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Camera Layers Questions
Hello, I’m a bit of an AE newbie, and I’m trying to understand exactly how camera layers operate and function. I know this is a big topic, but in summary, I have a few specific questions.
When a camera layer and a camera are defined, I can see them in my comp window and can adjust it as necessary. Once this is defined, does this mean that when I go to render my project the output is automatically what the camera see’s?
What if you have multiple cameras? Is this possible?
When previewing and working on a composition, is there a way to see what the camera is seeing? Or to toggle between camera view’s? I understand the 4-up view for a 3-d layer, such that I can see the comp from different dimensions. I’m specifically curious about the camera views, though.
I think I’m missing a key point of understanding regarding camera layers and AE.
Thanks for the insight!I’m using AE pro 7.0.
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4 Replies
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You might hit the AE beginners forum, too.
You can have multiple cameras in a comp but only the topmost is rendered. If your camera is active (the eyeball is on) that is the view that gets rendered.
In the 4 views layout, any one of them can be set to be the active camera.
Using cameras in AE is tricky at best; many gotchas and terrible quirks that only research and endless experience can prepare you for.
bogiesan
This is my standard sigfile so do not take it personally: “For crying out loud, read the freakin’ manual.”
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[sjohnson] “When a camera layer and a camera are defined, I can see them in my comp window and can adjust it as necessary. Once this is defined, does this mean that when I go to render my project the output is automatically what the camera see’s?”
Yes.
A camera layer is a camera, by the way. Same thing.“What if you have multiple cameras? Is this possible?”
Yes. The project will only render the active camera for that frame, which is the camera layer which is visible at that frame, or is the top camera layer in the timeline layer stack for that frame. I prefer to trim camera layers so I don’t have to think about which one’s on top.
“When previewing and working on a composition, is there a way to see what the camera is seeing? “
Yes. Select the camera at the bottom of the comp window.
“Or to toggle between camera view’s? “
Yes. Select the camera at the bottom of the comp window. Keep in mind that only the active camera will be rendered.
And none of the “custom views” or other views will ever be rendered. Only the view from the active camera.
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Ahh.. Ok. I’m starting to understand. By virtue of definition, if a camera is there, render will render from that view with any constraints set on the camera, etc, such as keyframes or bindings to null layers for easy animation.
I also understand that the “top” most camera is going to be chosen for the view when rendering.
As a follow up question, what I don’t see as intuative, is how to change camera views during a render. I was unaware that you could keyframe layer order???
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Of course, you could also just use one camera, and keyframe its position and rotation (possibly with auto-orient off) using *hold* keyframes. That way, you could simulate multiple cameras by having just one camera, starting at position 1, then zipping over to position 2, and so on.
Or you could render a comp three times: once with camera 1 active over the whole comp, once with camera 2 active, and so on. You could then drag all three movies into an NLE and do a multi-camera edit there.
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