Newb fly through question

[JamesMK]

On a sidenote here, but I remember someone posting a special tracking expression that was sort of softer than the standard tracking. It allowed some degree of sluggishness, making the result appear more natural.

I'm sure someone else knows what I'm talking about!

[Iggy]

Yah, sorry to double up here (this issue has spilled into my WIP thread), but I'm having a really hard time with the fly-through. It's all over the damn place. I tried manual keyframing like I mentioned before, and man, it looks crappy! What do ya'll do for your flythrough shots?

EDIT: Here's a look at how bad it really is: Crappy Fly Through (http://www.mechanolatry.com/images/cgtalk/crappy-flythrough.mov)

[Shademaster]

I just made a simple align to spline/target expression scene which demonstrates how the whole principle works.

http://www.shademaster.nl/temp/spaceshipc4d.c4d

and here is the thread about it

http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=81902

[Iggy]

Thanks shademaster. I did several tries with the follow camera on a spline, but for some reason my results were poor. Gonna give it another shot I reckon.

[Iggy]

And now I remember why. I have a very hard time drawing the spline right where I want it for a clean fly through. Still trying.

[Shademaster]

Try to draw it with a B-spline and not a Bezier spline, B-Splines are a lot smoother. With Bezier splines you can get hard edges while not always wanted...

:)

[AdamT]

Here's the link to JeremyW's now-classic smooth moves tutorial: http://www.jeremyw.com/C4D_Stuff/easy_cam/easy_cam.html

Works a little different in R8, but I think it can still be done.

I've had some success in the past keyframing the camera moves manually, but assigning the camera a look at expression. Then I keyframe the look at target to handle camera rotation.

[Wilson-3d]

Hi Iggy. You may be about finished by now but I wanted to add what has worked for me. I make a Circle spline in the top view and size it to the size I want. Then while in the top view I draw a bezier spline and trace the circle to get it completely round. Not connecting the two points. Then you can pull the start point up and have it set to where you want it so you can open with the camera facing down. Make the spline uniform in the Attributes manager. Create a target camera and give it an Align to spline Expression. Set the target for the camera in the center of your focus object. Go to frame one in the timeline and in the attribute manager with the align to spline selected right click on position and add key frame at o%. Then go to the end of your timeline and in the attributes manager with the align to spline still selected change the position to 100% and right click and add key frame. Now your camera is going to follow the spline at an even pace. If you want to add an ease in and ease out open the f-curves and only drop in your align to spline tag. Then in view select frame all and then select both key frames. Go to the curves menu and custom tangents > soft interpolation. Then Curves > Custom Tangents > Flat. Now you also have ease in and out. I hope this helps some.

[Iggy]

Ah, that makes sense. Two things that had me banging my head against the wall were trying to space the points evenly on the spline and getting a clean circle shape. But then if you are to go on from there after the fly by, how do you connect the camera to the next movement? Do you just switch the follow spline off in the timeline and manually key from there?

[Iggy]

You know I bet you could just use a helix spline and give it a height of 0 instead of tracing the circle... I'm going to try that and let you know. Cuz dammit nothing else has worked today!!

[bobtronic]

Originally posted by Iggy
But then if you are to go on from there after the fly by, how do you connect the camera to the next movement? Do you just switch the follow spline off in the timeline and manually key from there?

If I understand you right I would simply make two
shots and connect them in a video application.

Bob

[Iggy]

Oh sure Bob, just make it sound easy. Well I reckon there's a good reason I've got that big flashing NEWB sign on my head! Doh!

[Wilson-3d]

That is what i was thinking bobtronic. Iggy the helix sounds like a good idea. If you want one continuos movement I would add points to the spline and have the end of the circle trail off in the direction you want. Having the entire path laid out and uniform before getting started.

[Iggy]

Wilson, it looks like your technique is going to get me there! WOw, it's been a battle to get here. Don't know why I didn't think about isolating the shots either. Somehow I got it in my head to make it one long take. [*LEARNING CURVE*]

[Wilson-3d]

glad I could help!

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