Free YouTube Transcribe

Video transcript

Unreal Engine 5 Beginner Tutorial Part 16 : Cameras, Rig Rail, and Crane

Bad Decisions Studio · 5,184 words · 24 min read

Want to search this transcript, jump the video from any line, or download it as TXT, SRT, or VTT?

Open in the transcript tool

Full transcript

0:00by the end of this video you'll know

0:02everything you need about cameras in

0:04Unreal Engine 5 and then you'll also be

0:06able to learn how to move your cameras

0:08around how to track your cameras to an

0:11object and have a shot like this like

0:13check this out wait boom look at that

0:16look at how sweet this is you'll be able

0:18to do this right after this video so

0:20let's get to it what is up beautiful

0:22people we are here at chapter 16 and

0:25we're going to talk about

0:27cameras yes this is one of the most

0:30important chapters of our tutorial

0:31series because we are going to cover

0:33exactly what camera settings we are

0:35going to use we are going to talk about

0:37cranes rig rails F why do you like

0:39cameras so much well because this is the

0:41first part of this tutorial Series where

0:43you technically can bring in all of your

0:46skills from The Real World into 3D you

0:49do not need to know anything extra about

0:51these settings if you already know your

0:53way around cameras in real life and come

0:55on it's 2024 you use iPhones you know

0:58what aperture is right or FOC length no

1:00I don't you don't okay well I guess

1:02we're going to go through it all

1:03together well one more thing I'd like to

1:05say before we begin is that just like

1:08the post-process volume just like

1:10lighting cameras also have to be one of

1:12the first things you set up if you're

1:14creating a cinematic if you're creating

1:16a game it doesn't matter you have to

1:17make the entire world but if you're

1:18creating a cinematic and I'll just use

1:20an example right here and let's say you

1:22only need two shots one which is this

1:25and another one which is this angle then

1:27why the hell would you want to go Ahad

1:29and create all the this at the back you

1:30don't need all this detail so all of

1:32that time is wasted this is the most

1:34important tip always set your cameras

1:37your postprocess volume early on you

1:39know your shots then if you know your

1:42shots then you are only going to create

1:44what you need for that final result and

1:46not waste time creating everything else

1:48that might not end up in the final shot

1:50now I'll tell you one more thing there's

1:51a very high chance we won't be even

1:53looking at this guy right here or these

1:55guys right here because our shots are

1:57going to be somewhere here but for the

1:59sake of this course we've created all of

2:01this so that you understand how World

2:04Creation in Unreal Engine 5 works so how

2:06do we add a camera to a scene very good

2:08question so just like everything else we

2:10have to go to the top left side this

2:13right here and we can either bring the

2:15place actors panel to the left side and

2:17then bring the cameras from there or

2:18just go to cinematic and then look for

2:21cine camera actor so this is basically

2:24the camera you're going to use every

2:26single time when you want to bring in a

2:28new shot into your scene C camera actor

2:31now there's also another one which is

2:32camera actor I believe but don't don't

2:35get mistaken there's different kinds of

2:36cameras in onreal engine 5 I believe

2:38they were used for other purposes the

2:40one we're going to use for cinematics is

2:42C camera actor drag it drop it into your

2:44scene I can't see anything right now

2:46because I have my overlays disabled the

2:47shortcut for that was G so G and now I

2:51can see my camera hit F to go closer to

2:53it and this is beautiful it comes in

2:55real handy because Unreal Engine always

2:58has this mesh like a c in a camera that

3:00you can use to see where your camera is

3:02pointing and where it is in the scene so

3:05once you have your camera selected fire

3:06what is this at the bottom right this is

3:08what your camera will see yes this is

3:09the preview of your camera so if I were

3:11to drag my camera up I'm actually

3:14looking at what the camera is seeing I'm

3:16going to go ahead and hit e rotate my

3:17camera and see oh oh I can see

3:20everything now absolutely so I can go

3:22ahead and control my camera without

3:24actually being inside the camera so

3:26there are two ways you technically want

3:28to go ahead and control your camera one

3:31is by looking from the outside and

3:33having the preview on the bottom right

3:35and then trying to see where your camera

3:37should go and then like hit F maybe go

3:39closer maybe rotate it if you're trying

3:42to look at one of these Storm Troopers

3:44another way to do it is to actually go

3:46ahead inside the view of the camera now

