CompuServe Thread

#Help…Learn the Camera

9 messages in this thread
#164592From: TBrunoApr 13, 1995 12:45 PM
Hi, Most of my camera contact has come from video taping the family parties. So aunt Mary didn't puke and since you don't have any stablization, you always try to move thru molasses, with slow pans & zooms. Now I'm in 3DS…maybe I want the viewer to puke. (from sensory overload) <g> Does anyone have any good training suggestions for camera control? To give the view some emotion? This has come up because I am working on a flyby of a huge piece of property, 200 acres. It was a quarry at one time, with lots of man-made vertical cuts/cliffs. My first attempt feels like a 10 ton helicopter. Lots of inertia. I would like to train myself to do 1. a dune buggy ride 2. a hang glider ride 3. a skiming pass ala 'The empire strikes back' (remember the quesy feeling you got as you skimed over the ice planet…dropping into valleys etc) Thanks for the knowledge
#164640From: CSA/CAApr 13, 1995 5:42 PM
Todd, Try bringing a 3D view into the Lofter and establish a path for the camera to run your circuit. Then you edit the path to turn the camera, look down, back up, glance to the side, back, etc., as a human viewer might. Kevin Krell – Computer Support Associates
#164960From: Michele BousquetApr 15, 1995 6:56 PM
In general, the fewer keyframes you have the smoother your motion will be. If you want jerky motion, you can take that to mean that you should have lots of keyframes. If you work with the Path on you'll be able to control the motion better. In the Keyframer, click on Paths/Show-Hide and click on the camera. Michele
#165255From: TBrunoApr 17, 1995 8:56 PM
Michele, You have probably hit the nail (whose hammer …I don't know) When I want to do a 3 minute fly over, I was just hitting the 'key spots' (be here in 3 seconds….there in 4 etc) I guess I need to go back and 'mess' up the smoothness that 3DS assumes between these basic keys. Thanks for the Help Todd
#164997From: Angelo Guarino [DTI Inc]Apr 15, 1995 11:14 PM
Tburno, After beating my head against the wall with trying to get smooth camera motion .. I finally came up with the following. You might find it helpful as well. I have in what I call a digital camera crane. It consists of a series of dummy objects to which I link the camera and target. At the camera position I have created 2 dummy objects I call cam-elevation and cam-asmyth. At the camera target I create 3 dummys .. trgt-elevation, trgt-asmyth, and cam-position. Next link them in the following order. cam-postion trgt-asmyth trgt-elevat cam-asmyth cam-elevat cam1.target cam1 Basically, by constructing this little "diddy", you can acheive almost any complex motion by using only "end-point" keyframes in any one object's degree of freedom. If you want to move into an object and then circle around you can simply move the cam-position dummy and then when you reach it, rotate the trgt-asmyth dummy. If you concentrate on trying to define each motion with just "end-point" keyframes on each of the dummys, you can really get control of your camera with really smooth motion. Once you create this fella, save it as a 3DS file and import it into all of you animations. Works great. Hope that helps. Ang, President Dynamic Technologies, Inc. An Autodesk Systems Center for Multimedia in MD
#165083From: Apr 16, 1995 10:56 PM
Ang: >> camera dummies Heavy duty! How've you been? Greg Pyros
#165091From: Yost GroupApr 16, 1995 11:06 PM
Excellent technique (and use of dummies), Ang. – G
#165232From: DAVID CAMPApr 17, 1995 6:19 PM
>camera crane Wow… wonderful. would you mind giving a bit more detail about how you would use it in "the real world" Thanks a lot David Camp
#165254From: TBrunoApr 17, 1995 8:56 PM
Ang, thanks for the idea. I started something simular with 3 dummies (dum dummer dummest?) You have taken it to the next step…I'll try it! Todd