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Extremely long camera animation through tunnel- how to keep it constantly speedy at end?
Hi there. I am working on a 10 second camera animation through a long sweep nurbs tunnel. The motion I am aiming for is a “0-to-60” type feel and to always have an ‘infinite’ look to the sweep nurbs tunnel, which is made with a tracer and cloner. The animation goes along with live action footage and at the end of the footage sequence the camera should be blazing along at optimum speed but also not overcome the length of the nurbs tunnel which is made up of twisting intricate tracer patterns.
The problem is with curves. No matter how long the tunnel is or the length of distance between the camera keys, the camera always starts to agonizingly slow down towards the end. My problem is making a sweep nurbs tunnel long enough to seem infinite towards the end of the 10 seconds and that wont destroy my cpu but also long enough to have the camera be at a ‘breakneck speed’ at the end of the sequence and show no signs of slowing down.
I’ve tried many different approaches to the curves, spline types and such in the timeline but I always get that slowdown at the end. I’ve tried a third position keyframe early in the timeline but that has not proved effective either. I know this is elementary to many animators but I am having trouble with it, due to the massive size of the scene. It’s a fine balance and a seemingly simple animation that has proved very demanding. Any advice would help on keeping that speed at the end.
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4 Replies
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you are aligning the camera to the spline (or a copy) that you are sweeping the tunnel along with an Align to Spline tag? The F-Curve of the Position keyframes should be linear, if you’re on 13 check out Tutorials/Animating With Cinema4D – The Basics/Timing and Interpolation in the Help.
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Thank you for your response!
I am not using any spline for the camera. Just a target camera and two keyframes. See, most of the interest is obviously the sweep nurbs tunnel (think of a fractal type pattern made by the tracer and a radial cloner. I inquired about that a month ago or so on this same forum and was able to make a great effect). So my aim is to keep that interest and not have the camera leave it behind too quickly so I suppose I know my answer in broad terms but would like a better starting point in terms of spline type and curve manipulation in the timeline.
Otherwise linear seems fine for the end speed, but I am also looking for a ‘0-to-60’ motion for the gradual speed gathering in the beginning seconds so I suppose the trick can be done with just two frames and curve manipulation. Would attaching to a spline be a better option, or removing the camera target?
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when the f-curve ‘curves’ it’s a change in speed, if the f-curve is going ‘straight’ (at whatever angle) it means constant speed. So you want it to curve into the motion and be going straight at your end keyframe. Take a look at this very simple move of a cube – it starts slow and once up to speed keeps the speed right until the end keyframe. check out the f-curve – there’s more than one way to do that basic shape, this way uses a bezier curve handle for the second keyframe and points it down the curve but you could also set the second keyframe’s tangent length to zero, there’s less control over the curve shape that way but it’s also a good way to do it. It just depends on what you need.
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Thank you for your insight and knowledge. Saving this thread for future reference.
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