malty: Simple Camera Rig
  • Hey Miika. Thanks for your suggestion. Other people asked about the crane movement as well. I'm still not convinced, but will most definitely reconsider it. In fact, version 2.1 has been ready for some time now. I just lack the time to update the tutorials. Sad... I know. Good thing is there are few new features that will most certainly make you and other users happy. As for the crane and wiggle - I will think about it again. If I don't include it in the upcoming release I will most certainly create few tutorials explaining how to do it on your own.
    Great! If SCR will oneday have crane & dolly movement independent of the null it makes this RIG close to perfect.  I see both crane & dolly equally important, because both of these movements independent of the contro null would enable superior control to the camera movement. Anycase! Good to hear that there will be update coming :)

    As an addition I must say that if SCR would have crane&dolly movement as an option, what harm would it do? You could still animate the same movement with the nulle, but in some cases where you would need to control those movements individually SCR would enable you to do so :) That is the biggest benefit of a camera rig... the possibility to individiually control different movements of the camera.
  • Looking forward to 2.1 any idea when you plan to release the update. Is have a tutorial ready b4 release that crucial?
  • Looking forward to 2.1 any idea when you plan to release the update. Is have a tutorial ready b4 release that crucial?
    Not crucial, but I highly prefer it that way. Otherwise there's a ton of support tickets I have to respond to. On top of that there are few small features that I yet have to implement that I think would be super comfortable. Please be patient.
  • Not crucial, but I highly prefer it that way. Otherwise there's a ton of support tickets I have to respond to. On top of that there are few small features that I yet have to implement that I think would be super comfortable. Please be patient.
    No worries. The simple camera rig would have to be one of my most used scripts. Looking forward to the update. Is the option to bake out the camera and loose the rig still not on the table for this release? Hope to see that in a future update. Would make it easier so the rig itself doesnt get passed on to clients.

  • No worries. The simple camera rig would have to be one of my most used scripts. Looking forward to the update. Is the option to bake out the camera and loose the rig still not on the table for this release? Hope to see that in a future update. Would make it easier so the rig itself doesnt get passed on to clients.
    Actually - this one is :) And it's the one I still have to develop along with few smaller improvements. :)
  • One thing I have to mention once more is the crane & dolly movement :D I actually didnt even think about anyone needing anything like this. Why would anyone need it as you can already achieve the same end result with the control null? The first time I even thought about crane movement was when I saw a rig that had it. Even then my initial thought was, why would anyone have that kind of a feature on a rig... thinking that it would make using the rig confusing as the null wouldnt be aligned with the camera unless the value of the crane movement would be 0. Then I started thinking the situations where being able to move the camera independent of the null would come in handy and I started having a-ha moments. And I still keep dreaming of having that kind of control in SCR ;)
  • Even then my initial thought was, why would anyone have that kind of a feature on a rig... thinking that it would make using the rig confusing as the null wouldnt be aligned with the camera unless the value of the crane movement would be 0.
    That is exactly why I'm not convinced dolly/crane would be a good feature. It would be confusing. However...
    Then I started thinking the situations where being able to move the camera independent of the null would come in handy and I started having a-ha moments. And I still keep dreaming of having that kind of control in SCR ;)
    I already got a solution that allows more independence from the null expanding the level of control over the camera while maintaining aligned-and-confusion-free setup :) I really hope you'll like it.
  • Even then my initial thought was, why would anyone have that kind of a feature on a rig... thinking that it would make using the rig confusing as the null wouldnt be aligned with the camera unless the value of the crane movement would be 0.
    That is exactly why I'm not convinced dolly/crane would be a good feature. It would be confusing. However...
    Then I started thinking the situations where being able to move the camera independent of the null would come in handy and I started having a-ha moments. And I still keep dreaming of having that kind of control in SCR ;)
    I already got a solution that allows more independence from the null expanding the level of control over the camera while maintaining aligned-and-confusion-free setup :) I really hope you'll like it.
    Great if you have solution for this. To be honest with ya, if SCR would miss this/these features because some people would get confused would be so wrong :D I do understand that there is other issues like development time etc. People who dont want to get confused dont buy camera rigs to start with. Because SCR or any rig is confusing compared to the vanilla cam, if you dont look into how the rig should be used. Anycase expectations are high :D You should put these under some "ADVANCED CONTROLS" menu :D 
  • Sounds all great Jerzy, I'm really looking forward to the new version. Something else i thought of but i doubt there would be time to implement this version but maybe next one if haven't already thought of this in the new update anyway ;-), and that would be the option to create a 3d Null focus control in the positon of the control rig or selected layer. One thing i often do when it come to the DOP and focus is animated pull focus by creating a 3d Null. Then using iexpression i animate the position of the focus control null between the two selected layers on a slider ctrl.

