ScuM - 3D Studio Max

A frame from the finished animation

It could just be that i'm an idiot (yup - an observer), but i spent ages faffing around try to get 'look at' and video post to work. And yes, i could have just looked at the help file and worked out what to do in 5 mins - but thats not what we do, is it? Nope. And we've probably lost years of our lives in doing so

Anyway

Here's a tutorial that:

makes an object group follow a path and bank at the coners
has a camera following the objects
uses Video Post to put a starfeild background to the scene
exports the entire animation to an avi

First we want the objects for the camera to follow.

I made 3 spheres arranged as seen so that you would be able to see when the object banked around the corners.

Once you've got the spheres in place select them all and group them - this is our 'ship'

We now need a path for the ship to follow

Make a path like the one shown using the line tool, select smooth in both prameter sections, in the top veiwport

The path can be whatever you like but u need some back and forth movement to show how the starfeild moving in the background and a corner to show the banking

Now we've got the path for the ship to follow we'll er.... make the ship follow the path

As you can't assign a path to grouped objects, we use a helper called a dummy which we link to the ship. Then the dummy follows the path and the ship follows the dummy - hurray!

Make a dummy somewhere near the ship

With the dummy selected press Alt-A

Then put checks in the boxes as seen below and click OK

Now press H, to bring up the object selection box, and select your ship

Press the select and link button

Press H again and select the Dummy. The ship will now move when the dummy moves (You can still move the ship around the dummy)

With the dummy selected goto Animation/Constraints/Path constraint

Then click on the path line we drew. The dummy, and the ship with it, will now move to the start of the line

In the path parameters box check 'follow' and then 'bank'

The default banking parameters are ok, but experiment to find settings you like

Now we're ready to add a camera that will follow the ship as it 'flys' along the path (don't laugh)

Add a free camera in the front veiw port

Change the perspective veiw to the camera

Goto Animation/Constraints and select Look-at Constraint

Then in the front veiw port select the ship

The ship willl now have disappeared from the camera veiw - dont worry - it'l return soon

Set the look at parameters as shown

Theres that ship of ours

Now if you drag the animation slider you'll see the ship move along the path and the camera will follow it as it moves

Now we've finished the construction of the scene (oh - add a light), we'll add the the starfeild and render the animation in video post

Press Alt-V to open video post

Click on the Add Scene Event button and select Camera01 and then OK

Click on Camera01 then click on the Add Image Filter Event button, select starfeild then OK

Click on Setup

Turn off motion blur

Click OK

Make sure nothing is selected in the queue then select Add Image output Event, then click on files

Name the animation Test.avi and click save. In the Video compression selector use:

Cinepak codec by Radius

Compression quality 100

Key frame every 15 frames

Click OK, then OK again

The video post window will now look like this:

Now click Execute Sequence and the animation will be rendered

Thats it - tutorial finished - watch the animation and marvel at your ingenuity

Go on - off you go

Theres nothing else here honest

really im just bored and pressing crtl-v alot

you must have something better 2 do

GOD I MISS SCROLLTEXTS