CompuServe Thread

#Camera as child

5 messages in this thread
#118509From: Paul Sanford [LVL5]Aug 16, 1994 8:39 AM
In linking a camera as a child to an object, all object motion was followed by the camera except for camera roll. I'm trying to do an over-the-shoulder view of a spaceship, like a race car mounted camera. Following that analogy, the car goes into a banked curve, but the camera stays parallel to the ground, rather than banking as it should. I believe I'm OK as far as no axes of movement are restricted in the linkage. I could go in and adjust camera roll to keep up with the objects "roll" (rotation), but I would prefer to keep it simple. Any ideas? Paul D. Sanford [LEVEL V PRODUCTIONS]
#118536From: Yost GroupAug 16, 1994 9:35 AM
The camera won't inherit the roll from the object, so you'll have to adjust it after the fact to keep up with the other objects. – G
#119197From: Paul Sanford [LVL5]Aug 19, 1994 5:03 AM
>>The camera [child] won't inherit the roll from the object [parent], so you'll have to adjust it after the fact to keep up with the other objects.<< I was afraid of this. I like to perform a follow path command for flying vehicles, which usually inserts a high number of rotation keys for the object. Trying to match camera roll is, uh, trying, and the results have been disappointing. I've been adjusting camera roll on the frames in which there is an object rotation key, trying to keep the vehicle stable. I could create a foreground image, which would stay in one spot, but I'd lose the nifty lighting/shadow effects. Are there any tricks to getting the movements synced? Can I copy object rotation tracks to camera roll tracks? This situation must have been faced/overcome by others…any help out there? Paul
#119207From: Phillip L. MillerAug 19, 1994 8:53 AM
As of right now, your best bet is to place a dummy object square in front of your camera, link it to the camera, and use it as a "guide" for rolling the camera. Try to use as few roll keys as possible (working form last to first frame sometimes helps) to reduce the "wobble" of unwanted rotation. In the future with R4 you should be able to write a script that interprets object rotaton keys and transforms them into camera/spotlight roll keys. – Phil
#119401From: Paul Sanford [LVL5]Aug 20, 1994 2:34 AM
Thanks for the tip. I'm not sure what "writing a script" in R4 to translate object rotation to camera roll entails. My "script" with R3 and assorted hardware and dealer problems has often called for the protagonist to throw his Pentium to its death off his balcony… <BG> Paul