Animating a Camera to a Path/Pause

[mindeye]

Hello,

Could someone help me with a problem that I don't have a lot of time on? I am trying to animate a camera along a path. It would be nice to have that Camera move along a path and stop at different Positions and Pan from left to right. Can anyone help me with this or point me in the right direction?

Many Thanks,
Roger

[hendie]

there are several ways to accomplish this... all dependant upon which App you are using and which version.
are you using Max or Viz ?
you can assign the camera to a spline path. Then use the track view to adjust parameters ~ add "stopping points, panning etc
You could use several cameras, one for the path, one for each stop point/panning and render each camera in turn, and then string the animations together.
Ideally, you would want to use just the one camera. So I'd suggest assigning a spline path controller to the camera, then make all the adjustments in track view

[fuccaro]

I worked in 3D Studio Max 4.
Create > camera > free
Click in the left panel to create the free camera.
Right click in the top panel, zoom out if needed
Click the “select and move” tool, turn on the “Animate” button, drag the cursor to the slide 100, drag the camera along its OX axis, turn off the animate button.
Right click on the camera > Track view selected
In the TRACK VIEW window: click the plus sign near the camera01, the plus sign near the Transform and click the word “Position”.
On the toolbars (we are in the TRACK VIEW window!) press “Function Curves”
You should see a blue and a green horizontal line, and an ascending red one (zoom in/out if needed).
Click the “add key” tool and create two new keys by clicking on the red line about at the frames 20 and 80 (the frame number is on the horizontal ruler, under the curves).
Press the “Assign controller” button (a green triangle with a black arrow) and select from the list “Linear position”.
Select the “move keys” tool and drag vertically the two new created keys on the red line so that between the frames 20 and 80 the curve become horizontal. So the red line contains 3 segments: between the frames 0 and 20 it is ascending, horizontal until the frame 80 and ascending again to the frame 100. Try to make the two ascending segments to be at the same angle from horizontal.
The green and the blue curve must remain horizontal.
Play the animation. Now the camera starts forward, it stops at the frame 20 and it stays in place until the frame 80, when it starts again, right? Stop the animation.
Now we need just to add the desired rotation between the frames 20 and 80.
On the track view window, under Camera 01, transform, click the Rotation. Click the “Assign controller” and select “Euler XYZ”. Click the plus sign near rotation and select Z Rotation. Now you should see a horizontal blue line. Create 4 keys at the frames 20, 35, 65 and 80. Select the “move keys” tool and drag the key placed at the frame 35 up and the key from the frame 65 down. Play the animation. To adjust the rotation angle of the camera, drag the rotation keys placed at the frames 35 and/or 65 up or down as needed.