Finchingfield - My Work: Animation

ANIMATION

Change viewport setup to two views -- view - viewport configuration - layout - change to 2

Preferred method of camera placement:

alt + w = single viewport view - line up view as desired for camera - ctrl + c = creates target camera on that view - assign that view to right screen - use left scene as perspective view

Standard preferred setup is 50mil focus depth

For cameras auto key is sufficient - turn on on autokey

press key icon button every time major move is made - (not necessary in auto key but good practice)

highlight camera target (NOT CAMERA ITSELF)

Sequence time 0 - press key button - move timeline to predicted amount - move camera target to new position

New sequence time - press key button - move timeline to next step - move camera target to next position

Repeat this sequence to predict time/position correlation through sequence

Use left view to manipulate position - use right view to view results

Repeat process with only camera selected (NOT TARGET) while programming camera sequence/position - target of camera will follow its programmed route

Use right hand view to see to help align with target camera (this is why align target first)

IMPORTANT - do not worry about time worry more about adding necessary key frames (points in time) and aligning am era and target to gain required views

Once sequence has been programmed play sequence (play button) to see sequence in real time (default setting is 30fps ~ 30fames per second)

Curve editor - curve editor shows all animation details and their transitions as lines

x axis = time

y axis = transition amount

Highlight - camera and target - then enter curve editor

Default display will be highlighted objects movement [no rotation was applied due to using target camera and moving target separately which makes task a lot simpler]

red line = x axis

green line = y axis

blue line = z axis

yellow vertical dual line = place in time (lines surrounds frame)

if individual editing required simply only highlight target or camera to just display its curves

Each curve is controlled via points in time = keys - the key frames created earlier - transition between these points using auto key = smooth in and smooth out (which are desired results)

All these settings can be controlled and manipulated within curve editor settings

Direct curve editing consists of moving keys back and forth in time and vertically for transition amount

Use tools and manipulate accordingly

Play through sequence repeatly to get desired results

Decided to align camera to programmed fireworks i.e. adjust camera timing to fit finished fireworks

Options are to set camera then align fireworks as both can be achieved - all about preference

IMPORTANT

Once key frames are set TURN AUTOKEY OFF otherwise ANYTHING done in scene scan be altered to fit time frame currently selected - i.e. if you leave things on frame 234 and then move piece of geometry - geometry will gradually move from original position to new position over 234 frames if key frame occurs

Screen shot shows adjusting camera in time line. Sudden pitch in z is target camera looking at fireworks - simply moving the 4 keyframes controlling this movement can change when the camera looks up by how much and how quickly

For animation + rending purposes files were stripped (removed of all unnecessary geometry materials and effects) - less to process = faster rendering and smoother animation scrubbing