How to avoid abrupt camera movements in videos.

[Xiste]

I recently revisited this old post by Cecilia http://www.sweethome3d.com/support/foru ... hread,6844
where she commented on the fact that the video plugin could not ease movements in and out, and just changes direction and stops rather brutally.
Well, enkonyitos video plugin can do easing of some sort, if you program your camera movements right.

The trick is to move the camera a descending number of frames towards the end of the journey.
If I had been a programmer I could have made the video plugin do this by itself on request, just like it can move in strait lines or curves. But alas...
Sad that Enko has left us. He could probably have done it easily.

I have this short example for anyone interested, where you can jump between camera movements and see how it's done.

http://www.boassen.no/KP/EasingEffect.sh3d

and two films to see the difference between enos plugin and the native:

http://www.boassen.no/KP/EasingEffect-enko.mov
http://www.boassen.no/KP/EasingEffect-native.mov

The camera movements are the same on both video plugins.

Ø

[VeroniQ]

I did, sometime ago, this tutorial with some tricks to make better video. Maybe it can help...

[Xiste]

Hi VeroniQ!
Very nice tutorial, indeed. You have obviously put a great del of work in making it.
My project is quite different, and about adjusting the camera speed, which can be done inside SH3D.
Of course it takes some time to do smooth directional changes in the beginning, but the trick is moving the camera with the arrows and not the mouse, and remember to count the frame steps between camera positions. I have found it useful to write down good working counting scripts for acceleration and retardation and use them as guides.
A nice trick is to do one camera movement at the time and use the last camera position as the start of the next, and then do as you do in your tutorial; use another program to chain your clips together.

The example I shoved was not good. It was just showing how to make a tram come to a nice standstill at a tram stop, and just showing the movement of the tram, which is actually the movement of the camera
I have made a short demo of the tram coming to the tram stop, which makes everything a bit more understandable.

http://www.boassen.no/KP/Tram-DEMO-3.mp4



Here are two short demos to illustrate some speed changes that are possible in Enko's video plugin.

http://www.boassen.no/KP/Demo1.mov
http://www.boassen.no/KP/Demo2.mov

Hope this makes it easier to understand.

[VeroniQ]

Hi Xiste,
Sorry for my late reply. Thank you for your tricks.
I am very impressed by your demos. Can you tell us more how you can do the video of the tramway arriving? Thank you very much.

[Xiste]

Hi VeroniQ,

Yes. I`m on it!
Maybe tomorrow.



Working late

[VeroniQ]

Yes, I see! Thank you!! (no emergency)

[Xiste]

Bonjour VeroniQ

A minor setback (in combination with an insisting deadline for another project), has unfortunately introduced an unexpected delay.
It appears that the tram I got from an online site was not what I expected.

https://www.boassen.no/boassen/BadTram.mp4

In addition to the "Easing and video assembly crash course" , which is already done,
I am also making a short 2 mins film in order to show how this can be used in live illustrations. The film is also finished, using a Q1 render as a placeholder, but when I replaced it with the Q4 version, I got VERY disappointed. I really can't use a flickering tram in a presentation, and the preview tram in Q1 does not at all match neither in tint or quality.

So either I have to fix that tram, which appears to be a Sketcup constructed model, or buy a more professionally designed one online.

But believe me, this is a fun project which also gives me an opportunity for reflections around my own working methods.

[Puybaret]

Maybe you could hide useless doubled faces by setting the materials named "material" invisible.
You could also try Scopia's tramway.

[Xiste]

Maybe you could hide useless doubled faces by setting the materials named "material" invisible.

First thing I tried. I also tried flipping the normals of some of the problem areas, as well as deleting doubles from the material list, but I gave that up after a while. There were more than 400 materials to scroll through. and they had no names, only numbers.
But I will find a solution, I am sure.

The Tramway from Scopia renders perfect in Q4, so thanks for the tip. But unfortunately it's a bit too "boxy", and sticks out like it does not belong in my scenery.


BTW. Is it possible to let me edit my posts? I have a rather big one ahead, and I know for a fact that I will find mistakes there after it is posted.

Xiste

[Xiste]

Fixed it! Took it to pieces in Verto Studio 3D and separated each part by using Select connected.

But now the video renderer predicts 9 hrs to render a 50 sec video @ 1280 x700 on a 2019 MacPro with 16 cores. Before I fixed it the same length redering took 2 hrs and 34 sec.