Turntable Animations | Blender 2.8 | Track camera & Follow path

Grant's Character Course discount link: www.gamedev.tv/p/blender-char...
Grant’s Drawing course discount link: www.gamedev.tv/p/complete-dra...
How to follow a path in a circle for your camera and how to track an empty with your camera
My website www.gabbitt.co.uk
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[@approachingetterath9959]

bless the people who give version updates on small steps in the comments

[@E_Crypto]

In 2.9: Add "Curve", select "Circle", control+p, then "follow path." (To use Bezier Circle like Grant)

[@mrvk699]

Thanks

[@dragoncookie4395]

Tysm i was like crap where follow path??

[@approachingetterath9959]

thanks so much!

[@Carol_SG]

Thank you!

[@rickycarlstedt5007]

Thanks! I added the wrong kind of circle, and I was stumped! 😆

[@tomrumble]

For those using 2.81 - when parenting just select object and in the bottom left corner of the window, open the 'make parent' dialog and select follow path.

[@Takenyao123]

thank you so much

[@Takenyao123]

you are using cmesh circle, use curve circle you will find the follow path in ctr+p

[@benroxburgh1547]

Thanks

[@catf3039]

ohhhhhh great thanks!

[@Laamalaan]

I didn't find this option but by right clicking it showed up. :)

[@TylerDane]

Always covering the vital techniques in bite size pieces. Truly the best channel for beginners in the 3D industry.

[@grabbitt]

Thanks 😃

[@magnusm4]

Doing things in pieces is the best way to learn ANYTHING.
Easy to digest and easy to focus on one aspect to understand it.

[@AqilDaiyan]

For new viewers of this, the Shadow Catcher is now in Visibility

[@maryamsamadi4714]

Thank you.

[@girishsareen017]

thanks a lot, i was mistakingly switching on the shadow checkbox under ray visibility and was wondering why the plane is still coming up in my render. Got it now, thanks !!!

[@PlaylistProductions]

You are cool!

[@culturia3555]

Man, this is the best tutorial for anything I´ve ever watched in the internet. Great work!

[@ryandart293]

Thank you so much for these amazing tutorials that you are making for us well explained in detail. I can tell that you are really dedicated and take these tutorial videos very seriously and with a lot of passion for the subject. And the most amazing part is that you are making them FREE for all of us. I hope that the universe will repay you 100 times more of what we are learning from you. Thank you so much once again.

[@stan.corston]

This is by far the best tutorial presentation I have seen on this subject!

[@grabbitt]

Glad it was helpful!

[@deanerhockings-reptilianhu8701]

Wicked! Working my way through the sea shack scene and this sets it off really nicely. Even better when the sea and fish are animated too! Learning a ton and very impressed with the results. My thanks!

[@grabbitt]

nice

[@jamesschnick2602]

crisp tutorial. love that you share so much knowledge in all of you videos!

[@grabbitt]

Thanks :)

[@FlamingoX_Artist]

This is my 20th time watching this! Its still relevant in Blender 2.90!!!

[@injustice5814]

Great video. Actually a true beginner’s guide, no clutch.

[@garypaisley2712]

Great stuff as always Grant, just what I was looking for. Simple and easy for a beginner like me to follow along.

[@grabbitt]

Thanks :)

[@Shiruvan]

I added camera clipping distance for visually checking parts tolerances for making 3d printed figurine. very useful!

[@jurgenvantomme]

Thank you Grant for make a video of my request this is very interesting!

[@grabbitt]

Thanks :)

[@babaone23]

Thanks for this Grant. I did ask for this tutorial on the forum but thought it hadn't been seen.

[@grabbitt]

Yes a few people asked so thought it would help 😃

[@chrisr5362]

I have always wondered how you do the turnarounds :D Thank you for this video! :D

[@grabbitt]

Thanks 😃

[@benedeknovak230]

Thank you for this tutorial! This was really really helpful!

