How to make it look like the camera is following a zig zagging line

Question

I have an animated video where a person clicks a button and an arrow appears coming out of the right side of the computer. I would like to make it look like the camera follows the arrow as it zooms along a zig zag path and eventually ends at another computer.  Does anyone know of any good tutorials for this? 
Thanks,
Paul

Answer 1

This is just a matter of keyframes for camera position and point of interest.You are probably not going to find a tutorial that exactly matches your project. Try this:
Open up 2 views, one active camera, one top view.
Set a position keyframe for the camera where you want the movement to start.
Drag the point of interest to point at your subject (animated arrow)
Using the top view and setting the CTI (current time indicator) to the end point of the camera move, move the camera's point of interest  to the same position as the animated arrow
Still in the top view, move the camera to it's final position
Using the pen tool (keyboard shortcut g) add points to the camera position path and drag them into a zig zag shape using the top view
Selecting the Point of interest in the timeline, adjust the position of the point of interest to follow the arrow as it animates across the screen by moving the CTI and setting new positions.
Another thing you could do would be just to use a lookAt expression for point of interest. This would keep the camera pointed at the arrow.
Hope this helps. Animating a camera is one of the most basic skills an AE artist should have. It takes a bit of practice but it's not hard.