Change start time of camera following a path?

Question

I made a path and have my camera following the path (Shift + A: Curve->Path) based on a youtube tutorial and this question: Camera angle should follow path angle.

However the camera starts following the path at the very beginning of my animation and instead I want the camera to be stationary for the first part and then start following the path in the middle (time-wise) of my animation. How can I achieve this?

I tried looking in the dope sheet and I see NubsPath and Evaluation Time but I don't really see how to adjust the start time.

Answer 1

When you add a Follow Path constraint to the camera and press the animate path button

the movement of the camera is controlled by the paths's evaluation time, which in turn is controlled by a generator modifier. If you select the path and open the Graph editor window you'll see a constant line that determines the movement of the path.

To alter the evalutaion time press N and look for the Modifers tab. You can change the in and out points of your path using the Restrict frame Range options. In this example the camera will start moving at frame 20 and stop at frame 100. You might need to modify also the y= value and the In value to get a curve like this:

A different way to control the movement on a path is to add the follow path constraint but not actiavting the "animate path" option.

Then on the curve you can create key frames for the evaluation time. Go to the frame where you want the movement to start type 0 as the value for evaluation time and I to create a key frame. Then move to the frame where you want the movement to end and type 100 and add a keyframe. This time you'll see the keyframes on the curve and dopesheet windows.

Answer 2

Instead of hitting the Animate Path button, you can also set up keyframes on the Offset.

Select your camera, and go into the constraint options. Zero is the curve starting point, so go to the frame you want to start the animation at and click the keyframe button (or RMB or I depending on what version of Blender you are using).

Then, depending on the length and direction of your curve, you can set the end keyframe. This may be a negative or positive value depending on how the curve is set.