Camera handling is one of the most important parts of animation.

Using an arsenal of
little camera effects and tricks, we can achieve very dramatic results.

In this tutorial we will learn a few camera handling techniques to make our animations
more believable and have a greater impact on the viewer. We will also learn a bit about
Blender’s particle systems too.

Final Effect Preview

Note: click the ‘Monitor’ icon to view tutorial in full-screen HD.

Scene 1: Shaking Camera Effect

Step 1
Erase everything. Press “spacebar” in the 3D view and add a Cube. Add a plane and
scale it up a bit.

Step 2
Add a camera and place it close to plane to make the view more dramatic. Press “0″ on
the numpad to check the camera view. The cube should not enter into the camera view.
Step 3
Go to the side view by pressing “3″ on the numpad. Press “shift” + the right arrow to go
to frame 1. Select the cube and press “I” and click on “LocRot” to insert a keyframe.

Step 4
Press the up arrow twice to move to frame 21. Insert a keyframe. Press the right arrow 4
times to go to frame 25. Grab the cube and place it on the plane. Insert another
keyframe. Press “shift” + the left arrow to go to frame 1. Press “alt” + “a” to play the
animation. Press “esc” any time to stop playing the animation.
Step 5
Download the script from: http://mke3.net/projects/bpython/Constraint_Noise-1.0.py.
This script gives random movement to any object’s location, rotation, and
scale. Split the 3d view. Change one view to the “Text Editor”. Open and load the
script.
Step 6
Select the camera. Press “F7″ to go to the “Constraints” panel. Add a
“Constraint” > “Script”. In the “Script” menu, choose our script and type the object
name “Camera”. Go to frame 1 and press “alt” + “a” to see the script in action.
Step 7
Now we will customize our script according to our animation. Press the “Option”
button. Use the settings in the image below. Play the animation, and you will see much
less noise in the movement and rotation, but we still need the camera to only shake
when the cube hits the plane. In the next few steps we will take care of this.
Step 8
With the camera selected, go to frame 1 by pressing “shift” + the left arrow, and move
the “Influence” slider to 0.00. Press the “Key” button to add a keyframe to the
“Influence” value for the constraint. Go to frame number 24, just before the cube hits
the plane, and with the “Influence” slider set to 0.00, press the “Key” button.

Step 9
On frame 25, when the cube touches the plane, move the “Influence” slider up
to full and press the “Key” button.

Step 10
Go to frame 28 and press the “Key” button once again.
Step 11
Now we will stop the camera shake. Go to frame 35 and set the “Influence” slider
back to 0.00 and press the “Key” button. Go to frame 1, play the animation, and enjoy
the effect!

Step 12
You can also move and adjust the keyframes in the “NLA” editor.
Scene 2: Multiple Objects Flying at the Camera

Step 1
This is not a continuation of the above steps. We will look at a completely new scene
here. Create a new scene. Press “spacebar” in the 3D view and add a camera. Add a
plane too.
Step 2
Scale the plane into a rectangle and place it facing the camera.

Step 3
Select the plane by right clicking, and press the “Object” context button in the
“Buttons” window, or press “F7″.
Step 4
Press “Particle buttons” to bring out the “Particle System” panel, and press the “Add
New” button.

Step 5
Go to frame 1, by pressing “shift” + the right arrow, and press “alt” + “a” to play the
animation. You will see that nothing happens, so increase the “Normal” value to 25 in
the “Physics” panel.

Step 6
Go to frame 1 and press “alt” + “a”. You will now see particles emitting towards the
camera from the plane . If the particles are flowing in the opposite direction, just rotate
the plane 180 degrees.

Step 7
Now make the particles into a solid mesh. You can make them look like any mesh, but
here we will make them into cubes. Add a cube.
Step 8
Select the plane and, under “Particle System” in the “Visualization” panel, select
“Object”. Type in the name of the mesh object. In this case it’s “Cube”.

