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Legacy camera animation with Cinemachine?

Discussion in 'Cinemachine' started by isosmrt, Sep 8, 2017.

  1. isosmrt

    isosmrt

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    Hey guys,
    I'm a fairly new Unity user but I have a simple question. I'd like to just keyframe a camera in a typical way, but have that camera on the timeline. Is that possible? Seems like I can't save keys on a camera?

    I've tried animating the camera on a dolly which is very nice, however I'd like to do it all manually.

    Any tips would be greatly appreciated, thank you!
     
    isosmrt, Sep 8, 2017
    #1

  2. Gregoryl

    Gregoryl

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    I don't see why you can't keyframe the transform of an ordinary (non-cinemachine) camera. Just drag it into timeline, make and animation track, and keyframe the transform.

    [Edit] The same thing will work on a Cinemachine Virtual Camera too, if you don't give it a LookAt or Follow target. It will then just take its rotation/position directly from its transform, which you can keyframe. If you give it LookAt/Follow targets, it will try to reposition itself, crushing any manual animation you try to give it.
     
    Gregoryl, Sep 8, 2017
    #2

  3. isosmrt

    isosmrt

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    oh man, I'm a noob. Thanks for the tip Gregoryl! Works like a charm.
     
    isosmrt, Sep 8, 2017
    #3

  4. Adam_Myhill

    Adam_Myhill

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    Isomart, you might as well animate an 'empty' Cinemachine camera - like Gregory mentioned - no look at or follow, because you'll now be in the Cinemachine ecosystem and should you want to do blends, add handheld noise, mix shots on Timeline, etc. etc., you'll have all those options ready and waiting for you. Using the default Unity Camera will prevent any of this.
     
    Adam_Myhill, Sep 8, 2017
    #4
    isosmrt and Gregoryl like this.

  5. isosmrt

    isosmrt

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    Thanks Adam! Great suggestion
     
    isosmrt, Sep 10, 2017
    #5

  6. radiantboy

    radiantboy

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    Hi guys, im trying this now. So as I understand you need toanimate your camera using the ordinary animation tools? Why cant cinemachine dlo this itself?? Seems veryconfusing using 2 different timelines to make a cut scene, or am I mistaken?
     
    radiantboy, Jul 3, 2019
    #6

  7. Gregoryl

    Gregoryl

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    @radiantboy Cinemachine can be set up to animate the camera procedurally. If you use it in that mode you won't need to do any keyframing. However, keyframing is still an option if that's your preference.
     
    Gregoryl, Jul 3, 2019
    #7

  8. radiantboy

    radiantboy

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    thanks! Im getting to grips with it a bit more now. One thing I find weird is when I key frame "lookAt" it doesnt tween between them it just sort of cuts. I also found it lost them key frames when i came back to unity after retsarting.
     
    radiantboy, Jul 3, 2019
    #8

  9. radiantboy

    radiantboy

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    ps, I thnk what I was looking for in my original question is the dolly tracking feature, which is nice.
     
    radiantboy, Jul 3, 2019
    #9

  10. Gregoryl

    Gregoryl

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    You shouldn't be keyframing a LookAt target change. Instead, you should set up 2 vcams: one looking at target A and the other at target B. Create 2 vcam clips, one for each, and overlap them in the timeline to create a blend from one to the other.
     
    Gregoryl, Jul 3, 2019
    #10
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  11. radiantboy

    radiantboy

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    oh I see!! Thanks very much
     
    radiantboy, Jul 6, 2019
    #11