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Align exported object outline spline with object in original viewport
How to align an object’s exported outline spline with the original object in camera view?
1. Export the sketch and toon outline to an .ai file
2. Reimport it to c4d and then copy spline to original project file.
a. The object is 20 times smaller than original. Easy to fix.
b. The object has correct perspective in front viewport.
How to align it to the object in the perspective viewport that was used to create/export it?
Or is there an easier way to do this?
Example shows the problem, I hope.
replied 6 months ago 2 Members · 5 Replies
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5 Replies
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Using the Look-at-camera TAG goes some way to a solution, but the object is flipped 180 degrees, and even when corrected it still has to be aligned by eye.
Example that makes clear the 180 degree flipping
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After some more experiments, I think I understand this better.
One of the important things is that if the object is off-axis (on any of the 3), then the resulting exported outline spine will not be in alignment once re-imported. It will also be flipped 180 along the x axis – which in itself is easy to fix.
The solution I have found is to add a cube to the scene with coordinate 0,0,0. The outline of this cube and the object of interest should be combined into a single object once imported. Then it should be placed in a Null object, to which the look-at-camera TAG is applied. Then the nested spline object is flipped, scaled* and lined-up by eye, using the cube as a guide. Cube part of the spline can be deleted once aligned.
*I have not quite worked out the scale factor, as it seemed to change from one project to the next. But this can be worked out by trial and error, and an appropriate cm. scale applied during spline import.
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Thank you for sharing your findings with us, Simon! If I understand well what you’re trying to achieve, I believe you could accomplish it more comfortably and accurately using a Camera Crane. I’ve included a screen recording below demonstrating how it works; I hope this is helpful.
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Thank-you for showing us your technique. Very interesting method. I think perhaps the amount of adjustment by eye is probably equal to what I am doing with look-at-camera tag and nudging the spline inside the null. I went for that latter method yesterday for my final version, and it worked quite smoothly that time.
I will certainly play with your technique and perhaps try it for next one though. Thank-you for showing it.
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You’re very welcome, Simon! I’m glad that worked for you; now there are two ways to solve the problem, and that’s great!
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