    The alternative would be to have a control of the camera focus in the rig controler itself. If there was an option to create a 3d null on a selective layer or have focus control on the rig itself certainly would be great.

    The way video copilots sure targets works is pretty awesome. You select the all the layers you want to eventually focus on in a drop down menu (from memory there is about 10 layers you can allocate) if you want to focus on layer 1, using a slider select 1. If you want layer 5 to be in focus select 5 on the slider and animating is a simple case of keying the slider control. The simple camera rig would be very powerful if it had this type of control.
  • Sounds all great Jerzy, I'm really looking forward to the new version. Something else i thought of but i doubt there would be time to implement this version but maybe next one if haven't already thought of this in the new update anyway ;-), and that would be the option to create a 3d Null focus control in the positon of the control rig or selected layer. One thing i often do when it come to the DOP and focus is animated pull focus by creating a 3d Null. Then using iexpression i animate the position of the focus control null between the two selected layers on a slider ctrl.

    The alternative would be to have a control of the camera focus in the rig controler itself. If there was an option to create a 3d null on a selective layer or have focus control on the rig itself certainly would be great.

    The way video copilots sure targets works is pretty awesome. You select the all the layers you want to eventually focus on in a drop down menu (from memory there is about 10 layers you can allocate) if you want to focus on layer 1, using a slider select 1. If you want layer 5 to be in focus select 5 on the slider and animating is a simple case of keying the slider control. The simple camera rig would be very powerful if it had this type of control.
    I tend not to add features that are already easily achievable in AE itself. It obscures and overwrites default behavior which is always a bad design choice in my opinion.

    What you want to do is pretty easy in AE itself. Simply create the 3D Null and parent it to a target layer using Shift. That will parent the null and move it to the position of the target layer, giving you focus control relative to the targeted layer. Wouldn't that be enough?
  • Yes its easily achievable. I just find myself creating a null, making it 3d, parenting it to a selective layer and the animating its position to another layer everytime i am using the rig or alternatively i creating an aditional slider on the cam control so i can change the focus distance of the cam and animate that. Would be nice to have a quick way to select and animate between layers. A similar approach to the way sure target 2 does. http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorials/sure_target_2/ its just an idea. It would certainly speed up a couple of regularly repeated stept for me.
  • I understand adding a slider for that, but that does not animate along layers. It's just a "offset" value. If that is fine for you than I guess I can implement that. Probably I already did :) I honestly don't remember. One way or the other you can still animate the focus normally on the camera itself... i think? Or am I mixing published version with a memory of a beta I have at home? Don't know. Matrix inception :P Long story short - I remember thinking about improving the focusing mechanics and doing some tests. Don't remember if I already implemented them or not, but it was definietally on my ToDo list.
  • I understand adding a slider for that, but that does not animate along layers. It's just a "offset" value. If that is fine for you than I guess I can implement that. Probably I already did :) I honestly don't remember. One way or the other you can still animate the focus normally on the camera itself... i think? Or am I mixing published version with a memory of a beta I have at home? Don't know. Matrix inception :P Long story short - I remember thinking about improving the focusing mechanics and doing some tests. Don't remember if I already implemented them or not, but it was definietally on my ToDo list.

    You sound over worked Jerzy..lol I'll wait for the upcoming release and we can go from there. Im sure the new versions will be great either way. Simple camera rig is one of my top 2 fav scripts.
  • Hello ! I am working on a Mac and the Script also does not run. I copied ALL files to the Script folder, but when I start
    the script and after pressing "OK" to the error message which you said is normal since CC, I only get 4 Nulls and your Camera 
    but no Controler. So I cant work... :/ Thanks for help !!
  • I also checked, that the "PresetEffects.xml" allows read and write for everybody, but it still dies not work...

