Tutorial: Making a Physics-Based FPV Camera Rig in Blender

[@ShantanuAryan67]

You can also add positive force field to the trees so your drone auto avoids crashing into them

[@Polyfjord]

Omg amazing!!! That’s a fantastic idea

[@semydev]

You don’t know how much this helped me for my project!

[@NezarecSh]

I've been using blender for the past 5 years and I can say I'm pretty good at it. Yet somehow, I ALWAYS learn something new from your videos, no matter what. Your workflow is incredibly creative, I adore it ❤

[@WW_Studios]

Same!! So good!!!

[@glitchpulver1337]

I have been keyframing cameras to make this effect before, taking me hours of tweaking. This is a gamechanger! THANK YOU 💥

[@epicawesomesauceguy]

ah man, this is a perfect addition to the "The Photorealism Mindset: What About The Physical Camera?" speech you did. insane stuff

[@Polyfjord]

Thanks!! Yes it was supposed to come out around the same time, but I got hit with a cold right after bcon :(

[@newrockboy1553]

Finally, I've wondering how i could do this after watching you showcase this in your Photorealism presentation at the Blender Conference. Thanks for the tutorial!

[@cstskater1345]

Saying this as an fpv racer. This looks quite convincing. Awesome work

[@Polyfjord]

Nice!! I'm glad to hear that

[@ych7064]

Needs a little camera banking at turns, don't you think? Nevertheless, an awesome tutorial especially building in all those 'imperfections' to make it so real.

[@cstskater1345]

Well it looks like right out of gyroflow with horizon lock enabled

[@limaplay7142]

@@ych7064 i think so too

[@pranavk2888]

The camera movement is Just so Amazing that using a rigid body and force field in a blender is such An Amazing Trick It's just hyper-realistic!

[@aaronwaldschmidt]

This is such a brilliant idea! For anyone looking to get more control over the FPV cam's direction, I found that you can add a second "track to" constraint to your camera and essentially blend between the two constraints. This helped me set up an FPV cam that orbits around a hero subject while staying focused on the subject rather than the path ahead.

[@Polyfjord]

@@aaronwaldschmidt nice!!

[@DenimPirate]

The "Smudge mask" making you laugh is hilarious, so glad you kept that in 😄

[@Shattered3582]

what i love about this method is how flexible it is. i will try out the example first, but i can really see myself using this for other camera shots as well. i am a blender noob and i love how your videos are a more trial and error style tutorial, which gives some trouble shooting practice.

[@ChrissyChrisHansen]

hyperrealistic is maybe abit overstated but looks cool

[@avocadopictures9706]

Of course just as i left my scene to render out for the night after 4 days of struggling with camera movement, i notice a Polyfjord video about the exact thing i needed.

[@ljam0786]

There is no way this comes out at this time. This came out perfectly timed for me! I've been looking for somthing like this for so long! THANK YOU

[@3DAnimationBlender-17]

he "Smudge mask" making you laugh is hilarious, so glad you kept that in 😄

[@bengelman2600]

So funny I was JUST doing an intro for an FPV guy and was thinking of doing some wireframe FPV views and now there is like no excuse. Thanks!

[@imaginaryking5276]

The more i follow your tutorial, the more my computer cry for help, yet your work is so good i can't stop 😭

[@4eternusvigil]

not sure how anyone would even begin to attempt this, but making the "propellers" of the drone effect the leaves would really sell it

[@lucrudak475]

My head would explode and splatter the walls of my room with brains if I tried to do this on my own)). And with such lessons, everything turns out just fine. Thank you for your work.

[@youssefsameh27abdelfadil22]

The level of realism is out of this world 🌎

[@davvud8629]

wow this is absolutely brilliant! I always watch these tutorials even after 3 years in 3D, always something to learn!

