QCAR - animating ImageTarget

Unity Engine
1

Bit of a complex one to get your head around but I’d like to be able to animate the ImageTarget around a 3D environment and that by moving the camera relative to the printed Image, changes the rotation and zoom.

I can do the opposite and animate the 3D environment around the ImageTarget as such but I can’t control the rotation as desired. I need to be able to always rotate the environment around the ImageTarget or (0,0,0) in this case. Rather than the environment pivot which is always moving due to the animation. Think of it as a walking tour around a building in that I’d like the camera to rotate as it moves around the building i.e. the ImageTarget rotates. The extra movement controlled by the user controls whether the camera is always facing forwards or to side or down etc. It’s a bit like giving the user a video tour but they can control where the camera is pointing but the tour continues regardless. Does that make sense?

If I animate the ImageTarget around a path, how do I control the normal TrackableEventHandler because the environment can’t be under the ImageTarget as it would normally be, as that would cancel out the animation of the camera around the environment. I’ve tried playing around with the AR camera world center also, managing to make the AR camera attach itself to the ImageTarget but it seems to literally be right on top of the Image and not behind or above it as desired but this may be something to do with Image scale and that needs playing around with.

Any advise would be much appreciated as I’m stuck on this one now.

2

Is this a virtual tour? Is there any interaction from the user?

If it is just a series of points, you can animate it in max or maya and simply import the camera and target with the animations.

If there is some user interaction, you would want to have placement nodes around the scene and simply move the target to one, and the camera to another. This would give you the effect you are looking for.

If you have to have it smoother, then you could use a Biezier point system that handles curvature in the movement of the camera and target. You can even adjust them on the fly, since it is a mathematical calculation.

3

Animating the objects isn’t the problem, I’ve got my own bezier spline animation system. It’s more the technical issues of animating the AR camera and ImageTarget relative to the environment. They don’t behave like normal cameras and yes I need the user to be able to interact within the virtual tour. As default (unless the user moves their Android mobile device) I want the view to always be looking forward and the way the tour is progressing. If the user want to turn and look to the side for the entire tour, then they simple point the camera at the printed trigger image from the side.