This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Camera Workflow
You are an expert at creating amazing visualization animations with sweeping, smooth camera animations highlighting each aspect of the project. You have spent years honing your craft and have developed tools and techniques that set you apart from the competition.
UE4 offers an amazing cinematics and animation system with Sequencer, but learning an entirely new system can be daunting and unnecessary. UE4 offers a robust suite of tools to import and export cameras to and from your application and the Editor, allowing you to iterate easily using familiar tools.
Simply select your Camera object in your 3D application and export it as an FBX. You might need to bake out the animation if your camera is attached to a spline or uses any other non-standard transforms (being attached to other objects, using Look-at controllers or modifiers, or being part of a rig, for example).
In UE4, create a new Level sequence by clicking the Cinematic button of the Editor toolbar and selecting Add Level Sequence and select a location to save the Sequence asset (see Figure 3.8).
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Figure 3.8 Adding a new Level sequence
After the new sequence opens in Sequencer, right-click the dynamically spawned Camera Actor in the Sequencer window and select Import.
Your animation is brought in and applied to the camera. I have experienced some inconsistencies with camera types other than the application defaults such as rotated pivot points or incorrect positioning. You might have to rework your cameras or convert them to standard types to fully utilize this feature.
You can also export the camera’s animation from Sequencer back to an FBX file and import into your 3D application or even a post-editing suite like Nuke to complete a shot rendered in UE4.