3:49there are many ways you can do that far

3:51do you remember one of those ways one of

3:52them is right click pilot absolutely so

3:55I can go right click so click my camera

3:57or even here in the outline both of them

4:00work right click and then there's an

4:02option that says pilot C camera actor

4:05and then you'll go inside the camera now

4:06you have these black bars at the top

4:08right because depending on the camera

4:09settings the width and height of your

4:12sensor is different so right now I can

4:14just navigate exactly the same way as I

4:16did before and I can go around but this

4:18time around I actually have my camera

4:20and you know that this is your camera

4:22for two reasons number one notice the

4:23depth of field we didn't have blurriness

4:26when we were building our scene but

4:27right now we do so we are in our camera

4:29view another way you can tell this that

4:31this is your camera view is looking at

4:33the top left under your perspective you

4:35have this airplane icon which says your

4:37piloting your camera now two important

4:40buttons on the right side one of which

4:41is to eject so you're getting out of the

4:44pilot mode so now I have the camera here

4:46again I'm back into the normal

4:48navigation mode and I can see the

4:50preview or if I go back into to the

4:52pilot another one is here so technically

4:55this one is going to toggle showing the

4:57exact camera view if you toggle this off

5:00and if you move and then eject look at

5:02what happens you've actually moved but

5:04then you're piloting the camera but you

5:06don't have that black bar the camera

5:08settings if you will sometimes it's

5:11confusing but I always like to just keep

5:13it on so that I'm not confused and then

5:15I just either eject so there was another

5:17method faros just did that was a second

5:19method beside the pilot which is going

5:21through the perspective and then you can

5:23select the camera that's actually my

5:25favorite way of piloting the camera I

5:27don't like to go ahead and hit right

5:28click I like to just go perspective and

5:31then go down to place cameras go to C

5:33camera actors so we know about

5:35perspective far we know about these

5:37orthographic views but once you add a

5:39cine camera actor to your scene you'll

5:41have this extra option down here so if I

5:44were to go ahead and hit alt duplicate

5:47this two times one more time duplicate

5:50so I have three camera actors look at

5:52what happens here you can go inside each

5:54and every one of them absolutely so I

5:56can go to C camera actor 3 and then

5:59right click click move it eject I can go

6:01to C camera 2 move it here eject and now

6:05I have three cameras placing three

6:07different positions right so there's

6:10again multiple ways you can control your

6:12cameras so as long as you work enough

6:15times with the cameras you'll get really

6:17buttery smooth when it comes to

6:19navigating with the cameras it's

6:20honestly really really easy now I'm

6:22going to go ahead and delete our two

6:23extra cameras let's just stick to one

6:26let's now talk about one more option on

6:28our viewport and then we're going to

6:29head to the details panel and change

6:31some of our camera settings one thing

6:33that you can do is let's say I have my

6:35camera here and then I want to see what

6:38my Stormtroopers are doing go ahead and

6:40move them but still be able to have the

6:42preview the problem is right now I can

6:44see my camera but then if I go ahead and

6:46click on something else I lose the

6:48preview far do you know what we can do

6:49here there is a pin button where you can

6:51pin your preview here right here bottom

6:53left if I pin it then I can move around

6:55the scene go all the way back here and

6:58let's say I want to bring the ti fight

7:00I still clicked on this TV fighter but I

7:02haven't lost my preview so now I can

7:04bring this guy here and exactly see

7:06what's happening in my scene super duper

7:08handy you can actually go ahead and

7:10preview multiple cameras but just

7:12understand one thing when you have an

7:13extra screen technically you're

7:15rendering another scene with a different

7:17angle so that's why our FPS is getting a

7:20hit so make sure your computer can

7:22handle having previews now we're going

7:25to unable this pin and now it's time to

7:27look at some of the camera settings at

7:29the details panel okay so we have the

7:31camera we're going to go inside the

7:33camera and I'm going to go all the way

7:35to one of these guys right here okay

7:37cool so this is a really cool view

7:38there's already a couple of problems I

7:40want the Stormtroopers to be in Focus

7:41but they're not so again this is where

7:43camera details come in handy so let's

7:46pull this up and let's take a closer

7:49look at what we have there's a lot of

