Cam Position / Timeline Position / Keyframe / Extend CamPath

[Frank1000]

Hi,
is there a way to keyframe cam ani and updating the cam path with every additional keyframe ? Basically creating the path while keyframing ?

How does that go ? Pls share.

Regards,
Frank

[Hirazi Blue]

Sorry, but I am having a hard time understanding exactly what you're asking (but that's probably just me...). Do you perhaps mean "autokeying the camera navigation" or do you specifically create an additional path?

[Frank1000]

Hi Hirazi,
thx for your reply. Sorry for my cumbersome description. Don't know how it's called in SI, but basically select cam, activate translation, make key, move forward in timeline, change cam pos, make next key, move forward in timeline, move cam, make next key ... and along all this, the cam path would be created with new bezier knots at each keyframe.
I checked the Auto Key, thx, but there I only get the cam moving from position to position, without moving on a bezier path.

[sonictk]

You can always select the camera's keys and convert them to bezier in the Animation Editor...or set your keys to be Bezier curves when created by default.

[Draise]

Sometimes you will have to select both the Translation and Rotation keysets, lock them, then auto keyframe them. Usually it will autokey the default keyset: whatever tool you are using or selected only .

Afterwards, you can autokeyframe the camera, then in the animation toolset, convert animation to path. This will make an animation path that you can play around with.

This also gives you options to create how many path points, how much of the animation converts to a path, etc.

Or you can edit the cameras fcurves directly after auto keyframing.

Another route is to create the path, constrain the camera to path and animate the percentage value of the path over time, and include other values, like an upvector, rotation, constraints, etc. Play with the percentage value fcurve as desired.

[Frank1000]

the auto curve is this about the knots in 3d-space, or the 2d-knots on the graphical curves in the animation editor ?

In the past I've first made a path, then set path with camera and then inserted additional bezier knots on the curve where needed ... but that's kinda fiddling with the timing of the key points in the animation editor and the actual knots in 3d-space some times ... another disadvantage of this method is that timing is overall affected with every adjustment. I was hoping to find a way how animators work more intuitively in SI than this.

[danyargici]

Hi Frank1000, you're right, this can be a bind but there is a slightly clunky workaround in Softimage that works quite well.

The whole issue arises because the Path/Curve constraint works using a percentage, however the curve deform works with distance in units, so we can use that instead.

Create a tiny cube and apply a curve deform to it, selecting your desired camera path curve object. Then create a cluster on the cube containing all the points. Constrain your camera to this cluster (Constrain->Object to Cluster). Now you can animate the Translation Along Curve in the Curve Deform PPG. Don't worry about roll or anything else, you can take care of these with other constraints.

I normally animate the camera like this and have a hand keyed interest (Direction constraint with an upvector)

I've animated a 60sec camera move with this technique, building it up over the course of a few days and it only requires very little cleanup at the end. This way you can keep adding and adding to the camera move, leaving everything you have done previously in tact.

Hope it helps.

[Frank1000]

wow danyargici, this is really cool ! Works very good, now I can extend the length of the curve, add / del knots etc. and the whole existing work remains intact.

And the Oscar goes to you.