You ever wondered how they make those amazing cinematic shots where the camera moves around a person. Well, they use a Dolly Track. A Dolly Track is a camera on rails that can move in a specific path. You have probably seen one on the making of documentaries. Unity’s Cinemachine package provides this feature for your cinematic cutscenes.
Cinemachine’s Dolly Track Feature
Within your cutscene, you add a Dolly Camera Track by going to the menu and select CineMachine/Create Dolly Camera Track.
Unity will create a Dolly Track (DollyTrack1) and a Virtual Camera (CM vcam1) GameObjects within your Hierarchy. Select the DollyTrack1 GameObject and add a Waypoint to help you locate it within your scene.
Locate the first waypoint to the desire location within your scene. This will be the first position that the camera will start on the track. Click on the CM vcam1 and orientate the camera to frame your initial shot.
Select the DollyTrack1 GameObject again and add a Waypoint
Back in the scene window, drag the new waypoint to the desired location. The addition move item will change the angle and curve of the track. For this example, we have recreated a flyover. You can add as many waypoints as you like.
To view the camera position at the waypoint, change the path position for the CM vcam1.
Now we animate the camera movement along the track using a timeline. Create a new Empty GameObject in the Hierarchy and rename it to Flyover. Drag and drop both the DollyTrack1 and CM vcam1 GameObjects under the Flyover GameObject.
Select the Flyover GameObject and create a Timeline. Within the Timeline, add an Animation Track and drag the CM vcam1 GameObject into the track. Create the Animator as requested.
Click on the record button and change the Path Position on the CM Vcam1 from 0 to 1 and back to 0; this will create the first frame. Set the duration of the Timeline and change the Path Position to 1.
You have now created a flyover.
If you want more tips on using the Dolly Track, let me know. Good luck with your project.