  • You sound over worked Jerzy..lol I'll wait for the upcoming release and we can go from there. Im sure the new versions will be great either way. Simple camera rig is one of my top 2 fav scripts.
    Yes I am, but I love making things that matter, make sense and simply work. :) You'll be happy to know that I've just checked the code and I did put something in the new release for better focus control. Your request makes sense and it wasn't to difficult to modify what I had into what you wanted. Same functionality, but handled bit differently. Still... It's there. Hope you'll like it.

    I would love to see the works you did using the rig. No one ever sends me links to the stuff they did using the rig :(
  • Hello ! I am working on a Mac and the Script also does not run. I copied ALL files to the Script folder, but when I start
    the script and after pressing "OK" to the error message which you said is normal since CC, I only get 4 Nulls and your Camera 
    but no Controler. So I cant work... :/ Thanks for help !!
    Hey Konrad. Seems to me like you're trying to open up an old project with the Rig already in it. Otherwise you would not get the Error message. Maybe you've got two versions of the Rig conflicting with each other? I've seen simmilar situations before and it was usually something on the users workstation. Other times I've found actual bugs and I've removed them. It's been a long time since anyone reported this kind of error. Could you describe step by step what you're doing?
  • OK, I have downloaded Camera Rig for the first tim two weeks ago and I got this Error Report. Than I tried to unzip the .ace-Files,
    but I saw in your tutorial, that I would not need to. So I downloaded your script again, to be sure, that the Unpacking-Action did not do
    anything disturbing to the original files, but again, I got this error report. I really do not know, what I could have done wrong. 
    If I open now a new project, I get the same error... 
  • Installing Step by Step: I downloaded the file, than copied four files- the two .ace -Files, the .png and the .jsx File to the
    Scripts Folder of After Effects. I run your script by loading it over the Pop-Up Menu. I checked that After Effects allows 
    scripts to write and have network access... and than I only get the four Nulls, one Cam and this Error message. :D - also in a 
    new project, where I did not use your script before... Thanks for help !!
  • Installing Step by Step: I downloaded the file, than copied four files- the two .ace -Files, the .png and the .jsx File to the
    Scripts Folder of After Effects. I run your script by loading it over the Pop-Up Menu. I checked that After Effects allows 
    scripts to write and have network access... and than I only get the four Nulls, one Cam and this Error message. :D - also in a 
    new project, where I did not use your script before... Thanks for help !!
    Which error message is that exactly? Could we move the discussion to the Support? Go to Support > Contact and than click "No thanks, I want a new support ticket". We'll work it out.
  • WORKS alright !!! Thanks a lot for helping !!! For anybody, who might ask himself, what happened: I did not include subfolders when copying and had a folder, which I named by myself... ! :D 
  • Yes. Always, always extract files as they are in the Zip. Nothing more, nothing less. Most problems with any scripts (not only mine) that use multiple files is not extracting them correctly.
  • This is probably one of the best plug ins around! Thank you!!
  • This is probably one of the best plug ins around! Thank you!!
    Thank YOU! This means a lot. I've worked hard on it. The greatest tools are the ones you first make for yourself, as it is with this one. Update coming soon.
  • Now I worked with it a little and must say WOW ! It is so great to work with ! Amazing !! Thank you !! 
  • I just purchased Malty simple camera Rig and Ft-toolbar but no discount was given.  How to remedy?
  • I just purchased Malty simple camera Rig and Ft-toolbar but no discount was given.  How to remedy?
    Did you enter the promo code? After entering the code and clicking Apply you should see the prices change. If they didn't than I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do about it. Please contact site administrator with this issue. 
  • Hi Jerzy, why cant I download the latest version Of malty cam that I purchased in 2013? 

    I'm on CC now and V1 doesn't seem to be working properly 
  • Hi Jerzy, why cant I download the latest version Of malty cam that I purchased in 2013? 

