Smooth & Easy Camera Animation for OR Standalone, ORC v1.21
Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2014 5:54 pm
Version 1.2 Now with Bezier smoothing
Introduction to Ol' Ready Cam (ORC)
Hola, from Middle-earth.
Herein you'll find a camera key frame animation script for Octane Standalone; it also comes with a camera exporter for Blender which has been incorporated in the Blender Community Plugin. Please note however, that the animations can be created directly in Octane Standalone with no need of an exporter. The exporters are nice for the precision of camera placement.
The script incorporates some code and ideas found in other scripts of the forum.
Thanks for this goes to Thomas Loockx, Roeland, gmillas, Jason Grimes, Mark Bassett & Matej Moderc.
Credit for the output file naming goes to linvanchene in dialog with ekoja, kavorka, and ROUBAL which they hashed out at http://render.otoy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&p=190212#p190212
Script Installation
Here are a couple of quick images showing installation of the Lua scripts and Blender addon. See below for a PDF which goes more in-depth with some usages notes.
Using ORC Within Octane
- * Open an existing project, and click on a Render Target node.
* You can add frames by pressing Alt A or selecting Ol Ready Add located in Octane’s Script menu. If Ol Ready Add does not appear in the menu, try selecting Reload Scripts in the Script menu. If still nothing, the scripts were not properly installed.
* The number one rule in adding a key frame is to first select a Render Target node if more than one is present and especially if multiple cameras are being used. ORC will warn you if this condition exists and tell you which one it will use. This however, may not correspond to the current camera view meaning that every frame you add will be for the exact same position from the camera to which ORC defaulted.
* It is best to use the Camera Picker tool to set the camera’s target before adding a frame. You may get unexpected results if you don’t do this. When Octane’s camera is moved around, the position and target change but the target might end up 10 meters in one place and 10,000 in another. You’ll quickly learn when you need not use it and when you need it.
So now the repeated workflow for adding frames is this:
- * Move the camera to the desired position and click with the camera picker if needed.
* Press Alt A to get the dialog box
* Click Add Frame.
The Main Script
After having added the desired number of frames:
- * Press Alt R to run Ol' Ready Cam.
* Sliders and preview buttons in the Key Frame tab will give immediate feedback for the the frames you created with Ol Ready Add. At this point it is best just to explore the tabs and functions. It is suggested that you keep a render target using the Info channel kernel with shading normals available as 1 sample ppx can create a quick clean render for quickly viewing an animation.
Changes for version 1.21
8/14/14
- 1. Fixed a Bezier smoothing problem where gaps were being made at the bounding control points.
2. Slight tweak to solar movement where complete range wasn't showing for fewer than 10 frames.
8/11/14
- 1. Added a global setting called Bezier Smoothing located in the Key Frame tab. This can be adjusted to set the desired smoothness of transitions between key frames.
2. In the Animation tab, the Starting Sequence field has been renamed Starting # and placed within the Frame Range settings just above the Start frame number. Starting # controls the start of the sequence numbers used in the image file names.
Installation Instructions
ORC Version 1.21 August 14, 2014
Edit: updated version for Octane 3.00:
OlReadyCam_3.0.zip
Blender Community Plugin Version 1.52