Make a camera orbit around a character


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By Dragonskunk - 10 Years Ago
The way I have done it in the past is change the pivot point of the camera to where I want it to rotate around. So that the camera is always looking at the center of its rotation axis and if there is a character in the axis it will make a turntable effect to showcase.

How would I go about doing that with iClone?
By elektron2kim - 10 Years Ago
I usually make an invisible primitive prop (for example, set as dummy, so it doesn't render) and attach it to the character, so it stays at a certain height and don't flicker from the character motions. Then I use "Look at" (the primitive) with / from the camera.

Making "Look at" directly on the root of the character has given me problems in height of the camera when zooming in, and, for example, looking at the shoulder or head makes it flicker.

The camera can then be moved to the end position at later frames. Make sure it's not set to "preview" as I sometimes mistakenly do at that point. Do this in more repeats if needed, but don't turn it over 45 degrees around (in each step) as it can smooth it wrong and fly in the other direction out of misunderstanding.

If you want something more advanced then use a path for the camera, maybe attached to a primitive that follows the path, so you can put other effects or whatever, even save the new gizmo and reuse it. Should be possible to also make the camera directly follow the path, but then you can't save it.

I have seen users make complicated physics gizmo constructs for their cameras, so it's worth considering to make them as props and paths, maybe physics, so you can have them saved.
By planetstardragon - 10 Years Ago
another interesting approach, is to attach a camera to an avatar and have the avatar walk around your actor like a live camera man, especially cool to do with the kinect :w00t:

for a perfect spin, i like using the physics toolbox myself....but instead of attaching it the standard way....I just attach the camera directly to the dummy prop - from there you can set the camera to look at ....and as you adjust the angle and location the camera is attached to the physics dummy prop...the size of the circle changes. The parameter settings on the physics toolbox are rather fast ...so I'll just record it first, then stretch out the motion file it created to slow it down more.
By Dragonskunk - 10 Years Ago
So I could create a dummy cylinder,
center it to the character's approximate center,
attach the cylinder to the world,
place the camera at the rim of the cylinder,
then make the camera look at the cylinder's axis,

But can I attach the camera to the cylinder's rim then turn the cylinder?
By planetstardragon - 10 Years Ago
when you attach it to the mesh, the camera will move whenever the mesh moves. True even if you have an object that's already spinning and attach any prop after.

now, if say you used a ball, and spun it in a perfect circle in place ....if you place the camera directly on top of the host dummy prop, in the middle ...it will spin in place 360 ( which is useful for exhibiting an environment )......if you move it away from the middle, the diameter of the spin it makes will increase. ( which is useful for orbiting a character / prop )

The best way to approach this is with a mini viewport that will show you whats on the camera you are animating ....but your main screen on the preview cam, animating the camera as a prop.

you can also get fancier with this approach if say for example....you attach the ball to a car ...move the car .....and animate the ball to spin, the camera would be spinning outside the ball while looking at the car......and the ball would be following the car...so you can have the camera perfectly orbit a moving prop.
By planetstardragon - 10 Years Ago
another way to do it, is to attach the avatar to a disc -flat ball - and spin the disk, creating a turntable......the camera doesn't move. This technique is good when you want a 360 of a character with consistent lighting to exhibit a model.
By Popeye - 10 Years Ago
Forgive me if I am reading this wrong but why not just try a simple way. Using the keyframes. Add a new camera a start. Move timeline and camera view so a keyframe is added on so on. Play the recording and the camera rotates around the subject.

This is how I used to do it "in the good old days"
By planetstardragon - 10 Years Ago
the circle never comes out as smooth / perfect with keyframes from the auto align / smooth features - I always got quirks / glitches on the spins. It's easier / faster to spin a ball perfectly even, than it is to keyframe an orbiting camera.
By elektron2kim - 10 Years Ago
Dragonskunk (1/19/2015)
So I could create a dummy cylinder,
center it to the character's approximate center,
attach the cylinder to the world,
place the camera at the rim of the cylinder,
then make the camera look at the cylinder's axis,

But can I attach the camera to the cylinder's rim then turn the cylinder?


