The Storyboard

The Storyboard works hand in hand with your Stored Views, allowing you to arrange these views in any order and combine them with timing behavior. This makes it very quick to define animations consisting of camera movements or changes in lighting conditions, for example.
Click on the term Storyboard at the top right of the Redshift window to make the Storyboard layout visible.


Quick Navigation


The Storyboard Workflow

Working with the Storyboard follows a fixed workflow (see Figure 1). First, we assume that the Storyboard layout has been activated by clicking on it (see 1) and that you have already saved at least one view (see 3) as an entry in the Stored Views panel (see 2). Think of these views as data packages in which, for example, the positions and visibilities of all objects, the camera perspective, any scatter settings, and environment and material settings can be saved. In short, a Stored View represents the state of the scene in the context of the Storyboard, which you can use as a starting point for rendering.

Showing typical steps of the Storyboard worflow from activating the Storyboard layout to organizing the stored views in the Storyboard for rendering.
Figure 1The Storyboard layout with markings for the most important elements.

To do this, simply drag the desired view from the Stored Views list into the Storyboard area below the viewport (number 4). The views are displayed there as slides and can be sorted as desired with the mouse or removed from the Storyboard by clicking on them and pressing the Del key. However, they remain in the Stored Views. Each view stored in the Storyboard can be selected by clicking on it and then displays its settings in the Attribute Manager on the right (number 5).

Think of the views in the Storyboard as individual scenes in an animation or film. If there are multiple views in the Storyboard, the output animation will show a hard cut when transitioning from one view to the next. Although there is no interpolation between different object positions in adjacent views in the Storyboard, each view offers different methods for camera movements that can be implemented during a selected Duration.

You can also use the Name field in the Attribute Manager of a selected clip to assign a new name to that section of the animation. As a result, the names of the clips in the Storyboard may differ from the names of the Stored Views from which they were created.
The names assigned to the clips in this way are displayed to the left, below the thumbnails for each clip in the Storyboard.

Good to know:

You can adjust the duration of each clip by dragging the right edge of the clip in the Storyboard or by editing the Duration value in the properties of the clip (see item 5 in Figure 1).
Right-clicking on the clip Name below the thumbnails also opens a context menu from which you can select the Rename command to edit the clip name directly within the Storyboard.

Animation Options

To define an animation, a single view in the Storyboard is sufficient. Select it and use the Duration value in the Properties group of the Attribute Manager or drag the right edge of the clip in the Storyboard to specify the length of time the animation should last for this setting. The Duration also appears on the right side of each clip, below the thumbnails in the Storyboard. Together with the Frame Rate specification from the Render Settings, this results in the final number of frames actually rendered during an animation.

The Duration ensures that the scene stored in the view is displayed for a certain time during the animation. However, this alone does not necessarily mean that anything moves. Although there are automatically animated elements, such as the clouds in an Environment sky, which can be automatically moved by wind, the position and viewing direction of the camera, for example, remain static by default during the Duration. The following settings are available for this purpose.

Camera Animation

Here you can bring your scenes to life by choosing between different camera movements typical in film productions. For each view stored in the Storyboard, you can select a type of camera animation, the name of which can then be read in the center below the slide of the view in the Storyboard. By default, there is None activated for the camera animation of each view.

Depth of Field:

If your camera uses active Depth of Field simulation, be sure to assign an object in the Auto Focus field for calculating the Distance value. This is the only way to ensure that a selected object remains in focus even during a camera animation.

None

This is the default setting for every new view added to the storyboard. The camera remains static regardless of the duration selected. This can be used, for example, for static viewing angles that are to be inserted within the animation.

Dolly

In this mode, the camera is guided as if on a straight rail. The direction of this rail can be freely selected relative to the camera's axis system using the Direction setting. It is also possible to influence the camera's viewing direction so that it is aligned with a specific object in the scene at the beginning of the animation.