Step 9
Now what we have is another cube. Press “alt” + “a” to preview the animation. The
particles are now in the shape of cubes, and are coming out of the second cube.
Step 10
Press “esc” any time to stop playing the animation. Select the cube and position it so
that the particles fly towards the camera. Check the camera view, and scale them down
or up accordingly.
Step 11
Select the camera. Repeat steps 5,6,7, and 8 from the first segment of this tutorial. In
other words, assign the script to the camera, set the values, and keyframe the
“Influence” value to 0.00 at frame 1.

Step 12
Go to the frame where the particles come just before the camera.
Step 13
Once again, with the “Influence” set to 0.00, press “Key”.
Step 14
In the next frame, move the “Influence” slider to the maximum, and press the “Key”
button. Go back to frame 1, press “alt” + “a”, and enjoy the ride! In a longer camera
shake, you can keyframe the “Influence” slider with different values in between, so that
the animation will look more natural.
Scene 3: Hand-held Camera Effect

Step 1
This is not a continuation of the above steps. We are making a
completely new scene here. Once again, use the same script as before, and assign it to
the camera with the settings below. Press “0″ on the numpad for the camera view, and
“alt” + “a” to play the animation. Enjoy! Please note that all constraint settings may
differ according to the size of the scene and objects. Feel free to play with the settings
as you see fit.
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Model, Texture, and Render a Photorealistic Kitchen in
Blender and Yafaray
Karan Shah on Jul 8th 2009 with 118 comments
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In this 96 step mega-tutorial, you will go through all the motions necessary to construct
a complete, photorealistic kitchen scene in Blender, and then render it with Yafaray (a
free ray tracing, open source rendering engine). Make sure that you have Yafaray and
Python 2.5 installed. For more information on installation check out www.yafaray.org.

Final Effect Preview

Step 1

Press “a” to select all default objects (cube, camera, and light) and then press delete.
Step 2

With the mouse in the 3D view, press “Space”, and add a plane.

Step 3

Scale the Plane along the ‘X’ axis, by pressing “S”, then “X”, and moving the mouse.
Left click the mouse to release.
Step 4

Press “TAB” to enter into ‘edit’ mode. Then press “B”, and drag select the vertices on
the right.

Step 5
Press “E” to extrude the selected edge. Move the mouse along the ‘X’ axis, and press
“ctrl” while moving. You can also use the widget arrows to move.

Step 6

Extrude the edges of the plane to get the “C” shape as shown.

Step 7

Select all of the vertices by pressing “A”, and extrude the region to an adequate height.
Step 8

Press “TAB” to get out of ‘edit’ mode, then select the mesh, and press “shift + D” to
duplicate it. Scale it down along the ‘Z’ axis. This new object will be the top slab.

Step 9

Place the slab right on the top of the base. Pull out the faces a bit to make it slightly
bigger than the base, then press “Tab” to exit ‘edit’ mode.
Step 10

For the sink, add a cylinder with 16 vertices. Make sure you are in the top view.

Step 11

In ‘edit’ mode, select all of the vertices, as shown, and delete them.
Step 12

Extrude the vertices. This will be the corner of the sink.

Step 13

Press “F9″ to bring out the “Editing” panels. Add a “Mirror” modifier.
Step 14

Enable both ‘X’ and ‘Y’ “Mirror” settings.

Step 15
In ‘edit’ mode, adjust the position and scale of the vertices, to form a base for the sink.
Bring the extreme vertices together, and press “Do Clipping” in the “Mirror” modifier
panel. This will make the center vertices stick together.

Step 16

Press “Tab” to get out of ‘edit’ mode, then press “Apply” in the “Mirror” modifier
panel.
Step 17

Again, in ‘edit’ mode, select all of the vertices (“A”), and press “shift + F” to fill the
mesh. Then press “alt + J” to make quad faces.
Step 18

Select all of the vertices and extrude them, shaping it into a sink.

Step 19

Select the topmost faces and delete them.

Step 20

Hit “alt + Right click” on the last edge to select an edge loop. Extrude it downwards,
and then exit ‘edit’ mode.