    I'm on CC now and V1 doesn't seem to be working properly 
    I wish I knew. Anything related to sales and downloads is out of my reach. I just write the scripts and make them do what they do - the awesome magic :) If there's a problem with the downloads please direct them at the site admin using the Support tab at the top of the page.
  • Hey Jerzy,

    i've experiencing some problems with your camera rig in combination with sure target.

    I set up element 3d (a cube and a sphere, each in another group, then i created for each of them a corresponding null objekt). 

    Then I opened your script by pressing shift+alt+control, so that the rig and sure target is beeing created at the same time. 

    Then I set the targets (null 1 for the cube and null 2 for the sphere) inside sure target and made a quick keyframe from 1 to 2 (from the cube to the sphere).

    strange enough, the nulls move as they should when i go through the animation, but the 3d objects themselves dont (as if the camera isn't moving at all). It seems like element 3d is not listening to the malty: rigged camera.  When I go into camControls and do a track oder a bank, that works fine. But Sure Target doesn't work.

    Is there a common issue with sure target, your rig and after effects cc 2015?

    Please reply, I don't know what to do....

    Greetz!
  • Aaaah yesssss. The new and improved AE CC 2015. I hate that thing. I knew you were on it the moment you said "the nulls move as they should when i go through the animation, but the 3d objects themselves dont". It's not the problem with the rig, or with sure target, or with AE itself. It's just that the new and improved rendering engine of AE CC 2015 tends to show you interface updates before it updates the render. If you can see the outline of the nulls change position, than the camera is moving and everything works as expected. The fact that you don't see and updated render may be that you didn't wait long enough for it to update, or AE got lost on the way of calculating it. There's really nothing I can say for sure, other than the rigged camera is a regular camera like every single one you create by yourself. Element or sure target do not see any difference, because there is none, so they can't be "confused" by it. The only thing that makes sense to me, is that the new and improved rendering engine of AE CC 2015 has a different order of operations or something like that, which is causing strange things. I've noticed it on many different occasions when the rig wasn't even used. I still use CC 2014 myself as (I'm sorry to say that) it's the last reliable version in my opinion. I wish there was something I could do to help you but I see no option. Still - you can do a simple test. Create the same setup but without Element. Just use regular 3D layers (text or whatever) and see if sure target and the rig will work as expected. I bet they will.

    Let me know how it goes. Good luck. And thanks for using my rig. :)
  • Hey Deepak. I don't know why, but I got your message in my mailbox, but I can't see it here. Why don't you post a support ticket and we can work it out. Just as a quick response let me say that I have nothing to do with the licensing system itself - it is provided by AeScripts, so you did good by contacting site admin. No one ever reported the problem you were having to me before, but I was made aware of it by site admin. My guess for now is to turn off your antivirus for one minute during installation and see if it works. Still - contact me via support ticket and we'll see what we can do. Hope that helps.
  • Hi guys, I have a problem, the serial not work in my AfterEffects.... I used CameraRig for several months but the last days the Serial doesn't work. What's happened ?
  • Got the same problem as Jose. Started AE, wanted to use my already licensed Rig and now the licensing window pops up, asks for serial and after entering, it says its not valid.
  • Same here - tells me my license it not valid... :-(
  • Same here - tells me my license it not valid... :-(
    After contacting the support we break it down to an AV/Firewall-Issue. Just deactivate those things while entering the license!
  • I'm in the trial period of the tool. I notice that when I use the rig, my Unified Camera Tool doesn't work. If I have a traditional camera layer and temporarily turn the malty layers off, my UCT starts working normally, but when I have both a camera layer + malty, it starts getting weird. I want to buy your tool, but not being able to look around and see what I'm doing within malty is a dealbreaker. Am I doing something completely wrong here?

    This occurs on both Windows versions of 2015.3 and 2017.
  • Any chance of updating for cc 2017
  • Any chance of updating for cc 2017
    What do you mean? It is working in 2017.


  • Any chance of updating for cc 2017

    What do you mean? It is working in 2017.

    Yeah working for me ok in CC2017 :)
  • I had to manually install in AE2017.  But it's still not working.  And, unfortunately, Malty's Vimeo vids aren't playing any more.  *shrug*

    Any change you could post a quick step-by-step text file on how to manually install?  Please.  I live by this script and would hate to lose it.

