Using UE5’s Cinematic Editor

Name: Using UE5’s Cinematic Editor
Author: Ken Geary

Explore camera rigs, animated focus, and virtual production

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Course: On-Demand

Hello. Welcome to this lesson in Unreal Engine. In this lesson, we will learn how to add a camera rig in Unreal Engine. Open the intermediate project. Then open a starter content, maps, double click StarterMap. We just needed a quick scene with some elements to view with our camera. Save Current Level As in our maps folder, save this level as Cinematic. Next open the project settings and set the defaults to this level. Now let's add a camera we can control. Go to Create, Cinematic, Cine Camera Actor. We will leave the camera where it is for now but note the camera preview window in the view port. This gives us a view from any selected camera in your level. You could add as many cameras as you'd like. We'll work with one camera for this lesson. We could set up an animation sequence and add this camera to the sequence and animate it's position and rotation. But if we want to emulate a real studio camera crane rig, we can add a crane to our level. Go to Create, Cinematic, Camera Crane Rig. This rig crane is a blueprint driven asset with functionality already added to it. Drag the crane to one end of your level and rotate it to point to the center. You can delete any objects that are in the way. Select the camera, click F to frame it and hold down the shift key and the view will move with the camera. Move the camera under the end of the crane. Then use the E key and rotate the camera to face the middle of the level. To connect the camera to the crane, right click and select 'attached to'. You'll see an eye dropper widget in the view port. Click the eye dropper and select the crane. In the details panel, scroll down to the crane control section. Let's see what each control does. Click and drag within a crane pitch value window and see how the camera appears to move up and down. Also notice the crane rigs keeps the camera level as it rises. Adjust the Yaw which is the side to side rotation of the crane. Again, the camera stays oriented at the same direction as the crane rotates. Click and drag the value in the crane arm length. This moves the camera towards or away from the subject. If you wanna lock the camera to track an object, select the camera, under the look at tracking settings, click to enable, 'look at tracking'. Then click the eyedropper in the 'actor to track' section. We'll click the fire as our focus subject. Now select the rig crane once more and adjust the pitch to 75 degrees, viewer to zero, and extend the arm length until you have an overhead view of the fire. You can change to the camera view in the view port by clicking a perspective icon and selecting 'CineCameraActor'. Now adjust the crane arm length back and forth and see how a dramatic camera move can easily be created. To go back to the default view, select the prospective icon, then first select cinematic view port, then the default view port. Save All. Save selected. In the next lesson, We're gonna learn how to animate a camera focus in Unreal Engine. Thanks for watching.

Intermediate Provider : Ken Geary 3 Lessons · 24m in Arabic, German, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese

Course Description

In these lessons, you will learn how to add a camera rig crane and attach a Cine camera to it. You will also explore how to animate camera focus and import video clips for virtual production.

In real-world film and video production, a camera crew will use various rigs to make the camera travel around the scene being filmed. One such rig is known as a crane rig. Unreal Engine 5 has a similar-functioning rig you can use for to film cinematic camera moves. Learn to add a crane rig and attach a Cine camera to it, then create an animation sequence that moves the rig to follow individual objects in the camera focus.

You’ll also create a virtual studio that can play a video clip as a special media player texture on any object or surface in Unreal Engine 5.

Learning Objectives

• Understand how to use a camera crane rig

• Understand cine camera lens settings

• Create a special media player material and texture

• Stream a video clip into the media player

What You'll Learn

Add a camera crane rig and attach a Cine camera to it in Unreal Engine 5
Configure Cine camera lens settings for cinematic shots
Animate camera focus by creating a sequence that moves the rig to follow individual objects
Create a special media player material and texture for virtual production
Stream a video clip into the media player to play on any object or surface

Key Takeaways

Unreal Engine 5 includes a crane rig that functions similarly to a real-world camera crane used to make a camera travel around a filmed scene.
You can attach a Cine camera to the crane rig and create an animation sequence that moves the rig to follow individual objects in the camera focus.
A virtual studio can be built in Unreal Engine 5 to play a video clip as a special media player texture on any object or surface.
The course covers using a camera crane rig, Cine camera lens settings, and creating and streaming into a media player material and texture.

Frequently Asked Questions

What will I learn in this course?

You will learn how to add a camera rig crane and attach a Cine camera to it, animate camera focus, configure cine camera lens settings, and create a media player material and texture that streams a video clip onto objects or surfaces for virtual production in Unreal Engine 5.

What topics does this course cover?

The course covers three lessons: Camera Rigs, Adding Camera Focus, and Virtual Production.

How does Unreal Engine 5's crane rig relate to real-world film production?

In real-world film and video production, a crane rig is used to make the camera travel around the scene being filmed. Unreal Engine 5 has a similar-functioning rig you can use to film cinematic camera moves.

What skills does this course help build?

It supports skills including cinematography, film editing, linear video editing, multiple-camera production, video editing, and video editing software.