[SOLVED] Animating a camera using the track editor

[Rob]

Ive been trying to animate a simple camera for a cutscene using the track editor but ive ran into a problem

Animating it using the translation is not a problem but as soon as I add a track for the rotation the problems start

 

Ive had crashes frequently when working with 2 tracks and for some reason the editor doesnt show the rotation keys the same way as the translation

I know the editor and track editor are 2 seperate entities at the moment, but isnt there a way to see the rotation tool on a spline inside the editor?

[nat.harrold]

Hi Rob,

 

Seeing as no one has answered your specific questions, I will at least suggest how we get around it.

 

• We use only camera and target in track editor. Therefore no need to rotate, only move camera and target.

We use cameras extensively, most of our final outputs consist of "cut-scenes", so our camera work is extensive and needs to be precise and timed with animations and events.

 

Method 1: we do camera work in max and export to unigine as .track file (custom maxscript). This (thanks to danni.coy) exports the curves so they are read correctly in unigine track editor, where we can tweak away. This is with camera and target only. (not free camera as your problem mentioned with the rotation keys)

 

Method 2: in engine, we have a custom tool built that is basic but very handy. This tool works with the editor camera to record keys to a track file of the camera and its target at a pre-defined interval (usually every 2 seconds) at the press of spacebar; so that you can set your main keys that frame up your composition, and re-edit the timing by dragging keys out and adjusting curves or values later in the track view when finished. (This is now my preferred method, this makes quick and good camera paths.) We also enhanced the visualisation of the selected track keys in the viewport to be clearer and only put gizmos on trackers selected keys only; as when you have many keys for the camera and target it becomes unusable due to clutter on screen and the risk of moving a key without undo is very high.

 

Method 3: Use max to create camera path and export with unigine's maxscript tools. (this got us by for years, though not really editable, now we export to .track file, or use 2nd method)

 

Method 4: in engine, try to assemble a camera and target from scratch and animate with the unigine native methods. (I would rather try and eat my own head)

 

Hope this helps till you get another response.

 

I will ask around here and see if we are willing to share the scripts for collaboration and enhancement.

 

Regards,

N.

[Rob]

I was doing Method 4 and it was driving me nuts, im glad im not the only one with these issues

Any word from Unigine about these issues? Because the seperation between the editor and the track editor are ridiculous and make it hard to work with, especially when you have to make very big cutscenes

 

Sadly im using  Maya and not Max so not possible to export a track, also our world is 8x8km and I need to record the entire racetrack in there and I definately dont want the entire world in Max or Maya

Would it possible for you to share the custom tool you are using?

[werner.poetzelberger]

Fbx file should be able to transfer camera data from Maya to 3dsMax, isnt it? 

 

best.

Werner

[frustum]

This script converts camera path to tracker path.

camera_to_track.zip

[Rob]

This script converts camera path to tracker path.

 

Hello Frustrum, what do you mean with camera path? At the moment I already have some sort of path created with the track editor but creating a very large path is very difficult with the limitation of the seperated tracker/engine tools. SO what does this exactly do? How do I create the camera path you mentioned?

[frustum]

This script can convert the set of uniform distributed transformations into the tracker transformation track with minimal number of key points. You can use any external editor to create camera trajectories and convert them to the tracker format.