Yes, but you proberly need a smaller primitive for the "Look at" then. In any case, you can create the large cylinder and attach a primitive for the use of "the center axis" and build it as you like. Some of the construct can be invisible etc.

Maybe you need a primitive for the camera position on the large cylinder too.
At least it makes it easier to work with to put extra primitives in the beginning, so you can experiment until you figure out a great way to show it as you intended.
By elektron2kim - 10 Years Ago
Popeye (1/19/2015)
Forgive me if I am reading this wrong but why not just try a simple way. Using the keyframes. Add a new camera a start. Move timeline and camera view so a keyframe is added on so on. Play the recording and the camera rotates around the subject.

This is how I used to do it "in the good old days"


Nothing wrong with the good old days. When I had dancers change motions and positions after a perfect camera movement as you say I reconsidered it. It always went off on something and required quite some editing of the keyframes. Especially if I decided to put 3 characters instead of 1, but I still use the technique with primitives as a safeguard of not losing a great move of the camera when I might change the other props and characters.

Essentially, it's the same thing. A perfection of it.
By Popeye - 10 Years Ago
elektron2kim (1/19/2015)
Popeye (1/19/2015)
Forgive me if I am reading this wrong but why not just try a simple way. Using the keyframes. Add a new camera a start. Move timeline and camera view so a keyframe is added on so on. Play the recording and the camera rotates around the subject.

This is how I used to do it "in the good old days"


Nothing wrong with the good old days. When I had dancers change motions and positions after a perfect camera movement as you say I reconsidered it. It always went off on something and required quite some editing of the keyframes. Especially if I decided to put 3 characters instead of 1, but I still use the technique with primitives as a safeguard of not losing a great move of the camera when I might change the other props and characters.

Essentially, it's the same thing. A perfection of it.


Oh Thank god for that eh? With the Keyframe method it is practise to get perfection. It is an Art

Does this make me an Artist? He He ;););)
By justaviking - 10 Years Ago
Dragonskunk (1/19/2015)
So I could create a dummy cylinder,
center it to the character's approximate center,
attach the cylinder to the world,
place the camera at the rim of the cylinder,
then make the camera look at the cylinder's axis,

But can I attach the camera to the cylinder's rim then turn the cylinder?

You may have already noticed there are multiple ways to do this.  :)

What you described should work well.  You do not need to "attach the cylinder to the world" but other than that it sounds fine.

If you avatar walks while the camera circles, then I would just move (key frame) the cylinder to match the character's motion pretty well.

The size of the dummy objects don't matter.

You could use a sphere or cube.  Place it near your avatar's chest or head (depending on the view you want).  Shrink it some so it's not too annoying.  Check the "USE AS DUMMY" property on the prop.

If you LINK the camera to the dummy, then move/rotate the dummy.

Um, yeah, pretty much what you said, above.

By Dragonskunk - 10 Years Ago
Right! I get it, because a dummy object (parent) causes its (child) objects including a camera to pivot to the same axis, there is no need to make a physical anchor to a prop.

Thanks all for your prompt responses.
By planetstardragon - 10 Years Ago
a lot of the concepts and techniques applicable in iclone you probably already know from other animation softwares - in this case it's really just understanding the terminology and work flow used in iclone ( which is noob friendly ♥ lol ). I learned this from the other way around, I started 3D with iclone and when I branched out I found it was the same thing with a different term in a different panel and more choices. Reallusion just makes the 3D concepts easier to digest with their approach.
By Cricky - 10 Years Ago
I am assuming panning shots is the goal of the Original Post.

Here are a couple more options which are easy to do, and once done they can be applied to future projects as props or accessories.

