Camera / Target animation for Flythroughs

Bongo
1

Hi,
This is my method for animating a camera and target for flythroughs etc.
Is there a better way ? This actually works quite well.

Camera and Target animation using Bongo for Rhino.

  1. Create a Sphere for the Camera and a cube for the Target

  2. Rename a Perspective viewport as “Camera” using the “NamedVIew” command.

  3. Go to the Bongo “View Constraints Manager” . Press “+” to add a view constraint to the “Camera” viewport

  4. Assign Target to the Target Cube and assign Camera to the Camera Sphere using “Add Constraint”. (Add Target first)

  5. Animate motion of Camera sphere and Target cube as required using timeline.

  6. Hide Camera sphere and Target cube when rendering

Regards,
Mike.

2

One can also use constraints and weighting, like in this example:

When having a curve that the camera follows instead of an object you can more precisely control where exactly the camera goes and moves.

3

Hi Marika,
Thanks for that,
Hmmm, I prefer my method. I am used to using 3D Studio max where I can place the camera and target exactly where I want.
The best solution would be an editable path for the camera and target, simply drag the polyline nodes to where you want. (same as Max)
I notice that there is a small jump in the video where the view leaves the stairs, that is what I am trying to avoid.
Mike.

4

Hi Mike,

You undoubtedly noticed that Bongo’s View Constraints manager also holds a ‘Camera To Path’ type. This offers – similar to 3D Studio –the possibility to alter the camera route by simply editing the path curve.

It makes the creation of a simple Fly-by animation indeed rather easy.

For the creation of a genuine Fly-through the ‘Target To Path’ also needs to be employed.

Obviously some notions of the techniques concerning Simple Constraints are necessary to fine-tune the course of the travel.

Luc

5

Come to think of it… the tweaking of the course of camera and target on 2 separate curves with common keyframes is far from easy. For a complex flythrough the combination of the technique you described above (target constrained to auxiliary object) and the camera constrained to a curve can be far less troublesome.

Luc

1 Like
6

Hi Marika,Luc,
Thank you for that information, the videos make the whole process very clear.
I didn’t know that you could use an editable curve for the camera, or I might have tried it in the past and then forgotten about it LOL.
Yes, I think I will stay with your last method, "(target constrained to auxiliary object) and the camera constrained to a curve "
Thank you both again for your help.
Mike.

1 Like
7

Hi Luc,
I noticed that you hid the camera path/target objects before rendering (of course)
Is there a way to make the objects “Unrenderable” when outputting the video so we don’t have to hide them ?
Mike.

8

Mike,
In the video I just meant to offer a ‘clean’ view. Presumably most render engines offer the option to enable/disable the rendering of curves and points, just like Rhino’s render does.

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In the video I use a small red sphere for the target point (to comply to your technique and for the sake of clarity) but I personally mostly use a V-shaped polyline with the pivot at the intersection. Hence there is no need to hide anything before rendering (also the pivot will not be rendered).
Animation

A ‘point’ object could also be used, but with the camera visible this can be difficult to track.

Luc

9

Nice Idea !
Thanks,
Mike.