7:50settings we're only going to cover the

7:52ones that you're going to use the most

7:53right look at track settings basically

7:55talks about tracking so object tracking

7:57with your camera if an object is is

7:59moving we're going to talk about that

8:01when our object is actually moving so

8:02not now let's go to filmb back filmb

8:04back is literally your camera sensor

8:07settings you have some defaults here the

8:09sensor width and height is already

8:11chosen based on the lens and sorry the

8:13camera that you're choosing so if you

8:15want to go for an IMAX 70 it is going to

8:17give the exact width and height for an

8:19IMAX 70 M now can we adjust the height

8:22and width absolutely so if I were to

8:23create my own version I can just go

8:25ahead and do that now mind you Unreal

8:27Engine 5 is used for virtual production

8:29in far we talked to Felix on our podcast

8:31yes and Felix worked on the Mandalorian

8:33yes all the Star Wars series on Disney

8:35basically do remember what he said about

8:36cameras he mentioned that the cameras

8:38exactly replicate the real cameras in

8:40life there you go so that means

8:42everything here is according to real

8:44life so you can emulate real cameras

8:46which is so sweet so we're just going to

8:48go back to the default which is 16x9

8:51digital film this is the one we're going

8:53to go for you can even make this wide

8:55screen by going I'm just going to go for

8:56random R like 34 now it's even more wide

8:59if you want to do that by all means go

9:01ahead and then you have lens settings so

9:03lens settings pretty self-explanatory if

9:06you have Universal Zoom okay I'm going

9:08to bring your attention to down here

9:10where we have focal length focal length

9:13this is the most common setting that you

9:15probably have even on your iPhone the

9:17remember the wide angle lens the

9:18telephoto lens all of these have to do

9:20with your focal length and the depth of

9:22field has to do with your aperture so

9:24these two settings right here so focal

9:25length is now on 35 which is pretty

9:27standard you want to go wider you're

9:29going to slide this down right this is

9:32now a wide angle lens and then you can

9:34go all the way in to have that really

9:36nice flat image which usually is used

9:39for portrait shots right but this is

9:42like way too close right 130 focal

9:44length is like too much but I'm going to

9:46pull this back to something like

9:4850 and the reason why we talked about

9:51Universal Zoom is because on default you

9:53can control the focal length and

9:55aperture but you can go for some of

9:56these settings let's say a 30 m prime

9:59lens 1.4 aperture if you choose this

10:03prime lens means you cannot change the

10:05focal length so right now the focal

10:06length is locked I cannot change it

10:08because by default it's a prime lens

10:10right and the aperture is at 2.8 right

10:13now supposed to be 1.4 sorry my bad it's

10:15at 2.8 but you get the point right it

10:18changes some of your settings based on

10:20that we usually like to go for Universal

10:22Zoom so that we have full control

10:23ourself so right now you know that focal

10:26length is going to be controlling this

10:28exact setting we're going to change it

10:29to 50 and F aperture controls our depth

10:32of field so the lower that number the

10:34more blurriness we can get in our shot

10:36and the more Focus we can have on a

10:38specific object so let's bring this down

10:40to the lowest number which should be 1.2

10:44cuz that's our minimum F stop so 1.2

10:47let's bring it all the way down and see

10:49it's even more blurred now now F what is

10:51the next thing that we got to do with

10:52this Focus setting yes right we got to

10:55change where our focus is and that's

10:57under Focus settings so right now it's

10:59on manual which is perfect cuz we want

11:00to manually change it and we can change

11:02our Focus settings with these numbers

11:05with this number right here and in order

11:07to see where it is at we can use the

11:09debug Focus plane by hitting this check

11:12mark it's not visible right now cuz it's

11:14way too far but it spawns a plane with

11:16this exact color and tells you exactly

11:18where your focus is so we're going to go

11:19ahead and drag this all the way down

11:22until we see that plane there you go

11:24it's visible now and pay close attention

11:26to what happens to our Focus

11:30boom you see that I'm going to disable

11:32the debug and look at how beautiful this

11:36okay honestly we're done with the

11:37tutorial series like look at how cool

11:40this is guys if you're doing exactly the

11:42same thing you're probably just like wow

11:45this looks beautiful and it's real time

11:47at the same time right now far there's

11:49another way we can change the Focus

11:50right here we can select by the eye