This is all done inside iClone, but importing props with ready made commands is an option too, which I have done in the past. They are only tools after all.
By elektron2kim - 10 Years Ago
Popeye (1/19/2015)
elektron2kim (1/19/2015)
Popeye (1/19/2015)
Forgive me if I am reading this wrong but why not just try a simple way. Using the keyframes. Add a new camera a start. Move timeline and camera view so a keyframe is added on so on. Play the recording and the camera rotates around the subject.

This is how I used to do it "in the good old days"


Nothing wrong with the good old days. When I had dancers change motions and positions after a perfect camera movement as you say I reconsidered it. It always went off on something and required quite some editing of the keyframes. Especially if I decided to put 3 characters instead of 1, but I still use the technique with primitives as a safeguard of not losing a great move of the camera when I might change the other props and characters.

Essentially, it's the same thing. A perfection of it.


Oh Thank god for that eh? With the Keyframe method it is practise to get perfection. It is an Art

Does this make me an Artist? He He ;););)


Funny. After that I made a project with 3-4 cameras having less keyframes than ever and then ran into keyframing the rotation of the floor!
By Dragonskunk - 10 Years Ago
planetstardragon (1/19/2015)
a lot of the concepts and techniques applicable in iclone you probably already know from other animation softwares - in this case it's really just understanding the terminology and work flow used in iclone ( which is noob friendly ♥ lol ). I learned this from the other way around, I started 3D with iclone and when I branched out I found it was the same thing with a different term in a different panel and more choices. Reallusion just makes the 3D concepts easier to digest with their approach.


Changing the axis of a camera was one of the things I could not find.

Working in iClone means I have to know what can I and can't do that the pro software can.
By planetstardragon - 10 Years Ago
that will have to come with time and experience - just keep posting questions on the forum, and we'll share the work arounds we've found and learned from others - some of the techniques the guys on the forum come up with are brilliant. :) sometimes there are ways to go beyond the ui, that isn't common knowledge ...such as ini files and customizing certain features in icone not available in the preferences. Sometimes there are even hidden panels with no instructions on how to access it. Reallusion makes it simple for us new 3D guys, but they also occasionally add features for more experienced animators. Not sure how many there are in ic6 though!
By Dragonskunk - 10 Years Ago
Just using what I learned.

The camera is parented to the blue sphere which is normally invisible. I didn't want to use 'look at' as I wanted the camera to have a more natural motion.

I would have even more control if I parented the blue sphere to another shape using just one for rotation and the other just for translation offering separate transform keyframes.
By prabhatM - 10 Years Ago
Dragonskunk (4/25/2015)
Just using what I learned.

The camera is parented to the blue sphere which is normally invisible. I didn't want to use 'look at' as I wanted the camera to have a more natural motion.

I would have even more control if I parented the blue sphere to another shape using just one for rotation and the other just for translation offering separate transform keyframes.



The LOOK AT feature must be used in specific cases. The use cases are different depending on what you want to communicate.
By Peter Blood - 10 Years Ago
Hi guys: :)

Busting your nads trying to get a pre-made path into position??? ;) Fugetaboutit. :P

Here's a technique I picked up from justaviking. :w00t: (Thanks man, this has made path making a breeze. :D )

First, scrub along the timeline changing your camera position at whatever intervals you desire. I changed position every 200 frames in the example below.



Then pick a point just in front of the first timeline marker, left click and drag, holding it until all of the markers have been included in the shaded area.



Right click on the first position and choose "Convert position to path".



BADA BING, you have your path with markers at every camera position you noted and at the height and location desired. Edit path as necessary to fit your needs. (make more round, add a dummy etc.)



:cool: pete

PS: ;) This will work for any path, you can easily plot the most difficult fly-bys by letting your camera and the software do the heavy lifting.
By Dragonskunk - 10 Years Ago
When parenting a camera with a dummy prop it gives way more control and more realistic control as the camera can emulate a dolly and crane shots more realistically.

I just wonder if I can save a prop and a camera into the content?