timeline and select the second saved position, Carrara will animate the camera moving from the first position to the second position. How the camera is moved between the two keyframes is determined by the tweeners. The most commonly used tweeners are probably the linear and bezier tweeners. If you need an instant switch of positions, use the discrete tweener. With the discrete tweener and using your camera as an example, the camera won't move from the first keyframe until it hits the second keyframe in the timeline, then it will instantly jump to the position that the second keyframe defines.

As mentioned by others, you lock the constraints on the camera, but if you decide you don't like the angle and want to change it, then you have to unlock the constraints. However, there is another method that will allow you to move the camera without generating keyframes, and that is to simply un-check the animation checkbox in the camera's General tab. The camera will still be able to be moved, but it won't animate. It will simply render from the last position it was moved to.

Mistara

there's also an animate check box. maybe toggling it off won't generate keyframes?

evilproducer

msteaka said:

Thanks Everybody,
De3an suggestion helped , I selected lock as suggested but the camera still moved when clicked and dragged. However when I clicked on the "use Constraint" icon, that did the trick. It is odd that it takes that much to lock a camera. A combination of both.

Anyway, time to move on and put it to use.. Thanks everybody for troubling to answer.

Starboardtack

Hmmm... Constraints are usually on by default. They must have been turned off accidentally.