3D - 2

In 3d studio max, how do I get the camera to rotate around a scene?

I have a ship and I want to output an avi that spins the camera 360 around the ship. Anyone know how to do this? Also, how do I get it to render through the lens of the camera?

Public Comments

1. Well, haven't worked in MAX in ages, but most likely, you will need to create a camera. Then, set a keyframe at frame 1 with the start position of your camera. Then go to the next frame (who knows.. frame 80 or something, depends on the speed you want... remember, 30 frames per second if you are working in standard frames per second), move camera where you want it, set keyframe. Lastly, go to last keyframe, move camera to final position, set the last keyframe. Max should figure out the in-betweens on its own. Don't forget to check the view through your camera and make sure it's pointing where you want it. You should then be able to play back your animation and see how it looks. You could also have the camera follow a motion path if you want, but since it's been so long, I'm not sure on the specifics of that- probably some tutorials online about it. For outputting your avi, you should be able to just render it out... not sure how it's done in MAX these days, but in MAYA you can render out TARGAS so that if you drop a frame, you can start from there instead of starting all the way from the beginning. You can then take your sequence of TARGAS into a program like AfterEffects and import them in, then render out your final video from there. Hope this helps.
2. I work in LightWave3d and the principles are the same so here is what I would do, since this is something I do quite often. The easiest way is this: (1) Create a null object or a point in the center of your ship. (2) Parent the camera to the null object or point. (3) Move the camera so it is the desired distance from the ship. and looking at the ship the way you want it. (4) Rotate the null object 360 degrees. The camera will follow the rotation of the null. You may also target the camera to the null as well as parent it, so the camera will always be looking directly at the null, which will always remain in the center of the camera's field of view. The rotation of the null will control the movement of the camera. Many times I use a null object to control one aspect of a camera's motion which otherwise would be too complicated to keyframe. Using the method I described above, if as the null is rotating 360 degrees, if you move the camera towards the ship it will follow a long spiral as it rotates around.
3. Go to Top view. Create a "Target Spot" camera. Set the Target (the little cube) the center of the ship. Create a Circle spline with the center on the Target. Click on the camera. Click on the Motion tab. Click on "Trajectories". Click on "Convert From". Click on the Circle. Move the timeline slider to watch the camera move around the circle. To make a viewport the camera, right click on the viewport title (Top, Left, Front, or Perspective) and go to "Views" and then click on the name of your camera (Mine was Spot01). To render click on the little tea kettle with the dialogue box. Set Time Ouput to Active Time Segment. Set Ouput Size to the resolution you want. Set Render Output to an AVI file. Good Luck!