[@AtaurRaziq]

subdivide with FRACTAL omg life changer. This in general was very edge of my seat type of tutorial, so great. thanks for sharing

[@ACE_FPV]

As an FPV racer, it is so awesome to see stuff like this! Love it What would be the cherry on top is to add the digital OSD screen that is used by almost all FPV drones, called the betaflight OSD to the final file - this would make it practically indistinguishable to an uninformed viewer haha

[@AdrianChazz]

Man, you just gotta love his Blender gameplays... Polyfjord enjoys himself so much doing this.

[@TheRumpletiltskin]

the chase camera is a game changer. Holy moly.

[@kerhabplays]

Been 4 years since I started blender aaaand I just learned something useful like VERY VERY useful within 35min. Great video.

[@USBEN.]

Wow a genius way to add weight and physics to physical object and simulate as animation.

[@robinsquares]

You don't have to render out a PNG sequence to make the sharpening work in the compositor. You can run the image through any node with a "clamp" option, like a mix node. That will clip the black and white levels to a 0-1 range, and your sharpening will look right :) Great video!

[@Polyfjord]

Unfortunately a hard clamp of the highlights like that loses too much data in the bright areas, so the sharpening ends up looking very different. It’s crucial to get the smooth falloff that the AgX or Filmic view transform provides, and I’ve currently not found any way to do it without burning the data into a png sequence

[@robinsquares]

@@Polyfjord Oh, you're absolutely right. I spoke too soon. Maybe there's something you can do with the Convert Colorspace node to get around it?

[@Polyfjord]

​@@robinsquares that actually might work! Tested it now with the Convert Color space node set to from linear to AgX -> mix color with clamping -> back to the linear color space! And it definitely produces a sharpening that is behaving like the pre-rendered PNGs! Might need some more testing, but that is very promising. Very cool, thanks!!

[@Hdx64]

I feel equal parts not worthy of my "Blender modeler, animator" title after watchingthis video, and also VERY motivated to try this hahah holy shit man, this was great

[@Butters-ly3hq]

3 years ago if someone had told me that this is a complete CGI shot, I would not have believed them at all.

[@SempiternamentePisa]

I have to say that i'm a little bit envy of how you are so familiar and comfortable with that, to me, hostile software

[@batata_fx]

You could also do the vignette in the compositor with the ellipse mask and add the blur node after

[@InfinitySiam]

Imperfection makes realism. Great video. I'll definitely try that.

[@storvattsuisse]

It's really cool the way you can make it that much smooth ! Well done ! The only thing missing is some roll movement because the drone is always horizontally flat.

[@HeraklionFPV]

As an FPV Pilot and Blender user: Wow! Nicely done!

[@AnitaPotterProductions]

I haven't finished the video yet but I was looking for something like this over a year ago. Adding to watch later 😍

[@samnhatvu]

Thank you so much for this amazing tutorial! I'm a C4D user but with a lot of amazing Blender tutorial videos like this had made me finally learn Blender The more I learn Blender the more I get addicted

[@macofish1]

Coming back to this...about 18 minutes in...can't get grass to work but that's ok...finished the switch to panoramic...fixed the viewport display stuff...press play... :) This is so cool! You can edit the path but have to rebake? (I have to learn about that.) Thank you, thank you, thank you! So freakin' cool!

[@addepaddes]

what would be perfect would be if you added that early 2000's recording overlay :o Great Video:)

[@garycrvg1]

let me ask you real quick, are you insane!? this is BRILLIANT! thanks for sharing your knowledge with us!

[@MichaelSoluyanov]

You can use motion path to preview a path of baked camera movement. It would be easier to place objects in the scene.

[@BlendingEdge]

Tip.. you can show camera path once you baked in the animation (property panel / object / motion path).. so you can see exactly what path the camera is following to allow you to arrange the trees without guessing where the camera would be during the animation.

[@Polyfjord]

Oh nice!! That’s awesome, thanks!!

[@DrTheRich]

You could do this with simulation nodes now, and make the drone speed up or down depending on how close it is to the target.

