Hello everyone, it's Jen from Olde Tinkerer Studio
In this tutorial, we will be learning how to animate cameras for basic animation in Blender 2.83
So, let’s get on with the tutorial
I would recommend watching three of my previous tutorials to get a better handle on how cameras
are used in animation if you are new (or relatively new) to working with cameras
Cameras and Rendering will show you the basics of how cameras and rendering work in Blender
Camera Angles and Positions show you the basics of the various camera angles and positions used in animation
Aperture and Focal Length shows you the basics of the aperture and focal length of cameras used in animation
I have included a link to the Vincent rig in the description
Let’s now add a few cubes around the scene
Give each cube a different material to make it easier to see the effects
Select the cubes and move them to the Render Objects – using the hotkey “M” and choose “Render Object”
Change to Rendered View
You can easily animate the aperture and focal length of the camera within Blender
Select the camera in the Outliner and open the Camera panel
The default Focal Length of 53 mm is a Normal (or Standard) lens
If we hover over the Focal Length slider and click on the “I” key while on Frame 1 we can add a keyframe
If we move to frame 20 and change the Focal Length to 35 mm for a wide-angle lens, we can now add a second keyframe
On frame 40, we can change to a Long-focus Lens of 150 mm and add another keyframe
On frame 60, we can change back to the default Focal Length of 53 mm and add another keyframe
If we now play the animation, we see that the camera is animating through the various Focal Lengths
The default F-Stop (under the Depth of Field section) is 2.0
which means things in the background will be blurry and have some distortion
If we hover over the Aperture slider and click on the “I” key while on Frame 1 we can add a keyframe
If we move to frame 20 and change the F-stop to 1, we can now add a second keyframe
On frame 40, we can change to a F-stop to 0.1 and add another keyframe
On frame 60, we can change back to the default F-stop of 2 and add another keyframe
If we now play the animation, we see that the camera is animating through the various F-stops
Let’s now learn how to animate orbiting around an object
We need to first clear the rotation and the location of the camera
This can easily be done by selecting the camera and using ALT +R to clear the rotation
and ALT + G to clear the location
Rotate the camera around the X-Axis 90 degrees
Move the camera out along the Y-Axis so we can see it
Access the view panel (N) and check “Lock Camera to View”
Now we need to add an Empty to use as our controller for the animation
Scale the Empty so it can be easily seen
Select the camera and SHIFT-Select the Empty
Use CTRL + P to bring up the Parent menu and select “Object”
Now, when you go into camera view and rotate the Empty (RR) you see that the camera moves along with the Empty
Under the Animation workspace, select the Empty and add a keyframe on frame 1
Move to frame 20 and move the Empty then add a keyframe
Repeat this process for frames 40 and 60
Play the animation
Let’s now learn how to animate along a path
The first thing we need is a path
So, let’s add a Bezier Circle and scale it up [6]
We also need to clear the rotation and the location of the camera
This can easily be done by selecting the camera and using ALT +R to clear the rotation
and ALT + G to clear the location
Now we need to add an Empty to use as our controller for the animation
Scale the Empty so it can be easily seen
Select the camera and SHIFT-Select the Empty
Use CTRL + P to bring up the Parent menu and select “Object Keep Transform”
– this means we can move the Empty and the camera at the same time
Select the Bezier Circle and tab into Edit Mode
Select one of the points along the Bezier Circle
Use SHIFT + S to access the Snap menu and choose Cursor to Selected to snap the 3D cursor to the Bezier Circle
Tab back into Object Mode
Select the Empty
Use SHIFT + S to access the Snap menu and choose Selection to Cursor to move the Empty to the Bezier Circle
Select the camera and rotate it so it is facing the object
Select the Empty and SHIFT-Select the Bezier Circle
Use CTL + P to access the Parent Menu and select “Follow Path”
Under the Animation workspace, add a keyframe on frame 1
Move to the end frame (where the Empty returns to the starting point) and add a keyframe [100]
Play the animation
Let’s now learn how to switch between multiple cameras during our animation
The Vincent rig file only has one camera
Let’s add two additional cameras and place them around the scene
Select the two additional cameras and move them to the Render Objects
– using the hotkey “M” and choose “Render Object”
If we open the Scene Properties tab, we notice that “Camera” (the default camera) is the active camera
If we use the dropdown menu, we can change which camera is the default camera
We will use Markers to handle the actual animation
On Frame 1, choose a camera and add a Marker (M)
CTRL + B will bind that camera to the marker
Move to frame 20 and select another camera
Add a Marker and bind the second camera to the second marker
Move to frame 40 and select another camera
Add a Marker and bind the third camera to the third marker
Change the end frame to 60 and play the animation
If you have a request for a tutorial or a question about Blender, feel free to leave a comment
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Thanks for watching
Have a good day