Pointing & Locking Cameras

As with any other object in your scene, you can use the Hierarchy Editor (see The Hierarchy Editor) to keep cameras pointed at certain other objects.

Pointing Cameras at Scene Objects

To point your camera at another scene object:

1. Select your desired camera using the Current Actor pop-up.
2. Select Object > Point At to open the Choose Actor dialog.
3. Choose your desired scene object in the list of actors (the camera can point at anything) and click OK.

The camera will point at the selected object and a Point At parameter dial will appear in the Parameters palette for that camera. Setting this parameter to 1 locks the camera on target, and 0 completely disables pointing. Intermediate values cause the camera to lag behind the object it’s pointing at. This parameter allows you to create interesting effects when creating animations.

Disabling Camera Pointing

To disable camera pointing:

1. Select your desired camera using the Current Actor pop-up.
2. Select Object > Point At to open the Choose Actor dialog.
3. Choose None in the list of actors (the camera can point at anything) and click OK.

Locking Cameras

Once you have positioned a camera to your liking, you can lock it to prevent it from being moved. To lock a camera, select it as described above, then select Object > Lock Object. Selecting this option again toggles locking off.

Memorizing and Restoring Cameras

You can use the Edit > Memorize > Camera command to memorize the settings of the current camera. If you later want to return to that camera, choose the Edit > Restore > Camera command to restore the settings back to the camera that you memorized.