Alembic: Camera properties (focal length, focus distance, ...) animation not importing #54050
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Reference: blender/blender#54050
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System Information
MacOS 10.13.3
Blender Version
Broken: 2.79
5bd8ac9Short description of error
When importing camera in FBX or ABC file (exported from Nuke), the animation of focal length is not importing. It's being set to a constant value according to frame 1. Other values are imported correctly.
If I reimport to Nuke, the focal length is correctly animated.
Camera files attached.camera.fbx
camera.abc
Added subscriber: @lukas.remis
#102424 was marked as duplicate of this issue
#83512 was marked as duplicate of this issue
Added subscriber: @kevindietrich
I cannot speak for FBX files, but in the case of Alembic files this is not a bug, but a limitation of the current implementation (however I used to work on a patch for supporting such features D2324).
Added subscribers: @mont29, @zeauro
I can confirm that is a known limitation for FBX.
https://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Extensions:2.6/Py/Scripts/Import-Export/Autodesk_FBX
According to documentation, Focal length is not supported, yet.
It is not the first time that feature request is made to be able to work with Nuke.
I let @mont29 close this report or attach it to a duplicate.
Added subscriber: @dr.sybren
Implemented import & export of camera focal length in FBX now, so will re-assign to @dr.sybren for the Alembic part of it…
Added subscriber: @FreakTheMighty
Not sure why, but focal length keying worked for me in Blender Version 2.79 (2.79 2017-09-11, Blender Foundation), but does not work in Version 2.79b (2.79b 2018-03-22, Blender Foundation).shot-MnxNMt_scene.fbx
I've attached the FBX i'm testing with.
Added subscriber: @lichtwerk
@FreakTheMighty : cant reproduce.
in 2.79, the provided FBX wont import Focal Length [but that is expected since blender/blender-addons@b890f0d7e8 isnt included]
in 2.79b (or onwards), the provided FBX will import Focal Length [bunch of keyframes, but all very similar -- around 8.1/8.2mm]
I don't think we can use the same approach as @mont29 did in b890f0d7e8a6 for Alembic. The FBX addon loads the entire animation into a Blender F-Curve at import time. This contrasts the streaming approach we use when reading Alembic, where modifiers and constraints are used to read the Alembic file at a certain timecode and apply that to Blender. @kevindietrich 's approach in D2324 looks good, but is almost 3 years old already.
Added subscriber: @frameshift
Added subscriber: @sarazinjean-francois
This limitation is really annoying to insert Blender in a consistent pipeline.
Maybe we could have an option to import data from an alembic file (and thus avoiding the linking issue)
Added subscriber: @evantryan
Camera focal length animation not importingto Alembic: Camera focal length animation not importingAdded subscriber: @Joel-Prager
Hi there,
I'm new to this forum, so apologies if I'm breaking protocol. I've stumbled across this issue - I'm trying to import an alembic camera from maya, and It's not pulling in the animated focal length. Was there ever a solution to this? (Using blender 2.90.1 - Windows 10).
Cheers,
Joel
@Joel-Prager This is not a forum, it's the bug/task tracker for Blender development. As this task is still open, that means that it hasn't been solved yet.
Hi @dr.sybren ,
Ok thanks for the clarification. What is the current recommended method for importing a camera into blender that has focal length animation? I've tried using fbx cameras instead, but I'm getting substantial precision errors rendering with fbx cameras, so at the moment, I'm at a bit of a loss as to how to get a camera into blender that will render correctly. Is there any kind of eta on when this might be resolved?
I'm happy to provide examples of both cameras if it helps?
Cheers,
Joel
Added subscriber: @Funnybob
Since only transforms are streamed from Alembic to Blender (via the constraint system), you could try exporting the camera parameters as transforms on some helper object, and then set up drivers on the camera to copy the values to the camera properties.
Having said that, this is not a support forum; Blender Chat is a better place to get help.
Ok thanks, but just to be clear, I was enquiring as to when this ticket might be addressed rather than looking for help - this ticket and the ticket about being able import custom alembic attributes are being closely watched by anyone wanting to use blender in feature films (which I am). I've managed to step around it for now by using the FBX camera's focal length to drive the alembic camera's focal length.
Cheers,
Joel
Added subscriber: @AlexanderZubkov
Any progress here?
This is a hudge problem for using Blender in any production pipeline. (Yes, I am aware that this isn't a forum, but guys... 4 years and a half)
I would agree with @AlexanderZubkov - I have posted about this in forums too with no reply - This issue alone will stop any major vfx studio using blender.
https://devtalk.blender.org/t/passing-data-from-other-software-into-blender-for-vfx-usd-alembic-support/24673
Cheers,
Joel
See it as a sign of how Blender as a project is low on development power. If there are multiple studios waiting for this, why not join forces and spend some time to come up with a good design proposal to address this? Join the module meetings, show off your ideas, that'll help tremendously to speed up the process.
Construction workers will build a house using tools but they don’t make the tools themselves. The same way, we are artists, not developers. :-)
@dr.sybren Sadly I'm not a real developer - I can write workarounds in python happily, which I have (and am), but this issue isn't only an alembic one - I get the same behaviour importing a USD camera with an animated focal length. For me being able to import a camera with animated focal length is a standard practice in any 3d software, so I'm wondering what the issue is? What's causing animated focal lengths to be repeatedly neglected in blenders import functions? Is there a blocker that I haven't forseen?
Regardless, you're absolutely right, I should get involved and try and help. How does someone who isnt a C++ developer help out? Could you point me in the right direction of what I should do next? Or who to get in touch with? We are about to hire a developer, and this is the number one issue on my list, so we would be glad to help out if someone can point us in the right direction.
Thanks in advance!
Joel
Main issue is that there is no modifier system for the Camera, so the data cannot be easily modified. An old patch of mine D2324 was adding an F-Curve cache for extra animated properties, although with a lot of hardcoded constants. Seeing that there is no real solution to the problem, I would just revive this patch.
Alembic: Camera focal length animation not importingto Alembic: Camera properties (focal length, focus distance, ...) animation not importingAdded subscriber: @korochanew