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I am fairly new to Blender and have run into a problem I cannot seem to overcome.

I have a camera on a horizontal, semi-circular motion path and it moves nicely around an object. The camera is targeted to an empty inside the object so as the camera moves around the object it continues to point at the empty (and hence the object).

What I wish to do is to rotate the camera slightly to tilt the view as the camera continues to move along the path. The tilt would be on the axis that does not disrupt the camera pointing to the empty.

The problem is that I cannot rotate the camera. All xyz rotation setting changes have no affect on the camera. Rotating the targeted empty is possible, but does not affect the orientation of the camera.

I suspect targeting to the empty has locked the orientation of the camera and I am not sure how to override this - if even possible?

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  • $\begingroup$ I'm assuming you have a track to contstraint on the camera to the empty, which would be why you can't rotate it.. How about using an empty as a dolly, set up as your cam is now and have the camera, or cameras as children of it. Or for that matter just add another camera as a child of the one you have set up already. $\endgroup$
    – batFINGER
    Sep 24, 2015 at 19:39
  • $\begingroup$ Yes that is correct, I have a 'track to' constraint on the camera to the empty. But I thought I might be able to rotate the camera in the direction that does not affect the constraint - but it seems not so. By 'dolly' you mean to use an empty in place of the camera, essentially an empty travelling on a curve with a 'track to' constraint to the stationary empty inside the object. Then child a camera to the travelling empty? $\endgroup$
    – todd
    Sep 24, 2015 at 19:58
  • $\begingroup$ Thanks @batFINGER for the suggestion - but it unfortunately it didn't work. I had highest hopes! What I am really trying to do is match a motion capture camera at a specific point in it's travel, with a different camera moving along a new path. This I can do, but at that specific point, as soon as I target the new moving path camera to an empty with a 'track to' constraint the new camera shifts with an ever so slight rotation in one dimension. Must be due to the orientation of the empty? It's in the exact position the motion capture camera's central ray enters the object. $\endgroup$
    – todd
    Sep 25, 2015 at 2:41

1 Answer 1

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Based on the description of @batFINGER, I was able to perform the steps to allow for camera rotation during the animation.

Setup:

  1. empty for tracking (target)
  2. empty for camera (dolly)
  3. camera
  4. BezierCircle (path)

Constrains:

  1. for the camera empty:

    • follow path "BezierCircle" (don't forget to click "animate path")
    • Track to "empty for tracking" (make sure to set -Z and Y)

  2. for the camera itself

    • constraint: child of "empty for camera"

This should now have the camera tracking the "empty for tracking"

  1. go to camera view and select your camera: it is still possible to rotate the camera

enter image description here

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  • $\begingroup$ Kristof - thanks very much for taking the time to answer my question in detail. Both you and @batFINGER have helped me immensely and I appreciate the time you've both taken. With both your help I have successfully accomplished what I needed. $\endgroup$
    – todd
    Sep 25, 2015 at 19:12

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