Let's consider the available options in the following Illustration 1. Here, we are looking from a kitchen countertop toward the camera, whose axis system is marked in the standard colors blue (Z-axis, Front or camera's direction of view), green (Y-axis or Up), and red (X-axis or Right).

Illustration of the reference systems for camera movements.
Illustration 1Presentation of the reference systems that can be used for dolly shots of the camera, using 'Direction: Forward' as an example.

With Direction Forward, the camera is moved toward the blue axis. As indicated in the illustration, this brings the camera closer and closer to the countertop, since the camera was initially placed higher than the countertop but also tilted slightly downward. To avoid such approaches or even collisions, the Respect Camera Plane option can also be activated. The camera is then automatically kept at the same height during the movement, even if it is tilted slightly up or down. In Illustration 1, this corrected movement path corresponds to the orange line.

The distance that the camera should cover during the Duration specified for this view is set in Radius. This means that the camera will automatically move faster if the Radius is increased. It is therefore advisable to first configure the Direction and Radius to define the end point of the camera flight and then finally edit the Duration to adjust the speed of movement. In this context, it is very helpful that you do not have to set this at random, but can also find typical playback options below the viewport that allow you to view the animation of the Storyboard directly.

Playback Options


Display of the Playback icons offered in the Storyboard of Maxon Redshift for Architects.

The icons shown above control the playback of your Storyboard animation directly in the viewport.

1Jump back to the beginning of the storyboard animation

2Play or stop animation playback in the viewport.

3Jump back to the end of the storyboard animation

4Clicking on this icon, you can switch between different playback modes:

Simple: The animation will play through once (showing the digit 1 in the icon) and then stop the playback at the end automatically.

Cycle: The animation will cycle endlessly until manually stopped (using the Stop icon displayed at 2).

Cycle Selection: The animation will only play through and loop the currently selected clip.

5When playing back animations in the viewport, complex scenes may cause the playback to deviate from the specified speed. For example, a sequence set to last three seconds may take longer to playback because the calculation for each individual frame is not completed in time. You can use this icon to choose how you want to proceed in such situations:

If this icon appears blue, it means that all frames of the clip are being displayed. This means you won't miss any part of the animation, but you may have to accept that the clip's playback in the viewport could take slightly longer than the duration specified.

When you click the blue icon, it turns gray. In this mode, the specified duration is strictly adhered to during playback. However, this may mean that individual frames or phases of the animation are skipped or omitted if calculating individual frames takes too long. As a result, playback may appear slightly less smooth, but the clip will end exactly at the specified duration. This allows you to better assess the overall effect and timing of an animation.

6You may already be familiar with this icon from the Stored Views. It automatically activates (turns yellow) when changes are made to a view that is used for the selected clip in the Storyboard. In that case, clicking this icon triggers a synchronization to update the Storyboard clip to reflect the current state of the Stored View.

Checking the camera animation by playing it directly in Storyboard mode.
'Look At' Function

Thanks to the ability to link any object, the Dolly function can be expanded even further. Although the camera always moves in the direction of one of the camera axes, the camera itself can continuously focus on the assigned Look At object, keeping it in the center of the image.
To do this, click on the eyedropper icon next to the Look At field and then directly on the object in the viewport that you want the camera to point at. The position of the camera remains unchanged.

The Look At object will then automatically remain in the center of the image while the camera moves along the originally selected Direction. If you made a mistake when assigning the Look At object, you can remove it by selecting Clear from the context menu. The camera alignment originally saved in the Stored View will then be restored. The following video demonstrates this Look At functionality.

The camera can be pointed at any object in the viewport while moving.
Reverse Option

Finally, the direction of movement of the camera can also be inverted by Reverse. The camera movement then starts at the end and ends at the original starting point. This option is also available for the other camera animations.