Step 21

Cut a hole in the slab for the sink, by selecting the slab, entering ‘edit’ mode, and
pressing “ctrl + r” to loop cut. Cut it twice.
Step 22

Select the new top face, and press “e” to extrude. Now press “Esc” to exit extrude, and
leave the new face in place. Extrude this face downwards.

Step 23

Select the unwanted face (the lower face of the slab) and delete it.
Step 24

Place the sink on to the slab. Adjust the vertices of the slab accordingly, and delete the
unwanted face of the base mesh.

Step 25

Create the tap as shown, and then add a “subsurf” modifier to it. Place it near the sink.
Step 26

For the stove, start with a cube.

Step 27

Extrude the front and bottom face. Loop cut the cube once.
Step 28

Extrude the new face at the top, and translate the edge to get the shape right.
Step 29

Add two new cubes, scale them, and then move them closer to the main body.
Step 30

Extrude the front face of the lower cube, and then scale it down.

Step 31

Extrude this same face again, and push it slightly inward.

Step 32

Construct the handle from a cylinder as shown, and then move it into position.
Step 33

Add a cylinder, and loop cut it once.

Step 34

Select the new faces, by pressing “alt + right click” to loop select, and then extrude
them.
Step 35

Build the following shape from a box as shown.

Step 36

In the top view ( num pad 7), place the 3D pointer in front of this new shape.

Step 37

Press “F9″ to bring up the “Edit” buttons. In the ‘Mesh Tools’ panel, increase the
“Degr” value to ’360′, the “Steps” to ’5′, enable “clockwise”, and finally press the “Spin
Dup” button.
Step 38

Click on the 3D view, and there will be five duplicates in a circular pattern. Make sure
you are in the top view.

Step 39

Select all of the vertices by pressing “A”, and then press the “remove double” button to
remove any extra duplicated vertices.
Step 40

Place the two parts together as shown.

Step 41

Add a cylinder. Extrude its top, scale it down, and then extrude it inwards.
Step 42

Put all of the parts together, and then re-size the cylinder. Press “ctrl + j” to combine the
parts, and make them one single object.

Step 43

Place this new piece on the top of the stove (it will be the burner…if you hadn’t already
noticed:P). Duplicate it three times and place the burners accordingly. Scale two of
them down.
Step 44

Construct the knob using a cylinder and a cube joined together. Duplicate it three times.
Step 45

Place the stove into position, and scale it accordingly.

Step 46

Duplicate the base, and move the vertices to make it thinner.

Step 47

Delete the four vertices as shown.

Step 48

Loop cut the front portion twice.

Step 49

Loop cut it again horizontally, and delete the edge as shown. This will be the space for
exhaust.

Step 50

Select four Vertices, or two opposite edges, and then press “F” to a make face.
Step 51

Add a cube, scale it down vertically, and place it above the stove.

Step 52

Loop cut the cube, and then push the top vertices in.
Step 53

Add another cube, and scale it in on one axis. This will become the doors of the
cabinets.

Step 54

Add another cube, and scale it to make the handle. This should be a separate object.
Step 55

Press “B” to activate the “select” tool. Now drag select both objects, and then press
“shift + D” to duplicate and place them around the upper shelf. Scale them accordingly.
Step 56

Duplicate them again to make the doors for the lower base. You can make drawers too
if you like. The handles should be at the top for the doors on the lower base.
Step 57

Start adding walls. Add a plane, and re-size it accordingly.

Step 58

Extrude the edges of the plane.

Step 59

To cut a window, select the face of the wall and extrude it, by pressing “E” to extrude,
then immediately pressing “esc”, and then scaling it down. Position it where you want
the window.
Step 60

Delete the face.

Step 61
Construct the window frame from boxes as shown.

Step 62

Now place it onto the wall.

Step 63

Add more planes for the floor and ceiling.

Step 64

Add a camera, and a “sun light”. Point the light direction as if it were entering through
the window.
Step 65

Time to start adding materials. Press “F5″ to bring out the “materials” panel in the
“button” window.

