Animating the camera in bryce ?
Razorlight
Posts: 26
Hi, apologies as this isn't a new topic but if I just open up a new file and set the timeline why won't it take couple of keyframes for the camera and zoom in ? I would try searching harder for an answer however the program has already near all but destroyed my will to live. Regards, Kd.
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@kevinodwyer - I really am surprised no one else has responded to this. I am one of the less experienced members of this group, yet, even I think I can help.
I followed your tag at the bottom of your post. What did you use to create those animations? I'm not a big fan of abstract, but I thought they were well done. You artist types amaze me.
As for zooming the camera, I know of two ways to do this. One is to move the camera closer to or further from the subject. The other is to alter the camera Field of View, (FOV). FOV can be altered by selecting the camera, and entering the "Object Attributes" dialog. You'll find the FOV in the lower right of that dialog box.
For demonstration purposes, I created a 2 second video for you. I used both methods. In the first second I used the FOV to zoom in on the object, and in the second second, (that seems redundant, doesn't it?), I moved the camera closer to the object, then back to its' starting position.
To really show the difference, I represented the normally invisible camera with a, um, camera. The object I zoomed in on is reflective, so you can see the camera in the reflection. To make sure the visible camera moves with the perspective camera, I selected the visible camera, moved it to slightly behind the perspective camera, went to its' Object Attributes dialog, clicked on the Linking tab, and, under Object Parent Name I selected the Perspective Camera, propagating all options.
The steps I did to create this demonstration, after the basic scene set-up, (which included moving the perspective camera to X=0, Y=0, Z= -300 with all rotations at 0), were:
1) Set up the animation for 2 seconds at 30FPS.
2) At frame 1, select the perspective camera.
3) Make a key-frame for all perspective camera aspects.
4) Slide animation control to frame 60, (the last frame of the video).
5) Make another key-frame for all perspective camera aspects. This ensures that, at the end of the video, the camera is right back to the condition it started in.
6) Slide the animation control to frame 10.
7) Open the Object Attributes dialog, and change FOV from 60 to 20. (Um, I think the default is 60. That's where it was when I did it, anyway.)
8) Make another key-frame for all perspective camera aspects.
9) Slide the animation control to frame 30.
10) Open the Object Attributes dialog, and change FOV back to 60.
11) Make another key-frame for all perspective camera aspects.
12) Slide the animation control to frame 40.
13) Move the perspective camera to Z=0, Y=0, Z= -75, (which drags along the visible camera with it).
14) Make another key-frame for all perspective camera aspects.
Since I already made a key-frame for the perspective camera in step 4, that camera, (both camera's, really), will use the remaining frames to move back to the original position.
The resulting animation render can be found here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/nnd67bq3ou97osj/CameraFOVtest.avi?dl=0
and the Bryce BR7 file can be found here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/upcqv4cph8523ay/CameraFOVtest.br7?dl=0
I hope this helps. Um, by the way, I don't think it is Bryce that might have destroyed your will to live, but the subject matter of your videos can have that effect. :-)
HAVE FUN!
hey, thanks for your time on that, it will get me back on track. My artwork in terms of refining something is really my woodwork so I may survive your brutal evaluation of my videos. But you're not the first to say it ...
I use poser pro to run out png. files and put them into Premiere Elements. If you want quick and easy, make an image in Bryce, map it onto a shape in daz and animate it. Daz or poser will make a couple of hundred frames in maybe half an hour. What about a puppet show and make the characters using the primitives ?
@kevinodwyer - Um, don't take any criticism from me, (in particular), as "brutal". I thought I stated that I am not a fan of abstract. I also said I thought yours was well done. In fact, if I thought it was not well done, I would not have watched so many of them in their entirety. Give yourself credit for that ... you had someone who is not a fan of that art form watching yours. My comment about your will to live was due to the macabre nature of your material. Face it ... it's not the most upbeat subject matter. The comment was meant as more of a joke. Please, please, please, DO NOT punish yourself over my comments. Laugh. Just laugh.
Thank you for letting us know about your Poser/Premiere Elements method. That must be a painstaking process. Once again, a credit to yourself as an artist.
