3D Fly-thru (Animations?)

[rob2218]

is there a step-by-step in creating an animation fly-around?
Im trying to create one and I find I can't seem to increase the number of frames per second so the animation will go "slower".

Also, my camera's though set to a 5' target and a 50 camera height...seem to go in and out of the target....meaning, the animation zooms INTO the target area...the zooms OUT of the target selected.

help.
thanks,

[Karl Ottenstein]

Can't recall seeing a step-by-step. This old thread may help:

http://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?&t=7010

The zooming bit sounds like your view cone is changing in the camera settings.

Note that when you select a camera, you can specify for how many frames the animation will sit at that view. Good for start and end to avoid choppiness and, if edited into other clips, to allow for cross-disolve.

You can click the Path... button in the Camera dialog to enter how many frames will be generated moving between the cameras.

Finally, the Compression settings (the "Set..." button) in the Create Fly-Through dialog determine the frames per second, hence the final total speed. While 29.97 is standard NTSC (US) and lower rates for cinema, PAL, etc., if the target is just Quicktime on someone's computer, you can choose whatever rate you like. For example, with QuickTime Movie as the target, 15 fps is "OK" and decreases your rendering time by about half. If you're merging into a HD 1080 timeline in a video editor, you'll want to stick with whatever your other footage is, most likely 29.97 in the US.

[Karl Ottenstein]

Here's some more info on creating fly-throughs:

http://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=12814

http://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=2524

[rob2218]

How do you avoid the camera "zooming in and out" issue? What's the trick to adjusting that? in the Camera Settings or somewhere else?

[Karl Ottenstein]

rob2218 wrote:
How do you avoid the camera "zooming in and out" issue? What's the trick to adjusting that? in the Camera Settings or somewhere else?

As I said, make sure the view cone has not changed between cameras ... the view cone is like a zoom lens. Also when you edit the path, make sure that the path keeps the same distance from the target along its length. If you use the default straight-line path for a two-camera animation and you 'dolly' along the front elevation, all is fine. If you are aimed at a building corner from one side of the corner and move to a corresponding point on the other side of the corner, then the camera will appear to zoom into the building in the middle of the path as the path will be closer to the corner than either camera: you need to edit the path and make it curved in this case. Etc.

Cheers,
Karl

[rob2218]

I'm giving up for now.....everytime I place a camera...I'm not sure what the procedures are (Step no.1, step no.2..etc..) for making a correct 3d-fly thru....

I just can't seem to comprehend what the program is asking for me to do and when and on what object/setting.....and I usually pretty good at figuring out this stuff.

I guess it's the "once you know what the answer is...the question didn't seem that difficult afterall" but I can't seem to get to the answer.....AT ALL!

[vfrontiers]

Make sure you have CAMERA's and PATH selected in the settings (under the PATH button) for your camera set. You will then SEE where the camera is traveling.

The HANDLES at each camera help shape the path on a bezier curve.

Cameras get ADDED IN in a funky way, so YOU need to be sequential about placing cameras... In other words, you can't re-route the path from 1 to 4 to 2 to 3.... Largely they go down as you place them, but I believe if you are on any particular camera, let's say #5, then if you draw a new camera it will be #6 (even if you already had 10 cameras in your path.

See the screenshot below for how crazy a path can get... Admittedly I am using cameras for STILL SHOTS so the path is not important....

[rob2218]

that's sort of what I start to see when I keep adding camera's.
It seems that the camera's are all "linked" one to the other...and the path it creates gets...well, like in your image snapshot.

I only have two camera's in my "path". I tried to draw a circle, place it in the center of the building and add camera's to that "path" but for some reason..the camera's came in with their own 'path'.

I'm sure I'm missing some step, some toggle, some blip-jip button I'm toggling incorrectly or not...but it's a bit cryptic how the animation works....or at least is setup.

Again...once done 7 or 10 times, and the user knows what the answer is...then OF COURSE it becomes easy.

[vfrontiers]

Note that you can grab one of the handles at a camera and drag it to the OTHER side of the camera to change the DIRECTION of the path... So if you're seeing a FIGURE 8 type path, change the handle of one of the cameras and you'll see the path turn into more of a circle.

Like most bezier curves, the LENGTHS of each half of the handle are independent while the angle is shared by both (halves)...