Camera follows path, but is not looking the direction I want

Question

I think the easiest way to explain is the next two pictures.

Cant seem to add two pictures with the add picture option.? If a moderator knows how to fix that ?

Edit:

The problem I am having, it's not working.

Can it be that another animation is messing things up?

I am using follow path, but were the bezier curve I am using, is going to the right the camera just moves straight on. Unless I also add a clamp to track constrain.

Here is a vid of also the weird stuff happening.

Maybe I need to upload the file so people can have a look ?

The music track made by me. I am trying to make a vid for it.

Next is a link to another video, that shows the other animation, which is working fine. But I do wonder if this one is messing the other animation up (the camera moving). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbJrFz2nKls&feature=youtu.be

I have set a start frame (1) and an end frame of (6650), which matches the end of the music track.

Edit 2. I just did a test and deleted the bezier curve. The animation of the camera movement keeps working. (although only in a straight line off course ) For me this is proof that the second animation I have is causing this problem. (or the way I have set it up) The first animation is the red lights reacting to my music track. From frame 1 to frame 6650. This length matches the duration of the music track. I also notice that although the camera movement is working I don't see any keyframes markers in the window below the scene.

After adding an empty, see what is happening, the exact same problem I have with the camera. Follow path and follow curve get ignored, and I don't understand why.

Answer 1

If you use a Follow Path constraint, you can simply enable the Follow Curve option, and the camera orientation should follow the curve. In that case deactivate the Clamp To constraint. If you don't want to use a Follow Path, just keyframe the camera rotation.

Answer 2

I've had success by making the camera track an "empty" object. You could have the empty follow the curve directly in front of the camera, and link the camera to it.

Here's a video describing this technique

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ageV_llb0Hk

Answer 3

Make a rig

Speculative answer re the "chicanery" illustrated in question. If you are going to be driving along the path may pay to set up a rig to both move along path and "look where you're driving"

Recalling the techiniques uses in the (now dated but) classic car rigs of ROUBAL. Rather than look in the direction of the tangent of the curve (follow path) when driving our eyes, even our steering reacts to looking around the curve.

By threading a mesh onto a curve using a curve modifier, can move it along the length of the curve via one of its local dimensions, ie the one assigned to follow curve in modifier. In image above Y is used. A simple driver based on frame makes it constantly lap the closed curve. .

This is explained in more detail here. https://blender.stackexchange.com/a/133032/15543

Using much the same as in trains example, make a simple "rig mesh" to which camera is constrained to location of one end and tracks to other.

Camera constrained to "rig mesh" vertex group "root" a single vert at the origin of the mesh, and tracking to a vertex group "Tip" a single vert at other end.

As displayed in gif above, scaling the "rig mesh" focuses further / closer down curve.