    I'm running on a Mac under Sierra.


    Thank you.

  • RTFM!  
    Got it to work but it's not executing the final Shying of the control layers.  No big deal.

    Like I said.  Love this script.  I live by it and would love to see an update or added features. 

    Thanks,
  • I'm a bit confused... What do you mean, the Vimeo videos aren't playing? They are. Just double checked on different devices without being logged in.
    Also... what do you mean by "manual install"? I admit that the installation video is out of date, but then there's the "What's new" video that explains the new installation process, which only requires you to copy the files over (just like any other script).

    On top of that: " it's not executing the final Shying of the control layers ". What's up with that?

    Still... glad you like it. Thank you for your trust in my solution. I use it myself everyday :)
    There's an update coming out soon.
  • SCM seems not to work with sure target as described in the tutorial.
    Any workaround or alternative for such complex camera movements?

    Thanks
  • I just had to completely reinstall my Adobe stuff  on both computers.  No idea what was happening back in Jan but SCR installed perfectly on both iMacs.  *shrug*  
    As for the vids, back in Jan, Vimeo gave me an error message when I tried to play them. File not found kinda error.  But they play fine now.   Again *shrug*

    Really looking forward to the update.

    Thanks Malty!
    -Kevin

    I'm a bit confused... What do you mean, the Vimeo videos aren't playing? They are. Just double checked on different devices without being logged in.
    Also... what do you mean by "manual install"? I admit that the installation video is out of date, but then there's the "What's new" video that explains the new installation process, which only requires you to copy the files over (just like any other script).

    On top of that: " it's not executing the final Shying of the control layers ". What's up with that?

    Still... glad you like it. Thank you for your trust in my solution. I use it myself everyday :)
    There's an update coming out soon.

  • I'm getting an error in AE 2017. It says that it seems some files are missing and to install the contents of the zip file. I installed all the contents of the zip file into my AE Scripts folder, and I am still getting the error. Can you please help me? I need your rig desperately this weekend...

    Thanks for your help!
    Suzanne
  • I'm getting an error in AE 2017. It says that it seems some files are missing and to install the contents of the zip file. I installed all the contents of the zip file into my AE Scripts folder, and I am still getting the error. Can you please help me? I need your rig desperately this weekend...

    Thanks for your help!
    Suzanne
    I'm sorry I missed your message Suzanne. Hope you solved the problem. Next time please use the Support Ticket - that's what they are for. Anyway... If you are on a Mac, they tend not to respect the fonder structure when unpacking a ZIP file. That is what might have happened. If you're on a Window machine then the same problem might occure when using 3rd-party program like WinRAR. Hard to say what is wrong, but it might be two things - system (software) or user error. After unpacking you should see some files, and a folder with some more files. The exact structure is in the readme file in the zip itself.

    Let me know if you solved it.
  • Having the same issue in CC2017 that Suzanne described in the previous comment. Despite installing Simple Camera Rig correctly, and making sure "Allow Scripts to Write Files and Access Network" was checked, I keep getting the "It seems some files are missing..." error. I know it's worked perfectly in the past, but now... not so much. Any help would he appreciated!

    Also, in your reply to Suzanne, you mentioned using a "Support Ticket."  Where's that?

    Thanks!
  • Quick question...whats the best way to have a camera come to a stop after a move? My first inclination was to keyframe the movement speed to 0, but that returned the camera to the initial starting position...

    What am I missing?

    yes it did. as explained in the tutorial you don't want to animate the speed parameters. if you do, you should only animate them up, so, from 0 to 30 for example, not the other way around. the best way to do what you're looking for is to keyframe the parameters you're interested in. you can also keyframe the position of the camControls layer itself. you can do that even though there are expressions applied. just don't turn them off.
    How do you do this? You must be able to 'STOP' the movment of the camera. I can not keyframe any of the 'expressioned' parameters in red. I want a full stop but it jusrt keeps moving.
    Its a great script, but this has got me pulling my hair out!!!!

    Cheers,

    Phil