Part 2: Cameras, Sequencer, and Animation Clips

This guide provides step-by-step instructions on how to work with cameras, sequencer, and animation clips in Unreal Editor. It covers topics such as camera settings, creating a shot sequence from scratch, adjusting camera details, adding animations, replacing animations, rendering, and troubleshooting common issues.

Open Map_Example2

Click on Content

Select Maps folder

Double click on Map_Example2

Make sure you save your work if you haven't already.

Now that your work is saved and Map_Example2 is open, go back to the Content folder.

Select the Sequences folder

Double click on Example2_Shot. This will open the sequencer.

Camera Settings

Click "Sequencer"

Step

The Sequencer may open in a floating window. Click and drag the tab of that window to dock it besie your Content Browser tab.

Notice how the camera changes when you adjust the Current Focal Length

To modify the camera settings, make sure you have the Cine Camera Actor selected and look in the Details tab

If you want your camera to be a different shape, you can adjust the camera's sensor width and sensor height from the Details tab

Learn more about cameras in the Unreal Futures: Careers in Fashion Unit!

In the next steps, you will look at how the animations are blended together, as shown here in the Example2_Shot animation sequence. You will be building one from scratch!

Building a Shot from Scratch

Close the Example2_Shot Sequence

Add a Level Sequence

In the Sequence folder (Content > Sequences), right click to bring up a menu

Choose Animation > Level Sequence to add a new Sequence to your folder

Name the new sequence "Dancing_Shot"

Double click on your new Dancing_Shot sequence to open

Add a Camera

Add a camera to the sequence by clicking on the camera icon. This adds the Cine Camera and Camera Cuts tracks to your sequence automatically.

Adjust the Camera

Click on the Cine Camera Actor to adjust the camera details

Look for the Filmback settings in the Details tab on the right. \*If you don't see the settings, you may need to expand the Filmback settings.

In Filmback settings, adjust the Sensor Width to "13.365" and Sensor Height to "26.0". Adjust manually or with the slider.

Back in the Sequencer window, modify the Current Focal Length to "30.0"

To change the focus settings, click on Cine Camera Actor and look in the Details tab

Expand Focus Settings

Go to Manual Focus Distance and click on the eyedropper

With the eyedropper selected, click on one of the characters in the viewport. This will set the focus distance.

Positioning the Camera

In Cine Camera Actor, click on the camera icon to the right, which will allow you to move around within the viewport

Confirm that the "Pilot Active - Cine Camera Actor" icon is present and use the WASD keys to move around within the viewport

Click the "Eject" button to exit the Pilot Active function.

Add Bit and Bot Animations

Find Sk_Bit and Sk_Bot in the Outliner tab

Drag Sk_Bit and Sk_Bot into the Sequencer Window

Note that Bit and Bot each have sequence tracks for Animation and Transform (Location, Rotation, Scale)

To add an animation for Bit or Bot, click on the + icon > Animation > Choose a Sequence, like Bit_Dancing

Note that the animation is added to the sequence to the right of the playhead/scrub tool.

Extend the animation by dragging the end of the sequence

Click Animation

Select an animation or Search for an specific animation, like Bit_Twirl_Start

Drag the animation to where you want it to go in the sequencer

Click + Animation to add another animation, like Bit_Twirl_Loop

Repeat the steps for Bot!

Move the playhead to the beginning of the sequence and hit Play to watch your creation!

Replacing an Animation

If you want to change an animation after you have completed your flow, right click on the animation you want to change

Select Properties

Click the dropdown menu in the Animation setting

Select the new animation sequence

Animation Frames

To make your sequence longer, increase the animation frames at the bottom right of your Sequencer Window. Change to 500.

It may not appear as if anything happened, but you can drag the Sequencer Slider to view to entirety of the animation frames

You can also drag your animations out to fill the 500 animation frames. Or you can insert additional animations!

Rendering

When you are ready to render your animation into a movie, click on the clapperboard, or slate, icon to open the render settings

Click on the dropdown arrow

Select Render_Settings

To change where the movie will be saved, click Render_Settings in the Settings column

Click on Output

Under the File Output setting, click the 3 icons to choose where to save the video

Navigate to your destination folder and click Select Folder

Click Accept

Select Render (Local)

Once Rendering is complete, navigate to the folder you selected for the output and open to watch!

Movie Isn't Playing

If your movie isn't playing on a Windows PC, you may need to troubleshoot. Here are some suggestions that can be found in more detail below:\ 1\. Choose the alternative movie rendering option\ 2\. Confirm the Apple ProRes plugin is enabled\ 3\. Download a video player that will play .mov files

Troubleshooting - Render Movie Options

Change Render Movie Options

Select Movie Scene Capture (Legacy) and render the movie using this method

Troubleshooting - Confirm Apple ProRes Plugin

Click on Edit

Select Plugins

Search for Apple ProRes

Confirm that the plugin is enabled with a checkmark