11:53dropper there there you go so you don't

11:55have to manually go ahead and change the

11:57slider I'm going to select the eye

11:58dropper tool and just select maybe this

12:00Stormtrooper right here and look at the

12:02Focus changing look at how cool that is

12:04I'm going to move my camera to the right

12:06and this guys is exactly the reason why

12:09you started this Unreal Engine tutorial

12:11series because if you were to do this in

12:13any other software well I don't want to

12:16discriminate against all the other

12:17softwares but pretty much a lot of the

12:19other softwares and you wanted to go

12:20ahead and navigate around the scene like

12:22this with hundreds of Stormtroopers with

12:25all of these lights parro it wouldn't be

12:27possible it would be very noisy and it

12:29would take a lot of time so right now

12:30we're doing this and one more thing I

12:33wanted to cover really quickly Farah do

12:35you see the bokeh at the back yes do you

12:38remember the reason why we told

12:39everybody please listen to us yes those

12:42emissive lights that we created with JS

12:44placement might not look super great

12:46right now but but look at them now look

12:48at them now do you see the boka that

12:50we're getting from those emissive lights

12:51looks so good okay so what is the next

12:55thing we have to cover okay I think

12:57aperture we already cover covered right

12:59we we did say that if we change let's

13:01say our Focus here of course if we go

13:04ahead and bring up our aperture

13:06basically we'll have more we have less

13:09focus on the subject everything else is

13:11going to be less blurry right and the

13:14depth of field is going to change so

13:15we're going to increase this number and

13:17look at what happens to the background

13:19you see that F what is a squeeze Factor

13:22very good question so if you hover over

13:23squeeze Factor it says squeeze factor

13:25for anamorphic lenses now if you're a

13:27film Maniac you would probably already

13:28know about anamorphic lenses a lot of

13:30people are crazy about them we need to

13:32get one we don't have an anamorphic lens

13:33we don't have used in the latest Batman

13:35right yes it was used in the Batman

13:36series it used in a lot of movies but

13:39very specifically I believe Batman used

13:41it and the shots were so nice with

13:43anamorphic lenses you get this really

13:45cool sort of blurry edges to your screen

13:50and then the focus is sort of right in

13:51the middle and then your bokeh effects

13:54of the spherical shapes that you see at

13:56the back because of our emissive lights

13:58turn into a an oval shape right and so

14:00we can actually sort of emulate an

14:03anamorphic lens not exactly to the dot

14:05here but the squeeze factor helps so

14:07let's go ahead and increase the number

14:08to Two and let's see what happens to the

14:10book you see it's now spherical do you

14:12see that do you see the the shape so if

14:15I were to go ahead and change my my lens

14:19and just bump this up to something like

14:2024 okay just temporarily I'm not saying

14:23this is the lens uh sensor width and

14:25height that you should go for but if you

14:27look closely now our shot does emulate

14:31sort of an anamorphic lens Plus in post

14:34in Da Vinci you can go ahead and add

14:36some of those blurs in the edges maybe

14:38some chromatic aberration whatever you

14:40think would be right for you to get that

14:41anamorphic effect but the squeeze Factor

14:43actually gets you one step closer to

14:45that anamorphic look so far as what if I

14:48need help moving my camera I want to use

14:50Crane I want to use rig rig rail or I

14:53came from the real V film making

14:55industry and I'm so used to these tools

14:57how can I use them in

14:59absolutely so we haven't talked about

15:01animation yet cuz we don't have

15:02timelines but we do have to cover all

15:05the animations with cameras because then

15:07how would you know how to move your

15:09cameras the basic way of course is just

15:11like anything else we'll hold the camera

15:13and then just move it like so but if you

15:15want to be more precise as farad

15:17mentioned there are tools in on your

15:18Ling that help you to do that wait a

15:21second we're teaching you guys all of

15:22these techniques like modeling and

15:24texturing but frankly there are faster

15:26Alternatives like photogrametry that's

15:28when you use your phone to take a bunch

15:30of photos of a real life object and then

15:33turn that object into 3D within minutes

15:35and then bring it into Unreal Engine so

15:37we use polyam for our photo gometry and

15:40they actually sponsored this course so

15:43that you guys get 30% off their Pro Plan

15:45we have all of the details and the promo

15:47code in the description back to the

15:49course so in order to do that we're