I'm not exactly sure what you meant by "What about a puppet show and make the characters using the primitives ? " If you mean using the Bryce primitives, (sphere, cube, torus, etc.), um, WOW! That's where the work of a true artist would come in. Not being an artist, I find creating a character from just those primitives a daunting task, let alone to animate it. However, should you try to attempt it, keep in mind that objects can be "parented" to other objects, so that moving one moves another. Also, pay attention to the "origin" point, as that can be moved so, (for example), an object doesn't have to just rotate around its center. Rotation is always around the "origin" point, which, by default, is in the center of Bryce objects. So, you would move that "origin" point to the edge of the parented object, so that, (for example), "the knee bone's connected to the thigh bone ...".
As far as render times goes, that 2 second, 60 frame sample that I provided, Bryce 7.1 Pro rendered to the video in just under 2 minutes. The complexity of the scene, materials, (such as the amount of reflectivity and/or transparency), lighting, and render options, (such as "soft shadows", or "depth of field", etc.), will determine the render time.
In the meantime, please let us know when you've gotten Bryce to render a video you are pleased with enough to publish on your YouTube page. Also, don't be afraid to ask for more help. Most importantly ...
HAVE FUN!
oh, I was joking about surviving your review. nice thing about abstract or maybe something similar is people can see what they want into it. So you can give people that space.
I meant use Daz3d program rather than Bryce as it has a lot of primitives built in. I had in mind something like a snowman with a carroty nose but as shadowplay so he's a little bit scary. I did try and suggest in the animation section that some people get together and make something, combining a whole load of different abilities.
Had some success animating the clouds and made my video, with your help. It's about energy perception and clairvoyance so maybe not as light hearted as the others ....
@kevinodwyer - Very dark and brooding.
I'm not sure what animation tutorial you were looking at, but I made an adaptation of that other demonstration I made for you, but using Bryce 5 on a slower machine, and adding cloud animation. It's still 60 frames, but took a bit over 40 minutes to render... in part due to Bryce 5 and a slower machine, and in part due to the overhead of the animated clouds. This one does cloud animation so it loops ... the clouds look the same at the end as they did at the beginning, while changing during the animation. It's done with two cloud planes. However, as built, it's difficult to see the real results in the clouds because of the zooming.
SO, once you download it, select the perspective camera, and delete the key-frames for just that camera in frames 10, 30, and 40, (so the camera doesn't zoom in and out). Do the animation render, and set the video to do a repeat play loop.
When you go to see how it's done, pay attention to not only cloud positions in the key-frames for the two slabs, but also the material lab in the transparency, and transformation tools under the BU shifts. Ask questions.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/lrca9ibhi5pgifn/CamZoomsWithSmoothClouds.br5?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/prq87x8hm3vnjbi/CamZoomsWithSmoothClouds.avi?dl=0
Oh, by the way, you know more about doing animation in DAZ Studio than I do. I only have version 2 installed, and it doesn't have features to do animation, (that I can see, anyway). As I said, I'm one of the less experienced users of this forum.
You're ahead of me there, I was thinking of creating a template for the camera movement but now I can see to use the dialogue box it should work out. The timescale for these backgrounds is fast so it is probably just how to use Bryce.
Hadn't tried dropbox b4 but here's an 3mb windows media player file. I added a dragon.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/k5bazx7tn5z7zid/scape.wmv?dl=0
Daz3d has moved moved on some, it comes with a fair amount of content and a version of animate. Compared to Poser, Daz3d makes some things clear and easy and Poser puts a whole load of different aspects to the forefront of the interface. Daz makes lighting and cameras easy. The pic was from Daz after playing around with the program for a couple of days.
@kevinodwyer - Interesting cloud movement, but, face it; in the 4 seconds, the clouds rage while the dragon hardly moves ... comparatively. What I see going on here is; you've got too much detailed animation in the dragon. The clouds are fine. This is, like, 120 frames, right? It's just one cycle or flap of the wings. Just use every fourth model of the dragon, and its movement will still be very fluid. It can have it's wings flap 4 times in 4 seconds. Oh, yes ... I know ... art ... and all. However, is your theme really that the dragon is floating in time so much? Even if its movements in this video took place in one second instead of four, the clouds would still seem to be flying by. After all, we're talking about making the maximum use of your system's memory. Don't make it think about so many models of the dragon. I really like the rainbow shading of the dragons skin. This is going to be really good. I like it. Keep up the progress. I wish I could do work so good.
wondered if you'd like the movement, dragon was just unused frames from something else could work as a cartoon render perhaps