Interior Animation - Cameras?

[chalk]

Since there hasn't been a thread here for ages i thought id post one.

 

I was curious how everyone does their internal animations an what cameras and techniques they use.

 

I recently tried steady cam pro which is great for external animations but when it came to internal it seems to complicated. To get a path coming through a front door and cruising around a house, while looking in rooms etc would need far to many targets and too much work (as far as i could tell)

 

In the end i went for the old key framing route, no splines or anything.

 

How does everyone else do it?

[Frosty]

I use the a camera target and the align to spline tag with ramped F-curves. I also break animations into a number of shorter passes - NEVER one long one as many architects will request.

[STRAT]

aye. small but perfectly formed is the key

keep them simple but effective. 3 or 4 simple straight pans can tell the story much more effectively than a 45 second uber complicated animation path.

[edub]

I've followed, and personally agree with, the posts in the past about not doing a continuous long shot through a space, and instead composing multiple, smaller shots.

 

However, are there any tips, in the case where you absolutely must fulfill the client's request of such an animation?

 

Sometimes the request to "show the shopper's experience as she enters through the front doors and wanders through to the back" is just a necessity, and the option to use more artistically composed shots gets shot down. It's no use arguing over this w/ a client, as they are paying for it. Do you have to convince them somehow? - will showing them an example beforehand help, or do you just do it?

[Tommy L]

Make them sit through 4 or 5 one minute animations of a camera on one path. Then show them an animation with several camera tracks/pans compilerd into a coherent movie. If that doesnt convince them, charge them more for 1 track. If they still insist, poke them in the eye with a sharp stick. If they still want it, do it.

 

Its worth trying hard to convince a client to do it 'the right way', because it gioves you something you can show other clients without having to explain "well the client wanted it this way".

[BrianKitts]

One method I prefer to use which could help you if you were forced to do a long path, is to create a spline for your path and then attach a dummy object to the spline as a path constraint. Then link your camera to the dummy object.

 

I find this way easier so that your position keyframing on the spline and camera keyframing are independent of each other. Think of it like putting your camera on a dolly in the real world.