3D Camera Animation: 3D Camera Types

In 3D applications, you’ll encounter two or three different types of cameras. As an example, in 3D Studio Max, there are two types of cameras, Target and Free. A Target camera views the area around and object. The Target camera is represented by an icon of a camera and the target as in this image. Both can be animated. If you’re not moving the camera on a path, the Target camera is your preferred choice.
With a Free camera, the view is the area where the camera is aimed. In this case, the icon is only of the camera and its Field of View. The Free camera works well when the camera position is animated along a path. An example of usages include: banking or tilting, such as architectural walkthroughs or roller coaster rides. In general, it’s best to use a Free camera when the camera is to move within the scene and to use a target camera when the camera position is fixed.

3D in Depth: Cameras

MEGA DESTRUCTION

Building the city and blowing it up were both major challenges. Denis explained how they tackled the issue of level of detail up front. "We were thinking about creating hero models for certain buildings. We did in some cases, but for the most part it worked so we used the procedural CG buildings for most of the shots, even the very close up buildings.

" The herculean city was built procedurally, taking nine to twelve months to complete. And it still needed to be populated. "We wanted to make sure the city was alive with crowds, and we used Massive to simulate the traffic throughout the city." They also used Maya, Houdini, the Blast Code plug-in, Nuke for compositing, and DWA's proprietary software.