[@martinmardoek4663]

Thank you for doining this tutorial! I couldn't get this to work. Now it does. The Curve circle instead of the Mesh circle is kind of important though. With the Mesh circle it doesn't work.

[@mattmcduhhh]

Interesting. You learn something new every day. Thank you so much for the info.

[@grabbitt]

Thanks 😃

[@xvermillion7024]

Thank you so much. I learned so many in this channel

[@billnetherlands]

Great, clear tutorials! I'm learning so much.

[@grabbitt]

Thanks :)

[@golemtabak1183]

You’re amazing - thank you Grant!

[@ismaeldelagraciacobos2060]

Thanks for anwsering me in you animaytion part 2 video! This is awesome :)

[@grabbitt]

:)

[@LePopCollectibles]

Awesome tutorial. I learned so much. Thank you very much.

[@jiyun717]

This tutorial is very useful. Thank you so much.

[@Morraak]

Also just discovered this but if you have the camera pivot around the 3D cursor in the center and rotate the camera along the z axis it does pretty much the same thing! The empty is cool though to track what it focuses on.

[@finchvink]

This helped so much, thank you!

[@chillgoodvibes6700]

Thanks grant with this tutorial I was able to add the rotation animation to my Monster V man project. For sole reason mine works without transpiration. Also, when I choose render video it moves really slow!… thanks again for these amazing tutorials

[@thebigtricky9156]

Oh, you made my request, great, cheers, great work.

[@grabbitt]

Thanks 😃

[@stephenmackenzie9016]

Awesome ... love the tutorials 😍

[@robinware77]

In order to adjust the camera to view my scene I added a second empty, which I parented the camera to. So my empty rotates around the middle empty and I have my camera adjusted to a better viewpoint. So far it worked. I watched another video and combined Grant Abbitt's with this other video and it all works fine.

[@robinware77]

[Correction] After posting this I realized I could have just moved the empty in the middle up or down to adjust the view. But my either statement lets me move my camera anywhere I want.

[@Uradamus]

2.8 has a built in addon called something like "Camera: Add Camera Rigs." That adds two new camera options you can bring into your scenes and they include things like targets and such in the rig. I've found them rather handy. You can just parent one of those to an empty at the scene origin and use the empty to rotate everything around while using the camera rig to do any sort of fancy movements if so desired. In this case it would just make things a bit quicker and simpler to get a camera pointing where you want it and ready to spin around.

[@grabbitt]

Sounds good I will look out for that😃

[@jeric_synergy8581]

I think it's good to do it "manually" before using automatic addons, from an >educational< viewpoint.

[@xiemeon2268]

A different setup for this is to leave the camera and the light static and rotate your object along it's z axis.
That's not only closer to reality (as a turntable moves the object, the onlooker's position remains relatively stable), it also gives you the advantage that the topology of the object casts moving shadows, thus defining and hightlighting it's features.
I often do turntable-like animations for my employer, and since I switched to rotating the object (or group patented to an empty) the animations look way more realistic.

[@grabbitt]

Yes true maybe that's a better option

[@alexmarin68]

how do you even do that

[@marcelosouza7663]

@@alexmarin68 Not exactly, but if you parent the lights you get something like that.

[@bruhmoment1271]

@@grabbitt can you make a video explaining what xem said in the above comment regarding rotating the objects? Please

[@grabbitt]

@@bruhmoment1271 basically rotate your object you are filming rather than the camera

[@randa.2828]

Thank u really needed this

[@jairaja6924]

thank you for blender guru to suggest this channel.but blender guru is also excellent ,but he is teaching very deeply that is hard for begginers

[@pyrotechnick420]

Thanks for this I use it to make my turntables for the objects I sell on turbosquid

[@imatree4015]

I needed this like 2 weeks ago haha

[@dontmvme8796]

You got a better shot than me, then, cause it was more like 3 months ago in my case ^_^;

[@grabbitt]

Well it's here now 😃

[@dontmvme8796]

@@grabbitt Yeah, I know. Thanks for that ^_^

[@ranjitkushwaha8039]

thanks for ur tutorial

[@richboy1bill]

Awesome! I just finished doing this to DA SHEEP. In tutorial 2 you have.

