How do you manage object placement variations between different camera angles?

[tinybot]

Hoping to get some tips on best practices for managing the positioning of objects when moving them around slightly between different camera angle still shots!

I'm clumsily duplicating all the objects I need to move, putting them in a different layer, and then trying to remember to toggle layer visibility based on which camera I'm using.

I haven't really played with animation, but, maybe positioning objects using different frames might be better? And then remembering to render a specific frame per camera, e.g., Use Frame 2 with Camera 2, etc?

Is there a more elegant approach?

[Franx]

One word. Scene states.

[OPEN_RANGE]

I've tried scene states but it was so long ago that I can't reliably weigh in on using them. For some reason I abandoned them in favor of using the time slider and auto key. Mainly I move lights, esp sun light for different camera angles. Move slider to 5, turn on auto key, move light objects etc. use frame 10 for next view. Maybe scene states are better. Probably a case by case and personal preference thing and not one size fits all.

your idea of frame 2 for camera 2 is good. I usually only have maybe 3 cameras at most. Not sure would not want a key at 1,2 and 3. Maybe too close together for comfortable working?

[tinybot]

Re: Scene States - I've given it a try, and for whatever reason, it will NOT save the changes in positions to my regular objects. e.g., if I want to tweak the placement of some furniture, using Scene States to save different positions doesn't work (at least not on 3ds Max 2017 Update 1).

However, Scene States DOES seem to remember the changes to my camera position. Very frustrating!

I'll start experimenting with using key frames to manage furniture placement tweaks - thanks OPEN_RANGE.

[dlparisi]

There's always RPManager...http://rpmanager.com/

I couldn't imagine some projects without it.

[werticus]

state sets seemed buggy last time i tried them...

I would key frame animate, including the camera so you just render it as an animation Just turn off motion blur!

[theedge]

RPManager works very well for this kind of setup.

[piotrus3333]

scene states.
save just layer properties with them - layer on / layer off.