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12/07/2012 02:11:09

Quorthon
Quorthon
Posts: 11 		simonheffer wrote:
Tracking is definitely a good idea although I think I'd still prefer my own way-points (with opportunity to edit camera properties like depth of field at those points). As I'm sure I've mentioned before moving the field of view smoothly is a pain - no chance of that Jaws shot zooming in on Brody on the beach.

Another point slightly off topic , but when I right-click the camera view to go to the camera I'd much rather be positioned behind the camera i.e. go to the view the cameras showing. Most of the time I go to the camera I want to move it and it's easier from behind the camera.
Simon


I agree with the tracking idea. I've just spent two hours (it's 01:58am) on a simple camera movement - rotating the camera and zooming a little to capture a view of a character who has fallen to the ground, and I'm still getting nowhere. I can just about handle the mouse movement of the camera during 'Prepare' but during 'Direct' the movement is reversed and the view veers off the wrong way. I've tried both camera rotation options and the movement is still reversed. Plus, only today, when I select a camera to direct the viewpoint is often positioned looking directly into the lens, instead of behind the camera - even though I've got the start location as 'locked behind camera'. I've tried restarting Muvizu but it still does it. Sorry, I didn't mean to have a moan, but I would certainly like to see the camera system over-hauled, and a path system with way points seems a leap forward. I'm very impressed with those of you who can get the cameras to do what you want!
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11/09/2012 07:41:46

herseem
herseem
Posts: 9 		Firstly, amazing program - thanks to everyone who's contributed to it. I know how much effort can go into creating something for other people to use.

I also wanted to do some camera movement shots and I've found the current camera movement options to be a real nuisance. I have previously used a free animation program called Anim8 - I expect some people here have used it. It has a much better system for camera motion in that you can set views at different points on the timeline and it will work out the position and angle for all the intermediate frames. Enabling start and end points and Muvizu creating smooth and progressive movement between them would be much more in keeping with the philosophy of Muvizu itself, which is direct, don't animate. Directing the camera motion is a key part of direction.

A key point about setting intermediate camera positions / characteristics (eg, degree of zoom, depth of field) on the timeline and allowing Muvizu to create the movement / change from one position to another is that you can run the animation, and if you're not entirely happy with the results, you can move one of the intermediate points, either along the timeline or the position in 3D, or adjust the parameters, and run it again. That is considerably easier to end up with what you wanted than having to manually reproduce what might be a complicated series of movements and adjustments until you get it right.

Even if you get the camera movement right, if you decide you need to reposition a character slightly or change the timing of a particular event (eg, moving from one place to another), all you might need to do would be adjust a couple of intermediate camera positions or angles to keep the camera in sync with the motion.

What I'm looking to create right now is a flying camera view similar to what is often used at the intro of variety of TV programmes. Simply having the camera track a character would not be adequate for that.

The way I anticipate this approach would manifest that would be easiest to understand and most similar to the current way of creating cameras is that instead of creating a camera, you'd first create one of perhaps several camera tracks. You'd then create a camera position, which would be exactly the same as creating a camera, except that you'd assign a camera position to a camera track. Then each camera position would have additional attributes of whether it was first, last or intermediate position, and position on the timeline. First last or intermediate would be determined automatically but it would be at least visible. You could move a camera track backwards and forwards on the timeline in the same way that you can move other tracks backwards and forwards (and therefore moving all the intermediate points simultaneously) as well as adjusting individual camera positions in relation to the camera timeline as a whole.

You might want to just have a camera shift it's focal point during a shot, from foreground to background, for instance (In the Disney cartoon version of Aladdin there's a shot that does that). You'd create a camera track, go to two different points on the timeline, and create your identical camera positions in exactly the same position in each, adjust the focal point on the two cameras separately, and assign them to the same camera track. Actually, you'd probably have four camera positions there: one each at the beginning and end and the two either side of the transition from one focal point to the other. So the camera itself wouldn't move in that instance, but the focal point would change smoothly between the two cameras either side of the focal point transition as the timeline progresses.

When directing and choosing which camera had the shot, camera positions assigned to a camera track would not be selectable, only camera tracks would be selectable as if they were individual static cameras. So when directing the chosen viewpoint, the available shots to select from would be a mixture of static cameras and camera tracks.

In my opinion that would be a highly-regarded facility.

Mike Hersee
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11/09/2012 08:16:40

herseem
herseem
Posts: 9 		And another thing: I think having a precise degree of control over camera changes, which would be easily achievable through the method I suggested, is actually quite important.
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Muvizu is easy to use 3D animation software that allows anyone to create high quality animations quickly and easily. Muvizu’s animation engine is ideal for storytellers, animators, teachers and businesses looking to engage, enchant and delight audiences with animated content.