[@lucashaymaker5927]

Thanks for this!! Really helpful : )

[@grabbitt]

Thanks :)

[@imanmoshari]

Most satisfying voice on earth!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?

[@cloudyprison]

For anyone who is getting shaking or wobbles when rendering the animation, you can increase the Circle Resolution under Object Data: Active Spline. I set my resolution to 32 or 48 depending on the size of the circle for a more even rotation. Or you can subdivide the circle to add more vertices and then smooth it out.
blender.stackexchange.com/questions/88633/object-wobbling-and-shaking-while-camera-following-a-path
Awesome Video as always, Grant! I love your stuff!

[@grabbitt]

Thanks :)

[@isamarromero11]

Life saver advice!!!!

[@projectaroid]

Nice tutorial! Thanks.

[@grabbitt]

Thanks :)

[@craigernstzen2372]

Thank you, was losing my mind!!

[@macnavi]

Easiest way to rotate one object is to enter (hashtag)frame/30 in the Z rotation field (in Item>Transform), which gives you a full and continuous rotation.

[@esteroret1840]

your light setup is awsom

[@grabbitt]

thanks

[@esteroret1840]

@@grabbitt can u pleas do a small tutorial about how to present your model ?? .. something like u did with the model in this video ... about light setup and material for the model

[@grabbitt]

@@esteroret1840 I will do that :)

[@esteroret1840]

@@grabbitt thanks a lot

[@esteroret1840]

i really love people ho hellp us just like that

[@cloudcloud1]

*Thanks* a lot for the *short good* Video 🙏

[@grabbitt]

Thanks 😃

[@AmitKumar-cp1oz]

thank you!

[@skyworker9813]

Thank you very much.

[@RM-yw6xe]

Your videos have helped so much in getting me to the next level of animations. Never stop making these!
Is it possible to make one for explosions and other physical effects?

[@grabbitt]

Eventually

[@Shining4Dawn]

What a complicated way to make a turntable. I just do this:
1. Point the camera to your model.
2. Parent the camera to an empty that's at the same location as the model.
3. Set a rotation keyframe for the empty on frame 1.
4. Go to 1 frame after the end frame and set a rotation keyframe with a value of 360 degrees on the Z axis of the empty.
5. Select both frames in the Dope Sheet and hit T and then set the interpolation to Linear.

[@SmiKProduction]

Awesome! Thank you !

[@grabbitt]

Thanks :)

[@marttiekstrand4879]

I skip the circle and just parent the camera to the center empty and then set the empty to rotate around the z axis. Pan/tilt camera as needed and adjust height by pulling the empty up or down.

[@grabbitt]

haha yes that's clever idea and a bit quicker :)

[@rustycwright]

In addition to Martti's method, one that I use is Clamp To. If you click its X button, for example, then changing the object's X Location moves it around the circle. Both your method and mine have the problem that you need to get the order right in the Object Constraint stack. I rather like Martti's method for its simplicity.

[@grabbitt]

indeed

[@2023roadstervet]

I like the Add on waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better .. makes more since

[@void2258]

@@2023roadstervet Add on?

[@Belidos3D]

You can get shadows in evee by adding a sun and pointing it in the direction you want the shadows

[@troyoleary2234]

Thank you

[@chrisstrain4812]

First off...great stuff! Love your channel.
Secondly...any thoughts on why I wouldn't get the "Follow Path" option after I select camera, then circle in this tutorial. Thanks!

[@grabbitt]

choose curve circle not mesh circle when adding

[@chrisstrain4812]

@@grabbitt Ah...there it is. Derp! Thanks...

[@daturahex]

did the same thing lol, thank god for the comments section

[@daturahex]

@@grabbitt thanks!!!

[@elenaollero8588]

great!! thanks so much!