[@kalesio64]

This is an incredible tutorial! Very detailed and pretty long tutorial for a drone animation. But I like it, thanks for showing us this tutorial to the world! 😀 Edit: "You should also add the tilt rotation for the realism of a real drone"

[@JackA9292]

Great video! Could you maybe do a video where you combined your knowledge in hyperrealism with camera tracking, for example record in an enviroment and add a car later? Either way great video! 💥

[@imvisuals215]

I have been waiting to find this like why aren't there any packs? You should create one. But thank you so much for this. Excellent and informative

[@nathitappan]

This is so clever!! How fun! Thanks for sharing!

[@mattlewin72]

This looks so genuine that I want to upgrade the camera on the drone. 😂

[@DerekElliott]

Insane using physics to control the camera! and TY for the shoutout :)

[@Dapper_the_slapper]

Saving this. Definitely going to try this next time I have an animation project

[@minnaaberg9707]

This technique is a diamond, thank you sir!

[@janosszabo98]

The smudge was a good idea, but a missed opportunity I think. It's so subtle it's hard to notice, even when you know what to look for. I think something obvious, something that pops out would add more to realism. An eyelash, a lint from some fabric, raindrop, dirt...

[@1EAS1World]

This compositing part will be very useful for making anything look real in general--like a backrooms video or a analog horror thing.

[@kyojisp7353]

Didn't know anything about tracking as a beginner, but this is really good and well explained. Good work ! 🎥

[@Meeks69]

this reminds me of legends of zelda intro where navi is flying in and finding link! this would be perfect for recreating that scene

[@guinness11]

Dude, this is awesome! I fly fpv and I've been looking for a way to realistically recreate fpv footage in Blender but haven't had any luck. This changes everything! Thank you for this tutorial!

[@multi-maue5638]

I used to build and race FPV drones and this definitely looks and feels like it did back in the 3cell days. Even ending the video right before it looks like it is going to hit a tree. Great work.

[@Bwaptz]

Yes! When I was watching your presentation on YTB, I was hoping you'd do a tutorial! Will there be a more in-depth tutorial on the 2nd channel?

[@sauravkitv1548]

Post production detailed is good keep guiding for post production detailed

[@airbag504]

the smudge!!!!!!! great tut! as always!! lots of special insights here

[@thesageofwisdom3763]

Thank you so much! You teach way way better than my aftermarket phd professor….

[@sunnymoon8161]

Very cool. Definitely gonna make my own version of this.

[@Blenderbarn]

I absolutly LOVE this, gonna def use it, PS Frone Footage is the best🤣

[@Anisa3D]

I learned a lot in these 35 minutes, thank you

[@austincarrington7491]

I imagine you could model the basic drone shape, use it instead of the cube, and leave the ray casting shadow option on to leave a shadow of a drone in the render.

[@potater6163]

perfect mix of my two hobbies

[@bUildYT]

Video gets better and better every minute 😂

[@ale45br]

Great source of knowledge about post-production in blender. Great Job.

[@ninthjake]

That is so smart. I really love these kinds of dynamic camera animation tutorials, so creative!

[@Gametime05577]

Thanks ❤

[@TC3Dgraphicdesign]

Excellent information. Thank you very much.

[@Atman94]

Incredible tutorial , thanks for making this !

[@alpha_over6251]

I was just wondering how you did that fpv shot quickly shown on stream. Now I know thanks!

[@voronoii2]

Thank you for making this video! I've been wanting to make something like this for a long time and just couldn't quite figure it out. Amazing video!

[@sebasgovel]

This is so great, BUT it's missing something vital to make it fool an FPV pilot. Every fpv drone is constantly "tilting" forward and backwards to go forward and to stop, however, in this case, your animation looks like it was a blimb, with a forward/backard rotor. I think you nailed it on the BCON presentation, but this automated way doesn't accounts for that part of flying a drone. Just wanted to mention that. Great video ad always! BTW, im curious to find out if it can do powerloops.

