Camera Tools Addon (for Motion Graphics, ...)

Hi,

two weeks ago I started programming my first Blender addon. I wanted to create an addon which can do similiar things like “Sure Target” from VideoCopilot for After Effects.

Today I made my second video to document the progress.

Here is a link to the newest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gD5Qjd_9tdE
[EDIT]new link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FU4HsrIqPcM [/EDIT]

You can download the Addon here: https://github.com/JacquesLucke/Blender-Camera-Addon/releases/tag/v1.3.0

Here is a documentation: http://www.blenderdiplom.com/en/downloads/569-addon-sniper-camera-automation.html

I would love to have some comments on this from you. :slight_smile:

thanks
Jacques Lucke

Hi Jacques,
Very good add-on indeed! Congrats and thanks you so much for share it.

Thank you a lot :slight_smile:

If you have an idea how I can improve the addon feel free to write them.

Yesterday I implemented an wiggle strength slider that already works well. The next video update will follow in a few days.

Great work!

It’s a great addon!! Thanks for sharing and of course, for doing it!:wink:

hey, thanks for doing something with the addon and linking to it :smiley:

If someone has an idea for a better name for the addon, tell me :slight_smile: ‘Camera Tools’ is not very creative ^^

very nice.

cheers!

Danke!
Weiter so!

Here is the next update Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FU4HsrIqPcM

new features: camera wiggle, don’t move immediately to the next target, seperate lines in text object

Great that the script automatically insert the appropriate object as “Focus”:slight_smile:
Thank you very much @Jacques_Lucke

I’m really happy that so many like the addon.
The next step is that the user has a bit more control over the Animation curve. At the moment every camera movement starts and ends slowly but sometimes you may want a different Motion.

Hey, I’m back again. I think my sure target emulation is ready.
The Video I uploaded today shows a bit more complex Features to give you much more control over your Animation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxjeJFf4L58&feature=youtu.be

I’m searching for someone who wants to make a tutorial for this addon, because most People would be better than me in this :smiley: and my english is not the best.
If it is possible I would like to upload your tutorial to my channel, but you can upload it to your channel too, of course. Please contact me if you are interested and I will answer your questions about the addon if there are some.

I also plan to make a text documentation, but this can take a while.

Ah ha, found you again. I’m sure I saw an older version of this addon but couldn’t remember where. Thanks so much it’s a real time saver.

Can you edit the keyframes you are making? At least in Dope sheet, as I find dragging dots can be easier to make relative duration changes than typing a number.

Why isn’t the recalculate button an auto feature? As it has to be done every time anyway, what is the purpose of not recalculating?

not sure if you really saw my Version. I published the first Version just one week ago.

Can you edit the keyframes you are making? At least in Dope sheet, as I find dragging dots can be easier to make relative duration changes than typing a number.

I agree this would be easier. In fact, I already had this functionality a few days ago but I dropped it because it was not compatible the Inertia implementation. The Problem is that I cannot set Drivers on keyframe positions :smiley:
Another practical solution I’m currently thinking of is that there is an extra object on which you can manipulate keyframes and then press a button and auto-generate the values for each target from this.

Why isn’t the recalculate button an auto feature? As it has to be done every time anyway, what is the purpose of not recalculating?

There is no purpose of not recalculating.
The reason is the following (copied this from http://cgcookiemarkets.com/blender/all-products/gaffer-light-manager/?view=docs):

The reason this is not done automatically is because it would slow down your scene quite a bit. I am looking for better ways to handle this in the future, so stay tuned.

It already auto-recalculates everytime you everytime you add/remove a target or Change their order.

If you are more interested in how the Animation is actually generated you can unhide all the objects in the outliner and look into the constraints Panel and/or graph Editor.

Thank you for sharing! That is a great add-on!

Very good!
Thank you for sharing.

Here is my work of today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAonxDsnxgo
github: https://github.com/JacquesLucke/Blender-Camera-Addon/releases/tag/v1.1.0

new Features: it is much easier to make the Timing right… you can use the Dope Sheet for this now

Very cool addon, Jacques ! Congratulations ! It’s super useful and your code is : woow !

Excellent job…

Yes drivers can be a pain. I hope the reworked depsgraph helps make drivers more flexible.