CompuServe Thread

#3DS – Camera move

5 messages in this thread
#21628From: Paul MastersAug 16, 1992 2:26 PM
I may have missed this somewhere in the book. I am setting up a camera path to go around an object. That is, start on the left, go up and above, come down on the right, go down and below and back to the starting point on the right. That works OK. However, the result looks like the camera goes up and above then down on the same side, then down to the bottom and them back up on the same side. What I want is to have the camera view to go around the object which would result in the object being upside down when the camera is on the left and right side up when the camera is on the right. I have tried doing a 180 roll at the left side keyframe. This results in the object 'rotating' as the camera goes up and over or down and under. I do not want any rotation of the object. It's hard to explain these things in words. I hope I have done well enough for someone to tell me how to do what I want. Thanks in advance for any help.
#21640From: Oral FriendAug 16, 1992 10:11 PM
Be sure and create your camera in the TOP viewport. Apparently this is how 3D Studio tells the camera where "UP" is.
#21642From: Yost GroupAug 16, 1992 10:27 PM
Paul, I think what you're dealing with is how the camera will automatically rotate when it's at 90-degrees vertical in the universe. It rotates to solve the age-old problem of "gimble lock" when completely vertical, and is one of the major "features" of quaternion rotations (believe it or not). I've got two suggestions for you. The first one is to never go completely vertical in your scene. Always undershoot or overshoot the 100% vertical axis a bit with the camera. The second one is to make a dummy object at the target position and link the camera to the dummy. You can then rotate the dummy and control camera rotation more precisely to get the effect you want. Give them a shot… – G
#21723From: Jeffrey HeftAug 17, 1992 11:51 PM
Paul, I haven't tried Gary's second suggestion but when I encountered this I rotated my objects 90 degrees and rolled my camera 90 degrees. Then the camera flyby was not over the top but around the side. JDH
#21731From: Jeff RichardsonAug 18, 1992 12:30 AM
I'm not sure if this is feasible in your project, but you could attempt leaving the camera at a stationary position, and rotating your object(s) instead. -Jeff