[@MasterWaveXL7]

Very nice character there
Would love a tutorial on how to sculpt her

[@riccardomorina9948]

Hi! Thanks for the tutorial I was wondering if you already done a tutorial for rendering a video and how to put the images together,
Thanks again 😁

[@grabbitt]

no I always use Adobe Premier. It's very straight forward in Blender as well apparently

[@munkiboy3219]

Grant, I tried this after completing your Anime character course, i got it wrapped around my neck, i rendered out also the keyframes that i had set whilst posing my character and then as a novice didn't know what to do with the 250 jpegs that i rendered. I'll probably figure it out, maybe, if necessary an amendment at the end of your course in case other people also have the same result/problem, or it could be simply my lack of knowledge that got me here 🙂

[@grabbitt]

I'll take a look thanks

[@Rianz1317]

My mind was blown.

[@julianwildauer]

THX

[@AngelAgudoGuerrero]

I love it!!!!

[@grabbitt]

Thanks 😃

[@f1pitpass]

thank you!!!

[@grabbitt]

thanks :)

[@lisoglazka8019]

Hey Grant! Thank you for your tutorial! Can you tell me please how I can make speed of the camera more slowly?

[@grabbitt]

Change path timings

[@miguelalejandrourenavalenz2206]

Hello Grant, thank you very much for these tutorials you have on your channel, I was wondering, whats the most efficient way to get this animation as a gif?

[@grabbitt]

good question i think a gif converter is what i have used in the past

[@TheDearRecorded]

Thanks for all the great content!
What's a good default shader setting on the character/model created to knock out turntables to quickly showcase your renders?
Would like to present a couple of characters and need to show it spinning in one spot and then a light circling it to showcase the model surface but as there are multiple models and expecting multiple revisions/back and forth, is there any easy setup to showcase the model nicely but satisfies the purpose of checking the model for blemishes/irregularites?
Any help at all (from anyone) is SUPER appreciated!! Thanks!

[@grabbitt]

see my video on make your models look great :) th-cam.com/video/FzCmQpJw2I0/w-d-xo.html

[@sophiahamilton7014]

This was soo helpful, thank you!
I wonder if you know how I can make the camera rotate around more than once within the animation? I want the camera to rotate several times around another object which is itself animated.

[@grabbitt]

yes probably in the graph editor

[@dummyphoun2595]

Great tutorial!!! Thanx. How to change rotation direction? I would like to create a rotating text.

[@grabbitt]

yes you have to set the animate option on the curve it's a little tricky but you should be able to find some tutorials online :)

[@michaelgolden7694]

If you select the circle, then hit R > Y > 180, it will flip the circle over on the Y axis and reverse the direction of the camera path.

[@dr.kfamily7239]

Thank you,.

[@grabbitt]

thanks :)

[@Daniel-Preti]

Hi, thanks for the video. If I wanted to make a 360 panoramic view (look around and not with the target in the center), how could I do it? Thanks!

[@matiaskritz]

Thanks so much for the tutorial, there is any chance you can explain how to vary the speed of the camara on the path?, thanks a lot!

[@grabbitt]

I need to look into it at some point

[@Viigan]

@@grabbitt I second that request. I was thinking the exact same thing when watching your wolf logo video (th-cam.com/video/hwTfNmFpCs0/w-d-xo.html), where the first 45 seconds of animation would have looked better with a "slow in" and "slow out" in the looped camera pan.
And by the way, thank you for all your fantastic tutorials!

[@naruto3zo]

very noice!

[@grabbitt]

Thanks 😃

[@AhmedHussain-kw1le]

Good one

[@grabbitt]

Thanks 😃

[@jaypo7]

Hey Grant, I came here after monster part 6, thank you for an awesome series and this supporting vid. I’ve learned a lot especially around dealing with multiple materials. Maybe I missed this somewhere but why does the camera default to a frame by frame rotation on a path? Rather than staying in one position... Cheers!!

