Static Camera Position?

soapstar · 17 Mar 2011, 11:12

Hey everyone!

Is it possible in Sketchup to position a camera in a static position? Basically i have a boat that i can control using keys and i want to be able to have a first person view with the camera static in the boat pointing forward.

By having two cubes each separately fixed to the boat group using the Sketchy Physics 'Static' joint. One positioned at the back of the boat called 'follow' and the other and the front of the boat called 'track'. I have been able to position the camera by setting its parameters in the 'Scene Manager' by typing in the 'description' dialog: 'Camera track track. Camera follow follow'. I then position my camera right beside the 'follow' cube. However when i run Physics and move the boat the camera slightly moves in the opposite direction to the boat?!

Is there anyway to have to camera in a fixed position in relation to another object?

Thanks for any help

wyatt · 17 Mar 2011, 19:54

I'm new to SP so I probably can't explain much about why this works, but you might try the script in this model:
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=c6b08284201f14bb423e37f4d1e691e8
I was able to modify it to achieve the result you describe for a very similar animation I'm working on.
Wyatt

soapstar · 18 Mar 2011, 09:53

@unknownuser said:

I'm new to SP so I probably can't explain much about why this works, but you might try the script in this model:
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=c6b08284201f14bb423e37f4d1e691e8
I was able to modify it to achieve the result you describe for a very similar animation I'm working on.
Wyatt

Hey Wyatt!

Thanks for the help. Yes i have previously found this but couldn't work out how i could apply this to what i need. May i ask how you modified this to work? How did you manage to constrain the camera to the object that is moving instead of having 'set' position values for the camera? I really need the camera to move with the boat!

Thanks very much for your help!

Mr.K.1 · 18 Mar 2011, 15:31

Well I made you a more suitable example, script is in the yellow box.

It can be done without an extra box but this way it's very easy to move it around.

camera.skp

soapstar · 18 Mar 2011, 16:23

@unknownuser said:

Well I made you a more suitable example, script is in the yellow box.

It can be done without an extra box but this way it's very easy to move it around.

Thanks so much! Appreciate your time and help

This forum is great stuff, full of helpful people Better than others ive been on!

wyatt · 18 Mar 2011, 16:55

Soapstar, I'm sure Mr. K's script is better than the mods I made. Hopefully that works for you.