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I have imported a 3D curve into Blender. It was obj and is now NURBS. All the curve points' tilt values are set to 0. I have created a camera with an empty parent object. Then, attached a follow-path constraint to the empty object. The empty object is attached to the curve and is moving along the curve, however, it does weird turns in random directions along the way making it impossible for the camera to have a proper view of the model. So tweaking the follow-path parameters won't do the trick. I know I can manually set tilt values for the curve points but it will take ages. I was wondering if there's a systematic fix so I could have a neat follow-up along the curve.

Update: I decided to remove the images and upload a link to the file. The file contains:

  1. The curve
  2. Suzanne (with an Array + Curve modifier) which clearly shows the weird behaviour.
  3. A camera (Alt+R and Alt+G-ed!)
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  • $\begingroup$ Changing the follow-up parameters won't fix the overall issue. Cheers $\endgroup$
    – Manny
    Commented Mar 26, 2021 at 4:39
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    $\begingroup$ Just turn off "follow curve" in the constraint and it will no longer follow the curve's tilt. If you want it to track a particular point, give it an additional constraint to do so (track to, damped track, locked track, whatever you want.) $\endgroup$
    – Nathan
    Commented Mar 26, 2021 at 5:36
  • $\begingroup$ I have the same issue applying an Array modifier. Still think there's sth wrong with the curve. @Nathan $\endgroup$
    – Manny
    Commented Mar 30, 2021 at 2:43

2 Answers 2

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The trick is to select the curve then in Object data properties change the Twist Method from Minimal to Z-Up (screenshot). Thanks to Christopher Bennet for posting the response here.

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Path-following Camera -

Use a cube, either visible or invisible as the path object.

Add a line between two diagonally opposed corner vertices and subdivide that.

Set the cube's Origin point to that. (with SH-S) (Shouldn't be necessary, but... )

Parent the camera to that vertice ONLY. Select the cube, then the camera, go into Edit mode and select the center vertice.

Press CTL-P --> 'Single Vertice' .

That will stop the cube's tilts & rotation antics from affecting the camera.

The cam can also be turned and animated at will, or focus on some object or other using the 'Track-to' constraint.

enter image description here

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  • $\begingroup$ Thanks for all the detail. As you mentioned, the centre of the cube is the origin by default. So no need to do that. But I also have issues trying to add an Array modifier to the curve. I am gonna update the post and add a link to the file I have. Just to make sure we are on the same page you know. $\endgroup$
    – Manny
    Commented Mar 30, 2021 at 2:48
  • $\begingroup$ I'm on Vers 2.77 here and can't see your file so I'll hand you over to someone else. Good luck with the curve problem... $\endgroup$
    – Edgel3D
    Commented Mar 31, 2021 at 4:49

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