9.5.2

314 • CHAPTER 7
OBJECTS MENU • CAMERAS • 315
 There are two further, optional, planes that run parallel to the focal length plane
— one in front and one at the back. These two planes (or just one of them) are
available only if you select a depth of eld (Front Blur, Rear Blur). At the center of
each plane you’ll see another orange handle. Use this handle to shift the depth
of eld plane interactively along the camera’s Z-axis. Again, you can see these
realtime adjustments in the viewport.
 You may also adjust the focal range i.e. the area that is shown in focus.
Keep in mind that it is always the active camera that is used for rendering.
To switch cameras during animation, use a Stage object.
Animating camera movements
In this section, you’ll nd a few tips on how to go about animating camera movements in
CINEMA 4D.
First, as a general rule, avoid using a single camera path for your entire movie. A single camera path
tends to bore the viewer!
CINEMA 4D gives you two main ways to animate cameras. For both ways, you must rst link the
camera to the viewport — in the perspective view, choose the camera’s name from the Cameras >
Scene Cameras submenu.
1. The simplest method is to record keyframes for the camera’s position and
rotation. This is achieved by moving and rotating the camera and recording
keys at different times of the animation. Once the keys have been recorded,
you can ne-tine the camera movements using the F-Curves for the sequences.
Occasionally, this method can become tedious because you may need to edit
multiple sequences (for the X, Y and Z components).
2. A more rened method is to use a spline that acts as a path along which
the camera is moved. To make the camera follow the spline, assign an Align
To Spine tag to the camera, then drag and drop the spline into the tag’s Spine
Path box. Next, animate the tag’s Position parameter.
 A exible variant of the second method involves the use of two splines and
a target camera that points at a null object. One spline is used for the camera
path, and the other spline acts as a path that the null moves along (two Align
To Spline tags will be needed this time, one for the camera and the other for
the null). Naturally, the null must keep still at the times when the camera should
look at the same position over a period of time.