Camera moves in the opposite direction I want it to

Question

Camera moves in the opposite direction I want it to

Hey Everyone!

It's been 3 days now and I'm tired of fighting and trying to figure this out. I can't. I'm tired of being frustrated and so here I am to bug all of you nice people. Let's see if I can explain this correctly.

I'm trying to rebuild (for the third time) a project in a tutorial (with minimal direction) using the camera and a picture that has been split to create a 3D effect. The project is a usdz model car (wheels removed in Blender w/Rate behavior and Link Behaviors applied-not in this example though) moving along the road. The instructor used a Move behavior on the camera. I rebuilt it using exactly the same settings as the tutorial project uses. The move behavior settings are exactly the same as the tutorial.

As you can see, the camera moves in the opposite direction. In other words, it looks like my car is driving in reverse rather than driving towards the horizon as the tutorial project does. Why is it doing this????? It's seriously driving me crazy. I want to learn, not just blow through a tutorial because it's there and I can.

Could it have something to do with Anchor Points? (looking at the Properties Inspector) But when I look at the project, I have the exact same settings. I've reversed the settings from negative to positive...nope. I've built and rebuilt this stupid thing and I just can't figure it out. I'm sure (as usual) it’s something you guys will pick up on immediately...

Thank you so much as always. I seriously appreciate all of your time and this extremely helpful forum.

Tutorial Beginning

Tutorial End

Tutorial Move Settings

My Beginning

My End

My Move Settings

Posted on Apr 18, 2024 9:36 PM

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Answer 1

Apr 21, 2024 2:38 AM in response to Creator_needs_help

Hello, again. Thank you for your kind words.

I think I know what the problem is.

Your screenshot of the Move behavior shows only X and Y. By default, Z will be set to zero.

That is what happens in your case:

You need to click the disclosure triangle ►

and also set the Z parameter of the Move behavior to a convenient value (I surmise it may be -6503.38 as per your screenshot showing the end values of the position).

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Answer 2

Apr 19, 2024 12:46 AM in response to Creator_needs_help

I maybe well be misunderstanding the problem, but from a quick read, it all seems to be working as it's supposed to...

You are moving the camera. If you move your camera to the left, the subject appears to move to the right, if you move it up, the subject appears to move down, and if you move the camera back, the subject appears to move away.

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Answer 3

Apr 19, 2024 7:13 PM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Hi Luis!

Yes, it is working...but in the opposite direction I want it to.

Starting with the tutorial screenshots...

If you notice under Position in Z space the beginning number is -3744.0 and at the end of the Move behavior Z space is at -6503.38 So, when you scrub through it looks as if you are moving toward the horizon and eventually you end up seeing the back of a car moving toward the horizon. You can also see the road is completely filling the canvas.

Looking at my screenshot I start in Z space at the same number -3744.0 but when you look at my ending number it is -0- and when you scrub through it looks like I am backing away from the horizon, not going towards it. As you can see in the ending screenshot the whole "scene" has moved away from me and it looks really bad.

I tried reversing out the numbers...that didn't work. I've tried deleting, rebuilding it multiple times and I really just can't figure out what the problem is. That's why I was wondering if it could maybe be the anchor points on the sky and road layers? I can send screenshots of the anchor points of the sky and road if that will help. But I have those all set the same as the tutorials as well...?

I haven't finished building out the rest of it - so the tutorial example has a lot more layers than mine does. But I really can't go further because I can't get the camera to look right.

Did I explain it a little better this time?

Sandee

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Answer 4

Apr 20, 2024 7:38 AM in response to Creator_needs_help

Creator_needs_help wrote:

Hi Luis!

Yes, it is working...but in the opposite direction I want it to.

Starting with the tutorial screenshots...

If you notice under Position in Z space the beginning number is -3744.0 and at the end of the Move behavior Z space is at -6503.38 So, when you scrub through it looks as if you are moving toward the horizon and eventually you end up seeing the back of a car moving toward the horizon. You can also see the road is completely filling the canvas.

Looking at my screenshot I start in Z space at the same number -3744.0 but when you look at my ending number it is -0- and when you scrub through it looks like I am backing away from the horizon, not going towards it. As you can see in the ending screenshot the whole "scene" has moved away from me and it looks really bad.

I am sure you can notice that the last number being 0 instead of -6503.38 makes it so the movement is very different. In fact, your example is moving in the opposite direction from the tutorial - as you are indeed experiencing. That part seems rather obvious.

The car being a USDZ model is a different problem altogether.

Unfortunately, USDZ objects are kind of an afterthought in Motion, and do not really interact with the rest of the project. I am not sure we can fix that part, but at least the part about the camera and the image we can.

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Answer 5

Apr 20, 2024 11:58 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Hi - Yes, that is exactly what I am trying to explain. The question though, is why? Why is it doing this when all of my settings are exactly the same as the tutorial settings? And how can I get it to go forward in direction instead of in reverse? Even if I change the number (at the end of the move behavior) to -6503.38 it doesn't exactly work. Because moving the playhead forward is automatically bringing the number to -0-. Something else is causing the problem. So, that's the part that's driving me crazy!

The car is actually no problem, believe it or not :) I actually got the wheels off and a model of just the car with no wheels in Blender, brought all the pieces into Reality Converter (changing it from a gltf model to a uszd) and then brought all the pieces into Motion creating the whole car. I even applied the rate behavior and link behaviors so the wheels move! I am actually kinda proud of that accomplishment. You don't see it it the example I'm giving, cause like I said I've done multiple trying to make this camera thing work.

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Answer 6

Apr 20, 2024 12:31 PM in response to Creator_needs_help

Kudos on the work on the car! - I have tried Blender a few times but I feel overwhelmed by it.

I see now that you seemed to follow the directions in the tutorial but got different results - my bad for not getting it at first, I should have read more carefully. I will look into it again, but probably only tomorrow - it's dinner time here now.

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Answer 7

Apr 21, 2024 2:36 PM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Hi Luis!

You're a genius and I feel VERY lame right now! lol I cannot believe it was that simple and that I missed it completely! I could figure out Blender (well at least to get wheels off of a car-other than that, yeah WAY over my level of understanding) convert a file into uszd and even get the whole thing into Motion and working.

But dropping down a disclosure triangle? Yeah, guess that was just a little too complicated for me! I'll probably never forget that little lesson again!

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday and thank you, thank you, thank you! You saved someone from seriously driving themselves off the edge of crazy!! Sandee

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Answer 8

Apr 20, 2024 1:24 PM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Have a wonderful dinner and evening!! And thank you (again!) for your time!

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Camera moves in the opposite direction I want it to

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