Simple Camera Rotation Setup

Author: NathanB

Tools Needed

* DAZ Studio

This is useful when rotating your figure is not an option; such as when you have a background in your scene.

It is a good idea to have your scene set up, and the figure or figures you wish to have the camera rotate around already in position before you begin. For this example v4 was used.

The first thing needed is a point to rotate around. It is best not to use a part of the figure. Creating a rotation point can be accomplished by the use of a Null.

Nulls can be generated in Studio using the “New Null” button in the button bar, the option in the “Create Menu”, or DAZ Studio can generate one during the creation of a new camera.

This tutorial will use the “New Camera” option to create the rotation point.

Click the “New Camera” button, found in DAZ Studio's button bar. An alternate link can be found in the “Create” Menu.

This dialog should appear.

Title the new camera whatever you wish. The title “Rotating Camera” was used in this example. Make sure to check the option called “Create a Persistent Point At Target (Null)”

After creating the new camera notice that it has its Parameter setting to “Point At” the new Null created. as shown here.

If you opted to create a null separately, you will need to change the camera's Parameter to “Point At” your null manually.

The new camera and Null will appear in the Scene Tab. Find the camera, click on it, and drag it over the name of the Null. This will parent the camera to the Null. The reason for doing this is to have the camera tied to the Null's movement.

The icon for the camera will position itself below the Null as shown here.

This positioning denotes that it has been parented and will now move in conjunction with the Null.

Now adjust the position of the Null using the Translate widget, or move it using the Parameter Tab. The new camera should move with it. Once the Null is approximately where you think it should be, change your view to look through the new camera.

Use the camera controls to move the camera into the desired position and adjust the null if needed to produce the desired position.

Open the Timeline Tab. For this example 30 frames were used at 30 FPS. This creates a very fast animation. The FPS and the number of frames will determine how fast, and how many times the camera will rotate in your scene.

The Y rotation on the null was set at zero in the first frame.

A keyframe was added at frame 30 where the rotation was intended to end and the rotation on the null's Y axis was changed to 359.

Use the preview in the timeline to see how fast the rotation is set at. If the animation was intended to rotate the camera multiple times, make sure to add a keyframe for each time the Y rotation is changed on the null.