Camera Control - 3D Window Properties

Use to define properties for a particular camera path in a specific 3D graphics window.

3D Window Properties

3D Window. Select a window from the list of available 3D Graphics windows.

Active Camera Path. Select a camera path from the list of available camera paths.

Modes

Normal Mouse Mode. The Camera Control editing modes are disabled.

Follow path while animating. Uses the current camera path while animating. Provides the same function as the button on the Camera Control toolbar.

Edit Keyframes in 3D. If enabled, select one or more of the following editing modes.

You can have all three edit modes enabled at the same time.

Fixed edit mode. Enables you to move the selected keyframe or control point only. Provides the same function as the button on the Camera Control toolbar.

Free edit mode. Enables you to move any of the keyframes or control points displayed in the 3D window. This mode also enables you to produce a sharper or softer curve by increasing or decreasing the tension of the curve at a particular keyframe. To change the tension at a keyframe, click an adjacent control point while holding the Shift key and drag it towards the keyframe to make the curve sharper or drag it away from the keyframe to make the curve softer. Provides the same function as the button on the Camera Control toolbar.

Orientation vector editing. Enables editing of the orientation vectors of any keyframe displayed in the 3D window. By clicking a particular vector and dragging the mouse left or right, you can modify the orientation of the keyframe. Orientation vector rendering must be enabled on the Render Properties page to display the orientation vectors in the 3D window. In the following figure, the view vector is red and the up vector is blue.

General Edit Properties

Auto-update look vector. When editing a keyframe the view vector remains pointing at the To Object.

Soft view transitions. Creates a smooth transition:

  • When setting a 3D Window to follow a view path using the toolbar button.
  • When enabling/disabling fixed editing using the button, or when changing the selected keyframe or control point while in fixed edit mode.
  • When setting the selected keyframe's view as the current view in the 3D Window by clicking .

Optimize While Editing. Automatically optimizes the path while dragging a keyframe in the 3D Graphics window. Whenever a keyframe is edited with Optimize While Editing enabled, the entire path is recomputed, and all control points are moved to their optimal locations. If you want to do custom editing on the control points, you may want to disable this option. Disabling this option may also improve performance when editing camera paths with many keyframes. This option provides the smoothest camera path.