Book Image

Blender 3D Basics Beginner's Guide Second Edition

By : Gordon Fisher
Book Image

Blender 3D Basics Beginner's Guide Second Edition

By: Gordon Fisher

Overview of this book

This book teaches you how to model a nautical scene, complete with boats and water, and then add materials, lighting, and animation. It demystifies the Blender interface and explains what each tool does so that you will be left with a thorough understanding of 3D. This book starts with an introduction to Blender and some background on the principles of animation, how they are applied to computer animation, and how these principles make animation better. Furthermore, the book helps you advance through various aspects of animation design such as modeling, lighting, camera work, and animation through the Blender interface with the help of several simple projects. Each project will help you practice what you have learned and do more advanced work in all areas.
Table of Contents (20 chapters)
Blender 3D Basics Beginner's Guide Second Edition
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
3
Controlling the Lamp, the Camera, and Animating Objects
Index

Time for action – tracking the boat


It's pretty natural that if you are watching a boat go by, you turn your head to follow it. The camera is no different. The Track to Constraint command lets you do just that. The following steps will help you to track the boat:

  1. Select the camera with the RMB.

  2. Press the Shift key and the RMB to select the boat.

  3. Press Ctrl + T to get the tracking menu. Select Track to Constraint.

  4. Press the NumPad 0 key to get the camera's view.

  5. Press Alt + A to preview the animation. Press Esc when you are done watching it.

  6. Save the file with a unique name.

What just happened?

Tracking is very similar to parenting. Select the camera and then select what you want to track. Press Ctrl + T and select Track to Constraint, and the camera will follow the object you want to track.

Note

For your reference, the 4909_06_boat_animated3.blend file has the camera tracking the boat.

Have a go hero – tracking with a light

If you've seen an ice skater, you've probably seen them tracked by a spotlight...