[@grabbitt]

that's the idea behind this. hat were you hoping for

[@mathiashauvgaard8857]

Grant Abbitt why does mine render so slowly. like its 1 frame Per second When i click ctrl f12

[@grabbitt]

@@mathiashauvgaard8857 that's actually pretty fast. It used to be slower without eevee at about 1 frame every 5 minutes

[@mathiashauvgaard8857]

Grant Abbitt i might have overestimatet its like 1 framr Per 10 or 20 seconds but When i look at YOUR scene from part 1-6 it looks so smooth

[@grabbitt]

@@mathiashauvgaard8857 do you mean the time it takes to render?

[@phlegios]

WOW, so, I'm guessing this can be applied to making a 3D logo? Just apply rgba and do some extra magic in video editing software and it's done?

[@ichrauchbeimschreiben5909]

hey thanks for the video!!! I'm learning blender since a few days and love your explanation! but one question: when I added the plane for the shadow it stays grey and I can't see any shadow. would be happy about a reply :)

[@ichrauchbeimschreiben5909]

I think my blender is 3.3.1

[@grabbitt]

Check your lighting and use the shadow catcher

[@driodeiros]

Thank you for posting all these useful tutorials on blender. I came to this video from the Monster series.
What is the expected render time of the scene on a pretty fast computer (32G - 2.3Gx8 cores)? For me it takes about an hour. Is that expected? Also, while in material preview mode, the performance is 2.9 fps (when running the timeline).
What values are you all seeing?

[@grabbitt]

more to do with your gpu

[@driodeiros]

@@grabbitt Thank you. Is the 30min/1hr reasonable for this scene? My machine has two video cards:
- AMD Radeon Pro 5500M 4 GB
- Intel UHD Graphics 630 1536 MB
Probably not the fastest out there but they should be alright.
What's your rendering time?

[@driodeiros]

After further inspection, it seems blender is not detecting my gpu. Bummer. So it is using my CPU.

[@vijayarunachalam93]

Hey,
Thanks for your wonderful tutorials as always.
I have done all the steps as you done.but unable to move the camera on circle path while dragging the key frame cursor.

[@grabbitt]

not sure what the problem is

[@vijayarunachalam93]

@@grabbitt found the issue
I have added circle from mesh rather than from curve.

[@Rutam7]

@@vijayarunachalam93 i had the same problem! Thanks for updating it really helped.

[@desiignurbano8466]

Hey Mr. Abbitt
Good day!
Can you please teach how did you get the video animated on your screen?
(first big on the middle of the screen and small on the bottom right corner)
Thanks in advance.

[@grabbitt]

i put them into an editing programme

[@nielgarzon3412]

thank you for the tutorial

[@grabbitt]

see my quick tips playlist

[@workingZen]

Cheers for the tutorial. Im getting an annoying frame jump everytime the video loops (might be how VLC loops) But doesnt seem seemless for me :P

[@grabbitt]

its probably vlc it should work just fine

[@tynskiy]

Nice material, thank you. I did a gif of my scene. Any idea how to make camera rotating in opposite direction (clockwise)? I found current rotation not natural.

[@grabbitt]

Graph editor

[@tynskiy]

@@grabbitt no clue what are you talking about :) Tried to google it, but it seems like a "big" tool for animation. I just wanted to switch camera direction. I'm learning blender by your videos, so I'm not advanced user yet (quite far to that to be honest), sorry. Thanks for response though.

[@harshakgamerz8276]

Can u pls make a video on how to create a day light scene.....the scenes which most of the cartoon movie uses.

[@jeric_synergy8581]

I think the current 2.8 as of 1/24/2020 may have changed the labels of some functions. I was unable to locate "Cycles Settings", but "Shadow Catcher" is under "OBJECT DATA/Visibility".

[@grabbitt]

Yes it's changed

[@rajdeepchakraborty3259]

since the output is on PNG, how to get it as a video file, like the one which is rotating on the side of your window. Output in PNG is giving me 100s of files.

[@grabbitt]

video editing programmes can paste them together

[@lizzsuarez1583]

HI! I love it!! is there one about lighting?

