Chapter 16: How to Set Up a Scene
Setting up your scene can be compared to building a set for a television show. This is the point when you position each scene element such as the camera frame, the background elements and the characters.
Positioning the Camera
1. | Do one of the following: |
‣ | In the Timeline view, click the Add Layer button and select Camera. |
‣ | From the top menu, select Insert > Camera. |
A new camera layer is added to the scene and appears in the Timeline view.
1. | Display the Network view. |
2. | In the Module Library view, select a Camera module from the Favorites, Move or All Modules tab. |
3. | Drag the Camera module into the Network view. |
1. | In the Tools toolbar, disable the Animate mode. |
2. | Do one of the following: |
‣ | From the top menu, select Animation > Tools > Translate. |
‣ | In the Advanced Animation toolbar, click the Translate tool. |
‣ | Press Alt + 2. |
3. | In the Camera view, click on the camera frame to select it. You can also select the camera layer from the Timeline |
The selected camera frame is highlighted in purple.
4. | Drag the camera frame to a new position. |
5. | To tilt the camera frame, do one of the following to select the Rotate tool: |
‣ | From the top menu, select Animation > Tools > Rotate. |
‣ | In the Advanced Animation toolbar, select the Rotate tool. |
‣ | Pres Alt + 3. |
6. | In the Camera view, drag to rotate the camera frame until it reaches the desired rotation angle. |
Positioning Objects
1. | In the Tools toolbar, disable the Animate mode. |
2. | In the Tools toolbar, select the Transform tool or press Shift + T. |
3. | In the Tool Properties view, make sure the Peg Selection Mode is deselected. |
4. | In the Camera view, select a drawing layer and drag the selection to a new area. You can select multiple layers to reposition them at the same time. Press Shift and select the different layers. |
1. | In the Tools toolbar, disable the Animate mode. |
2. | In the Tools toolbar, select the Transform tool or press Shift + T. |
3. | In the Tool Properties view, make sure the Peg Selection Mode is deselected. |
4. | In the Camera view, select a drawing layer. |
5. | Place the pointer outside of a corner of the bounding box and drag to rotate. |
You can display a rotation handle on the bounding box when transforming a layer. In the Preferences dialog box, select the Camera tab and then select the Use Rotation Lever with Transformation Tools option. This preference is off by default.
1. | In the Tools toolbar, disable the Animate mode. |
2. | In the Tools toolbar, select the Transform tool or press Shift + T. |
3. | In the Transform Tool Properties view, make sure the Peg Selection Mode is deselected. |
4. | In the Camera view, select a drawing layer and pull or push on the size, top, or corner control point. Hold down Shift to lock the selection's aspect ratio. |
1. | In the Tools toolbar, disable the Animate mode. |
2. | In the Tools toolbar, select the Transform tool or press Shift + T. |
3. | In the Tool Properties view, make sure the Peg Selection Mode is deselected. |
4. | In the Camera view, select a drawing layer. |
5. | Place the cursor between two controls points and drag sideways or up and down. |
Repositioning the Pivot
Transformations, such as rotation, scale, skew and flip, are made relative to the pivot point position. You can reposition this pivot point anywhere using the advanced animation tools.
1. | In the Advanced Animation toolbar, select the Translate , Rotate , Scale , or Skew tool. |
2. | In the Camera view, Ctrl + click (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + click (Mac OS X) to select your element. |
The pivot point appears in the Camera view.
3. | Drag the pivot point to a new position. |
All transformations, including existing ones will be recalculated from this new pivot postion.