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Scene cameras

Last updated on May 24, 2023

Character Animator User Guide
Introduction
Creating and controlling puppets
Rigging
Behaviors
1. Add tags and behaviors
2. Behaviors in Character Animator
3. Learn more about Behaviors
Recording and playback
Export projects

With scene camera, you can adjust the position, zoom in and out, rotate the scene encompassing the puppets and the background, and create new shots which can then be easily triggered.

Watch this video to see how shots created using scene cameras are being triggered during recording.

Add camera track

To add a camera track, select Scene > New Scene Camera.

This creates a new track on the Timeline.

If you are working with multiple cameras, only the topmost camera at the current time indicator (playhead) is used. Scene cameras can be used in nested scenes. If you have a nested scene, the camera transforms the content within it. You can use Cameras to transform the content from one nested scene into another scene.

Note:

Irrespective of the position of the camera track, it is applicable to all the layers and not just the layer just below the track.

Create a new shot

To create a new shot, follow the steps:

In the Properties panel, use the Camera Transform behavior parameters to adjust the position, zoom, and rotation.

Adjust Camera Transform behavior parameters

Note:

To adjust the parameters using mouse or the scroll wheel, enable the Mouse & Touch Input radio button.
To generate a shot, click Create Triggerable Shot. Creating a new shot will automatically create a Replay and a Trigger in a Triggerable Shots swap set in the Triggers panel.

A new triggerable swap set is created for the shots
In the Triggers panel, assign a key to the trigger and rename it. The trigger is latched by default. Latching ensures that the trigger is active until the same keyboard or MIDI key is pressed again.

Note:

If you want to control a camera (switch to an existing shot) and have a character respond to you talking, both the puppet and camera track need to be selected (armed).
You can assign a shot as default by selecting it and enabling the Default checkbox. Every time you turn off a trigger, the scene returns to the default shot. If no shot is set as default, upon turning off a trigger, the scene returns to the current parameter setting.
You can now trigger the shot while recording a take using the assigned key.
You can move, trim, or rerecord a take by adjusting the parameters under the Camera Transform option in the Camera track.

Camera Transform
To fade in and fade out the recorded camera take, select the clip and adjust the blend handle using your mouse to blend in and out.

Fade in and fade out a take