[@grabbitt]

yes. Fairly recent about how to make your renders look good

[@lizzsuarez1583]

@@grabbitt great! i'll check it! cuz, i did my turnaround, and i looks pretty good, thanks to your tutorial, but the lights? oh boy! they sucks xD and your example look so neat! I love it!

[@kreempa.i.8349]

Awesome! Is there a way to make it so the rotation never stops? It stops after just after one revolution

[@grabbitt]

when you playback the video just loop it

[@captainannaHK]

If I want to add a background photo and let the character stand on it and rotate, how can I do that? Please teach me. Your videos are very good. Well explained.

[@grabbitt]

Import image as planes add-on

[@soulbreaker011]

Hello Grant and thx for your tutorial . I followed the well one and after texturing i want To make a turntable. I followed this tutorial and everything look fine ( camera move in playback etc ) but when i do the rendering ( with the 250 png of ffpng ) i end up with a single view like the camera doesnt move . Any pointer where i did it wrong ? Cheers

[@grabbitt]

Check you camera is parented to your path

[@chamuvmg8650]

Hi There!Lovely video.
But i have a question.
How do we finally render the animation?

[@grabbitt]

f12

[@thebigtricky9156]

I'm trying to do a project to make a set and set up some techniques for making crater sets for tabletop gaming (3d printed). Not sure if you really do requests, but there literally no videos of anything like this online and that's where I usually start when doing something new to get some hints and ideas. Would love to see what you come up with. I'm practicing myself with using masks in sculpting.

[@grabbitt]

if you look at my realistic rock tutorial it's pretty much the same :)

[@thebigtricky9156]

@@grabbitt
will check that out, here was my 1st try though, mats added for effect. prntscr.com/mttjrv although I would say its not so much about the material side of it, I have SP, so could have done it easy mode 50 different ways, Its more about the sculpting methods which I am learning. As you can probably tell from the pic, I used a lot of creases, but I tried another method using just blobs in lines it is much better IMO, will show it later if you're interested. Cheers. I also didn't go for realistic rock look, I used some stylized methods as it kinda picks up on the techniques used to paint models, namely dry brushing.

[@alexmarin68]

how do you do the podium for the character, i've been trying to do it on my own but it doesn't look as smooth as yours

[@grabbitt]

just a subdivided cube

[@ragmayor]

thanks i am going to make a spinning toblerone

[@charlie113]

Hi Grant ! Thanks for for this great tutorial! I'm using Blender 2.92, followed step by step but when moving the timeline nothing happens (Camera not turning) Any idea? Thank you!

[@grabbitt]

It still works fine for me not sure sorry

[@ElveraViljoen]

Did you add the correct circle? I at first added the wrong one.

[@brokeforever]

Wait how do you actually export or render the video?

[@henryvasquez1814]

Hey Grant, when you export the turntable, do you still have to remove the background when you bring it to editing software, or you can just drop it in there and the background is already removed? I am using Camtasia but I have to do some background removal after rendering and exporting the video from blender and is not the cleanest. I will appreciate any help.

[@grabbitt]

Background is removed with the alpha channel

[@tejobhiru1092]

thank you for the amazing tutorials...
i have a query though... i am selecting the camera, followed by the circle, but the camera is not getting paired to it.. i saw the comments below but couldnt follow that part...
i am going wrong somewhere..isnt it..?

[@tejobhiru1092]

got it... !!! sorry for the premature query..!

[@grabbitt]

is it a curved circle or mesh

[@tejobhiru1092]

@@grabbitt i was using a mesh... however, i found the bizier circle and used it... and now all is well.. got the animation working just as shown in your video...
thanks a lot for the AWESOME tutorials ..!

[@sahil_0562]

Sar I have a problem . My default settings is changed so when I add a object it not come with pure rotation & location how I change my default settings.

[@grabbitt]

In the file settings i think you an reset

[@sahil_0562]

Ok I try

[@kingcricjid8222]

When i tried to render an animation for the monster tutorial it rendered all the frames but it wasnt a video just a bunch if frames, where did i go wrong

[@grabbitt]

See quick tips playlist