15:50going to go to our add button right here

15:52go to cinematic and the first one that

15:54we're going to use is the camera rig

15:56rail now this might be conf infusing in

15:59the very beginning if you've never done

16:003D but a camera reg rail works like a

16:03basier curve if you come from a 3D

16:05software and the first time me and fart

16:08saw it and heard about it we tried it

16:10and we forgot after a while how it

16:11worked so even if you do don't worry

16:14whenever the need for it comes you're

16:16going to probably search for this

16:17tutorial again and find out how to use

16:18it but right now we've memorized how

16:20it's done so when you have a camera

16:22regail first of all let's try to create

16:24the path for our camera I want to go

16:26ahead and start my camera here and I'm

16:28going to go in a u shape and come back

16:31here and in order to do that I'm going

16:33to place my rig rail in the origin point

16:35that I want to begin with and then I'm

16:37going to hit this little white dot to

16:39start my shape so I'm going to hit it

16:41once it's selected I will see my Gizmo I

16:43can then goad and pull my shape and now

16:47this is a curve but in order to enable

16:49the curve I need to go ahead and add

16:51more points to my curve right now it's

16:53just one point right from the beginning

16:55to the end I'm going to go ahead and use

16:57duplicate so holding alt I'm going to

17:00pull on this arrow to the direction that

17:02I want and I'm going to go ahead and

17:04extend this Rick Rail and then I'll do

17:08another pull this is my custom shape

17:11down here because I want it to be a u-

17:12shape so I'm going to hold alt pull it

17:15again to extend it as you can see it's

17:16creating new points and it's already

17:18created but far what's really cool about

17:21basier curves is that now you have

17:22control full control using handles so

17:26I'm just going to go ahead and click

17:28this this point right here this is one

17:29of my points and I have these two extra

17:31handles so I can let's say bring this

17:33higher so right now it's like a roller

17:35coaster and then I can hit this handle

17:37and I can move this to control my shape

17:41I can even rotate on on some of the axis

17:43so not actually sorry not this one I can

17:45rotate this guy right here yes and I can

17:48move these handles to create a unique

17:52shape for my camera now this guy just

17:54went below the ground which is not good

17:56going to bring this guy up and just just

17:58like that we have created our rig rail

18:01so far how do we go ahead and actually

18:03attach our camera so that it follows the

18:05rig rail we need to make the camera a

18:07child of a rig rail so in order to make

18:09the camera a child of the rig rail we

18:11have to go to our outliner right here so

18:12let's close all of these drop downs

18:14there's too many we're going to find our

18:16camera and then we're going to drag it

18:18and drop it under the rig rail so right

18:21now it is connected but it's not

18:24following the exact origin you need to

18:26reset the location yes just like the gun

18:28to the Storm Trooper to reset location

18:31dependent on the r rail so go to the

18:34camera make sure the camera selected

18:35here there's some values reset both of

18:38these values and you can see it comes to

18:40the origin Point as long as it's a child

18:42of the rig rail now I'm going to raise

18:44this guy up I'm going to point it

18:45towards the right direction and then if

18:48I go to my rig rail select it in the

18:51details panel there's a current position

18:53on rail which is at zero so if you go

18:55ahead and slide it you will see that our

18:58camera is now following the path of the

19:00rig rail perfectly faras what if I want

19:03the camera to track a single

19:04Stormtrooper along the way through this

19:06rail that's a very good question cuz

19:08right now it looks weird right it's

19:09following the path but it's not

19:11controlling its tracking so in order to

19:14do that we're going to go back to the

19:15original setting that we didn't talk

19:16about in our camera so hit our camera

19:19and at look at track settings at the

19:21very top we have an option which says

19:24enable look at tracking that's just to

19:25enable it so let's go ahead and enable

19:27that and now it's facing forward because

19:29it doesn't have an object to track so

19:32the option we're looking for is actor to

19:34track and we need to define the object

19:37it need to track so far who should we

19:39track the Stormtrooper we can but

19:42there's just one issue if you go and

19:43track the Storm Trooper because if you

19:45select them there's so many of them I

19:47don't even know where the origin point

19:48is I think the camera is going to be

19:49confused as to which one to look at so

