Video animation :
Let's start with the first option, the video animation. This will allow you te create a path that can be followed by a camera to make virtual tours of your project.
To begin with, open the camera menu and select the video path option.
Open the scene menu on the right and scroll all the way down to select your animation.
Ok, before getting to the next step let's take some time to explain the way this works. The green line symbolises the camera's path, the blue one is the camera's focus path (where the camera will be looking at) and the red pyramid is the camera's field of view, it is a representation of what it will be seeing. You can also see that there are 5 dots on the green and blue lines, each dot is part of a pair, the first green one goes with the first blue one, the second green goes with the second blue and so on.
You can click and drag each of these points to move them, play with those to change the camera's path, don't forget to also change the blue line to make your camera look the way you want it to. You will see there is a second way to move these dots, more on that later in the article. We recommend using the second one so keep reading !
You will find many option in the properties category, let's see them all.
- The + button allows you to add a new dot pair where you click it (if you are clicking before the 1st frame it will be added before, if you click the one under, it will add it after), to add a new dot pair you can also press P, it will be added after the last pair of dot (note that you need to have the animation path selected in the Object menu for this functionality to work).
- Click and hold the arrows button to move the keyframe, this allows you to change to order of the visit.
- The = button allows you to place the keyframe where you are currently looking, it can be traduced as a "place here" option.
- The square button allows you to move your camera to where the keyframe is, this is a position preview, it can be traduced as a “go to” option.
- You can change the name of the keyframe by clicking on it.
- The trash button allows you to delete the keyframe.
- The next option is the Duration, this allows you to select how long the path should take to complete from start to finish, the value is in seconds.
- You will then find the Time option, allowing you to preview the camera's movements along the way thanks to the red pyramid.
- You can start the animation with the play button.
- The arrows button allows you to enable replay, once the animation ends, it's starts over automatically, practical for project displays.
- The square button allows you to stop the animation at its current position.
- The trash icon allows you to delete the complete animation.
⚠️ If you wish to record your animation, you can use any recorder of your choice. On windows the easy way to go is to use the Windows + ALT + R command. It will automatically start a recording that will be available on your computer. Use the same shortcut to stop the recording. ⚠️
Press Windows + G to find your recordings.
Camera saving :
Now onto the second tool, this is the camera tool, it allows you to save camera positions so you can easily come back to it later.
It is really easy to use, just get to the position you want to save for later, click the camera icon in the camera menu. Then enter the camera's name and that's it.
Open the scene menu and click your camera to access the options. Double click your camera to teleport to it.
Here you can see and copy the camera's position and where it is looking at, you can also delete it.
In case of any problem or difficulty, please do not hesitate to contact the platform's team.