Linearize Path (Edit)

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Linearize Path (Edit)

This phase turns the camera/object path, over a specific range of frames, into a perfectly straight line. This can be used when the camera was on a dolly—and you are confident that the dolly was straight.

Also, notice that unless the nodal point of the camera lens is exactly located at the center of rotation of the tripod or camera mount, changes in the camera orientation will cause changes in the position of the camera that cause the camera path to not be straight, even on a perfectly straight dolly track. (The nodal point may be inside or outside the lens, see http://www.johnhpanos.com/epcalib.htm for example for help locating it.)

You can specify the camera/object, the range of frames over which to straighten the path, and the number of frames of blending in and out at the end of the range of frames.

Note that straightening the path is not the same as making the camera travel at a constant speed. The camera path will still have a varying velocity as it moves along the (straight) camera path. The velocity curves will not be flat. For example, the camera might start at one end of the dolly, travel to the other end, slow, reverse direction, and return to the original position. The Linearize phase accommodates this, producing a geometrically straight camera path, even though the camera moves at varying velocities along it.

Use Add/Clear Path Locks to copy the solved path to the seed path, if you want to re- solve after linearizing. This is generally a good idea, as part of a flow that solves the shot, linearizes the necessary portion, locks the translation, then re-solves (with Constrain on!) for the rotation axes for the straightened path.

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