Step 66
Select the slab, and press the “Add New” button, in the “texture” panel. Don’t bother
about editing the color, or any of the other details for the material settings. There are
separate material settings under the “Yafaray” rendering options. Colors, gloss, and
other attributes will be defined there. Just add an image texture in the Blender materials,
and name this material “slab”.

Step 67

Press “F6″ to bring out the “texture” panels. Select “Image” under “Texture Type”.
Step 68

Load the image you want to assign for the slab. A Dark green marble will be good.

Step 69
Similarly, assign a wood texture image to the cabinet, and name the material “wood”

Step 70

To assign the same material to different objects, select the object, and in the “material”
panel, press the arrow button on the left hand side of the “Add New” button, and then
select the texture from the list to assign it.

Step 71
Assign a different wood image texture to the floor, and name it “Floor”. For the rest of
the objects (like metal) where no images are required, the materials will be assigned
under the “Yafaray” material settings.

Step 72

Split the 3D view in two. From the “Render” menu, select “YafaRay Export”, and you
should get the “Yafaray” button window.

Step 73
Select the “Sun Lamp” in the 3D view. Press the “Object/Light/Camera” button in the
“YafaRay” button panel. Select “Sun”, increase the power to 2.0, and change the color.

Step 74

Select the floor mesh, then press the “Material” button in the “Yafaray” button window,
and press “From active object”.
Step 75

Bellow the “Refresh Preview” button, under the settings panel, select “Glossy” as the
material type. Turn the “Glossy reflection”, and “Exponent” sliders up a bit.

Step 76

Similarly, set the materials for all of wooden cabinets.

Step 77

Use a “coated_glossy” material for the slab. The new “IOR” value will give it a mirror
like reflection, in addition to the gloss. Always be sure to add and name the materials in
Blender first, and then press “From active object” in the “Yafaray options”, so the
material will be added using the same name in the “Yafaray” material list.
Step 78

Add a “shinydiffusemat” material for the wall.

Step 79

Set a “coated_glossy” material type for the sink, tap, chimney, cabinet handles, and
stove (but a lighter one for the the sink and tap).
Step 80

Select the front face of the oven in ‘edit’ mode, and press “P” to make it a separate
object.
Step 81

Add new material in the Blender “material” panel, and name it “glass”. Select the new
object, and press “From active object” in the “Yafaray” material settings. Use
“shinydiffusemat” as the material type, and give it a dark colour, and a bit of mirror
strength and transparency.

Step 82

Add a black material to the stove burner and knobs.

Step 83

Press the “Settings” button in the “Yafaray” window, and change “Direct mapping” to
“Photon mapping”.

Step 84

With the rest of the settings untouched, press the “Render” button in the “Yafaray”
window. This is just to check the results we get with the default settings of photon
mapping. You should get something noisy, as depicted below.
Step 85

Under the “Photon settings”, enable “Use background”. This will use the background’s
light and colour values. Under the “Background settings” select “Single Color”, and
choose a sky blue color.
Step 86

Before rendering any other image, enable “Clay Render” under the general settings
options. This will discard all of the material options, and render all objects with one
single material, which will make the rendering a bit faster, and help you to check your
lighting and shadows before doing the final render.
Step 87

Push “Render” to see the difference. “Yafaray” should now use the color and light
values from the background, but it should still have noise.
Step 88

Under the “AA settings” increase the “AA sample” to ’6′, and set the type to “mitchell”.
Step 89

Press “Render”, and the results should look much better.

Step 90

To correct the light leaks in the corners, increase “Photons” to ’1000000′ or more, and
“Diff.radius” to ’4′. To further reduce the noise, increase the “FG samples” to ’96′.

Step 91
Now the result should be much richer, and less noisy.

Step 92

Turn off “clay render”, and render again.

Step 93

Add an ‘Area Light’ just outside the window, facing inwards, and few ‘lamps’ under the
top cabinets.

Step 94

Do a quick clay render, and notice the difference between this image and the last clay
render.
Step 95

Turn off “Clay render” to see the new results with the materials applied.
Step 96

Now you can play with the different materials, colors, and light settings…
Step 97

until you are totally happy with your results!

Final Effect

Hope you enjoyed this tut!!