Advanced Settings: Interpolation

This option is also available for all camera animation types and determines how the camera's acceleration behavior is calculated. Normally, every object has a mass and therefore resists changes in its position or speed (inertia). The Smooth Interpolation mimics precisely this effect. The object — in this case, our camera — first starts moving slowly, then speeds up, and finally slows down again just as slowly until it comes to a stop at the end of the movement. This results in very smooth and natural-looking camera movements.

With Linear Interpolation, on the other hand, the speed of the camera remains constant throughout, meaning it starts and ends abruptly. This can be advantageous if you want to edit several linear camera movements together later, as it is then no longer possible to tell whether a movement has been going on for some time or has just begun.

The following video demonstrates the different effects of Linear and Smooth Interpolation using animated cubes as an example. Both cubes cover the same distance in the same time, but show different accelerations due to the different interpolation.

Two cubes that start and end their movement at exactly the same time and cover the same distance. The cube above is linearly interpolated, the one below is softly interpolated.

Pan

In this mode, the position of the camera remains static; only the camera's viewing direction is changed. This camera animation can therefore be compared to a pan performed on a tripod. Some of the settings for this are already familiar from Dolly mode and will therefore not be discussed in detail here.

Direction

This setting determines the direction in which the camera should pan. The camera can be rotated to the left and right or up and down. The following video shows an example of a pan to the right. You specify how far to rotate using Rotation Angle.

Example showing a camera pan to the right.
Rotation Angle

This angle specifies how far the pan should move within the specified time (see Duration). To use the camera rotated by the Rotation Angle as the initial state, the Reverse option can be activated. In this case, the pan will be inverted and end in the original camera position that was saved in the view.

Reverse

With Reverse activated, the pan animation will be inverted and end in the original camera position that was saved in the view.

Advanced Settings: Interpolation

With Smooth Interpolation the camera first starts moving slowly, then speeds up, and finally slows down again just as slowly until it comes to a stop at the end of the movement. This results in very smooth and natural-looking camera movements.

With Linear Interpolation, on the other hand, the speed of the camera rotation remains constant throughout, meaning it starts and ends abruptly. This can be advantageous if you want to edit several linear camera movements together later, as it is then no longer possible to tell whether a movement has been going on for some time or has just begun.

The following video demonstrates the different effects of Linear and Smooth Interpolation using animated capsules as an example. Both capsules cover the same rotation range in the same time, but show different accelerations due to the different interpolation.

Two capsules that start and end their movement at exactly the same time and cover the same angle range. The left capsule is softly interpolated, the right one is linearly interpolated.

Orbit

In this mode, the camera can be moved along a circular arc and rotated automatically. This can appear like a combination of Pan and Dolly. The change in perspective of the camera along this animation path can create particularly impressive camera movements.

Example orbit animation for the camera
Orbit - Object Properties

In order to fully describe the orbital trajectory, various parameters must be taken into account. For this reason, we will discuss them here in context:

Illustration of an Orbit animation for the camera.
Advanced Settings: Interpolation

With Smooth Interpolation the camera first starts moving slowly, then speeds up, and finally slows down again just as slowly until it comes to a stop at the end of the movement. This results in very smooth and natural-looking camera movements.

With Linear Interpolation, on the other hand, the speed of the camera animation remains constant throughout, meaning it starts and ends abruptly. This can be advantageous if you want to edit several linear camera movements together later, as it is then no longer possible to tell whether a movement has been going on for some time or has just begun.

The following video demonstrates the different effects of Linear and Smooth Interpolation using arrow shapes as an example. Both arrows cover the same orbit path around a blue Target Object in the same time, but show different accelerations due to the different interpolation.

Two arrow shapes that start and end their orbit movement at exactly the same time and cover the same angle range. The left arrow is softly interpolated, the right one is linearly interpolated.

Clouds

Additional parameters on the selected view can be used to specify the direction and speed of the cloud movement during the animation. These values are only relevant if you enabled clouds by selecting a Coverage value for clouds of more than 0% or if you use Cirrus Clouds. Both cloud options are available in the Environment settings.

Additional parameters allow to animate the lower and higher clouds.