19:52we're going to fake one of our objects

19:54by just bringing something just any

19:57shape like a sphere spere right this is

19:59going to be the object that we're going

20:00to track we're going to raise it up

20:02right here okay and we're going to make

20:04it super small just like that like tiny

20:08okay we can go ahead and even hide this

20:10later on but I'm just going to keep it

20:11here so that we know what we're tracking

20:13but later on we can even hide this so

20:14this is going to be our fake tracker

20:16we're going to rename the sphere to

20:18tracker and then on top of the camera if

20:21you go to the look at track settings we

20:23can either use the eye dropper tool or

20:25just search

20:26tracker once we have you can see that

20:29it's tracking the object so let's go

20:31ahead can we track the focus too

20:33absolutely let me just show you what the

20:35tracking looks like and then we're going

20:36to do the focus as well so I'm going to

20:38go to my rig and then I'm going to use

20:40the current position on Rail and look at

20:42what happens o that looks beautiful that

20:45looks really cool looks amazing all

20:46right this is not cinematic at all this

20:48is not the perfect camera motion we're

20:49just teaching you the ways to use the

20:51software so farad asked for Focus right

20:55yes so we're going to go cuz right now

20:56the ball is out of focus let's first go

20:58ahead and really zoom into this so let's

21:00go increase a focal length first and

21:02really notice that our focus is off and

21:05for our Focus yes we can go ahead and

21:07set this to manual right but the problem

21:09is as we move on our track we're going

21:12to change the focus the focus because

21:15the focus is stuck in one position so

21:17we're going to track it how do we do

21:18that far the eye drop her absolutely so

21:21first we need to change our Focus method

21:23from manual to tracking and then open

21:26the drop down of tracking focus and as

21:28farat said this time around we'll

21:29actually use the eye dropper tool and

21:31select the sphere the tracker and just

21:34like that it's done now that the focus

21:36is tracking we can go ahead and click

21:38our camera rig Rail and pay close

21:39attention to what happens here we're

21:41going to go all the way to one o and

21:44look at that focused and tracked focused

21:47and tracked now we can go here and this

21:50looks perfect so if you want to go ahead

21:52and hide the tracker you can just go

21:53ahead and do it it's still going to

21:54track

21:56nonetheless beautiful how can can we use

21:58the crane tool okay so we use the camera

22:01regil there's another tool that you can

22:02use and just like in real life it works

22:04exactly the same way we're going to go

22:06to cinematics we're going to bring the

22:08camera rig crane oh and fart remind me

22:12how do I attach my camera to this makate

22:14the child of crane so I'm going to drag

22:16it and take it out of the camera reg

22:18Grail I'm going to take it to my crane

22:20instead reset location and rotation

22:22reset location and rotation boom boom

22:25okay and guess what it's already

22:27tracking

22:28the sphere right from the beginning so

22:30all I have to do is now go ahead to my

22:33camera R range settings and then now I

22:35have to play with these values the pitch

22:38the yaw and the arm length let's see

22:40what they do so the pitch does this wow

22:43look at that shot do you see it yeah the

22:46ya doeses the rotation wow and then the

22:49arm length which is even cooler I mean

22:52dude look at the shots we're creating

22:54here is going to take it higher wow so

22:56we can go above and beyond and there are

23:00no limits within the engine oh look at

23:02No Limits look at this Wow Wow in the

23:06next chapter we are going to animate all

23:07of this using sequencer and it's going

23:10to be smooth oh my God I just I'm sorry

23:12I I like I really like to play around

23:14with this so guys you learned now how to

23:17use the camera the rig Rail and the

23:19crane and we showed you all the

23:21parameters but the most important part

23:22is how we animate this and use it in our

23:25timeline so the next chapter we are

23:27going to talk about sequencer and we're

23:28going to show you how to animate cameras

23:30how to animate objects this is going to

23:32be an amazing chapter S check this out

23:34look at how cool this looks oh my God

23:36you're going to animate it in the next

23:37chapter dude look at this shot dude you

23:39guys can do this now congratulations for

23:41making it thus far guys we cannot wait

23:44to see you in the next video until then

23:46chiao

This transcript was generated from the captions YouTube publishes for this video. Get the transcript of any YouTube video atfreeyoutubetranscribe.com: free, unlimited, no sign-up.