Hi All! We're working on importing Lightwave objects into view and then making a simple animation. Well, what I thought would be simple. We have a house and we want to start the camera at one point - about 20 feet from the ground, 100 feet from the house and looking down at the house. We need the camera to start at this point and revolve around the house always pointing directly at the house - and then endinig up back at the exact starting point. This will create a looping animation. We would VERY MUCH welcome advice on exactly how to acomplish this. We've played around with it for a while but it's not as easy as it would seem. We're more used to Lightwave. :) Thanks!

Uhh, that should read as "importing Lightwave objects into Vue4." Sorry.

The process is not related to the kind of object you're using (dxf, lightwave or 3ds. We suppose that you succesfull imported your object, eventought things with Lightwave objects does'nt work so well). Take in mind the path you want assing at the camera. Position the camera at the starting point, with the timeline at 00.00.00 . In the camera property panel assign a type of motion to the camera. For your purpose perhaps "standard" will be fine. In the same panel link the camera to your Lightwave object. Now, advancing the time in the timeline, move your camera to set some keyframe: they will "describe" the path of your camera along the time. Maybe you will have to play a little and make some try with the Main Axis value in the object animation panel. Try also with the setting in the advanced panel (under the pbject animation panel click on "advanced" or something like that on the left bar at the top): maybe will be usefull some options like "look ahed" or "smooth speed". Preview and render. That's all :=)

I'm afraid I can't be of much help when it comes to animating in Vue. I have done a little, yes, and have been amazed at some of the results, but having only one PC, kind of turns me off from animations, except for very simple ones. nevertheless, don't overlook the Mover Wizard, as it allows you to use certain preset motions, and to create a visible path for your camera to follow, all of which can be edited, of course. What you want doesn't sound too complex though, and it seems as though cinacchi is setting you in the right direction with the 'Standard" suggestion. it's a shame, really, but aside from the tutorials, there doesn't seem to be alot of information available for using Vue for animation. I personally have completed all the animation tutorials, and Vue really does do quite well, particularly at animating materials. I hope if you get it right, you will write us a tutorial. :) Good luck, and I'm sorry I can't be of more help. Cheers! Mike

Oh one other thing...in tyhe 3D Commune, at the Vue forum there, the moderator, Michael Wagner, definitely has done some cool animations. Maybe you might want to consider asking waht he has to say. I remember he dod one VERY good "fly-through" over a tropical island, and what you describe sounds very similar to that particualr sequence.

Thanks alot for the suggestions cinacchi & Mike. With a little luck(?) this weekend I'll have some free time and will give a go of cinacchis' method - and a few others I've thought of. If I can figure out a relatively easy way to obtain the results I need, I will write that tutorial Mike! I'll let you know how it turns out. Thanks Again!

Megalodon, Vue have a good animation tool, good enought for the most part of puroposes that you can find (even for professional use: I just finished a short animation of planet Heart, with the heart totating in the space, the camera moving around and the surface animated (the client want that on the geographical surface "grow" with a fade the map of a particular country). BUT, there are some problems: sometimes seems that Vue just refuse to do what you (and the manual) say. i.e. now I cannot understand why in another animation Vue refuse to animate the camera!!!! Also, on my experience take care with quicktime format, specially if you use format bigger than 320x240. I cannot understand why (I use many video edting program such Premiere and After Effects, and of course all my video codec installed must be working well) why at 540x480 in .mov format really oft I obtain only jarked lines (as when you try to watch a "pay on demand" movie without the decoder). If you want to use quicktime and have problems, render in .avi and then convert in .mov using a video application. Let us know and good luck!

I just tried this, and its simple. Set your camera up in teh starting position, and then go to the middle tab of the camera settings in object properties box (top right). Click on the bottom button 'pivot position'. Click on the little pip next to the 'X'. This makes the pivot for the camera visible. Now open your timeline and set the slider to the finish time, say 10 seconds. Now simply rotate the camera through 360 degrees. The defayult 'standard' animation will keep the camera looking at the house, no linking is necessary. Job done.

Outstanding zoon! This looks incredibly simple (though I've said that before and lived to regret it! :) Thanks alot - I'll definitely give this one a shot. And thanks for the image too - it definitely helps.

I'm sure you noticed this, but I forgot to say that you need to put the camera pivot in the centre of your house. Also if you want to tilt the camera up or down at all, doo this before animating it, or things get complicated.