[@IamMCCastle011x]

Thank you!!! I didn't know how to extend simulations!

[@MrKaln]

I will watch and remake in my way, everything you do! ALL VIDOES 👀😄 Thankyou for doing this, helps a bunch to noobies :)

[@quadronaut]

I do FPV, this is really really accurate. Not sure how versed you are with fpv but you seem to know your shit!

[@Woodygroovy]

"Smudge Mask" should be the name of a new blender movie :)

[@ЦыхраЦыхра]

One thing is missing - rolling move of drone camera. Then it would be 100% perfect. I think we could do it procedurally calculating turn angle multiplied by speed maybe. I should think how to do it

[@wladimirkarageorgevitch4439]

What a cool video. Many thanks for the heads up!

[@epicawesomesauceguy]

this is gonna help me

[@iladshyanchess]

Add a drone sound and this will be just 👌

[@wanisz_]

I like the post processing and camera movement, but... It doesn't look like forest, it looks like an orchard or randomly placed trees. I think the final result would be much more realistic if you used some reference

[@bUildYT]

Yea, more trees, have the same problem, 50+ individual trees and botaniq gets salty... 2d tree images in the background would fix that...

[@censair]

I don’t think he was taking this project seriously! He was showing us how to do it

[@zcnaipowered7407]

Well its a tutorial only for demonstration purposes in an actual project he would make a more realistic forest

[@wanisz_]

@@zcnaipowered7407 fair call, I'd love to see that

[@cravenmoarhead4455]

This isn’t a tutorial on how to make a realistic forest.

[@LeniHildaF]

yeah! Your video helps for my project, thank you!

[@davidscherp7514]

Great tutorial!!

[@mohamedh6274]

Amazing, Thank you!

[@hobby2547]

Amazing technique. I tried it, and it looks fantastic. I also experimented with adding some tilt to the curve. Together with a copy rotation constraint on the camera and a locked Y-axis, it makes the effect even more convincing due to the added shakiness of the camera. I always wanted to fly an FPV drone, and now I can somewhat.

[@Polyfjord]

Nice!!! Yes the Y-axis motion really helps for this effect!! I had to leave it out to simplify the tutorial a bit, but I’m glad to hear you’re experimenting!

[@GollesFpv]

uff i tried to do exactly that, but af few blops occur where the camera flip upside down for a sec or to and then back to normal :(( any tip ?

[@IvoPoetzsch]

men this is soooo clever!

[@kriste.3d]

very cool and interesting. thanks!

[@dfgaJK]

The movement is a bit odd because the drone doesn't tilt towards the direction of movement. In reality, the only forces acting on a drone are gravity (and air drag) and thrust perpendicular to the drone. To move the drone on the horizontal plane the drone needs to tilt to vector the thrust on the horizontal plane. Maybe a solution to improve the animation would be to have the force pulling from perpendicularly above the camera object and have the 'look at' set to be offset by 90 degrees. Then the camera would tilt when the force object moved and would accelerate in the direction the force object moved proportionally to the horizontal offset from the camera.

[@Cam_Anim3D]

That is such an amazing idea!

[@MVARTZ]

What an amazing project! I have to try this 😁😁😁😁

[@ajbrian1133]

exactly what was on my mind

[@themurrays2266]

This is so good! I thoroughly enjoyed watching your process, thanks!

[@t_claassen]

So many tips in this vid. Thanks!

[@TheThebeep]

Great idea! Thanks for sharing!

[@moegasim]

amazing technique.....thanks for sharing this

[@mahdiariayi6560]

This video is incredibly useful and great. thanks a lot dude

[@altexta_]

Awesome how simple but amazing the whole thing looks at the end. Thanks a lot for showing this :D

[@8sat_]

This is the greatest thing ever...