Path creator settings
You can project a ScoobyPath object or a regular Spline onto an object. Think of a uneven terrain or a staircase as an example of where you want to do this. However sometimes the projection didn't come out as well as I had hoped for. Perhaps I need to play some more? When you have a Landscape object for example you setup a Spline path, move the path above the surface in the Y direction. After that go to the attributes manager of the ScoobyPath object and open the settings tab, drop the landscape object into the Collision Geometry field, enable the spline projection, enable Spline Resampling and raise the samples to your need. Now you can move the ScoobyPath object downward on the Y axis and it will be projected on the Landscape object.
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Path creator settings |
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Spline above terrain |
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Spline projected on to terrain |
The collision geometry does not have to be a static one. You can animate a deformation of your Collision geometry and the SplinePath will follow the deformation accordingly. This is very useful for a ship on a rough ocean for example. The SplinePath will follow the up and down motion of the waves and so will your ScoobyCam as well.
For more realistic camera motions you probably want to use a target object. This can be any object in your scene but I think a null object is the best choice for a target object. You can animate this null object as you wish and link this null object to the ScoobyCam. The ScoobyCam will follow the Spline Path (if set) and focus on the target object. You can set up 4 target objects and blend between these. And you can set a blend curve as well with a spline option. With these targets you can swing your camera very freely through your scene.
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Target object |
Now that we have set all this up, we have a very nice animation, but it looks a bit static as well. That's where dynamics can help.
A normal human will need some time to focus their eyes on an object. When we swing the camera from target 1 to target 2 it will take some time to focus on the target. In other words, when a cameraman moves his camera from one target to another target it will have some inertia to the movement and a delayed reaction (Unless you are a robot). This effect can be created very easily with the target Dynamics option. Just open the Dynamics tab in the attributes manager of the ScoobyCam Tag and enable Dynamics. Give it a 90% dampening. This will cause the camera to stay a little bit behind the target and try to follow up. There are more settings here to set as well, like the Up vector/Rail spline Dynamics and the Position Dynamics. You can choose, should you want to, either simple Dynamics or Spring Dynamics.
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Dynamics |
When you render an animation with Depth of Field you will want to give the ScoobyCam Expression control over the Depth of field attributes. To do so you need to activate this option on the Focus Tab of the ScoobyCam Attributes. You can turn on the auto focus as well. This option will keep the selected target object in focus all of the time. You can also use a gradient in the Depth of field with the Sharpness Min Range and Sharpness Max Range options. There is also an option to defocus. With this you can set how often a defocus will occur. With the speed and how much it may defocus. To fine tune this there is a Spline curve option.
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Focus |
To make things easier to see in the viewport you can set a whole range of colors and shapes (spheres) to be the various kind of objects used by ScoobyCamTools. You can set a color for the camera, target objects, spline path etc. You can give objects (like the target objects and path null objects) a spherical appearance and you can change the radius. These options just help to make working ScoobyCamTools all that much easier.
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The looks |
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Focus |
Once you have made a nice animation with ScoobyCamTools you may want to share the scene file with a friend or a colleague so that they can complete their part of the project or you need to export the animation to another 3D package. No problem if they have the Plugin but what if they don't have the plugin? No problem as there is a baking option. Just go to the Recorder tab, drop your Scooby camera into the camera field, enable "Enable recording" and play back the animation. Now your camera motion is saved as keyframes and you can delete all the ScoobyCam objects and tags and send it over to your colleague who does not have the Plugin.
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Recording / baking |
Good news for those who have the VrayForC4D renderer. ScoobyCamTools will work with VrayForC4D. At the ScoobyCamTools site you can find a very nice animation made with ScoobyCamTools and VrayforC4D.
No C4D Cafe review would be complete without a few videos so here are 2 videos supplied by the plugin developer giving you an idea of the results that can be achieved.
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| Click here to play the video (QT 3.2mb) | Click here to play the video (QT 1.5mb) |
For me it is not hard to come to a conclusion about ScoobyCamTools. I can recommend this plugin to anybody who wants to make an animation which looks like it has been recorded with a hand held camera. The plugin is very easy to use and has a very low learning curve. The manual is outstanding and covers every aspect of the plugin. There is even a kind of a bonus chapter written by Felix Roth that will explain how to use ScoobyCamTools with AfterEffects. At the end of the manual you can find a Q & A as well.
It would be nice to see some tutorials for this plugin. I believe that there are some work flow tutorials in progress. I have to say that there are more options than I have shown here in the review but as I mentioned earlier, the plugin has so many options that it's not possible to cover everything in a short review. But I hope the review will give you an idea what the plugin is capable of.
Thanks to Frank Willeke for this great plugin and for providing some sample scene's during this review. Frank's website is here
Peace,
Rich_Art.
Review by C4D Cafe © 2008