# Camera detaches itself when saving? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cinematics & Media\ **Tags:** hierarchy, detach, unreal-engine, editor, question\ **Created:** [February 22, 2019, 6:55pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/camera-detaches-itself-when-saving/443950 "2019-02-22T18:55:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![spmky](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@spmky](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/spmky)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2019, 6:55pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/camera-detaches-itself-when-saving/443950/1 "2019-02-22T18:55:40Z")
I have an empty scene, added an Empty Actor and a CineCamera Actor. When I ‘Attach’ the camera to the Actor, it detaches itself when I save the level. All is well until I save. What’s going on? What am I doing wrong? Seems like I’m missing something fundamental here. The back story is: I’d like to import an animated FBX camera from Maya, reposition and offset it in UE4. In Maya I would typically just ‘group’ it and adjust the group. The methodology in UE seems to be creating an empty actor, attaching to that and moving the actor. I’ve distilled this behavior down to what I described above and it behaves unexpectedly when I save. Feels like a bug, but I can’t be up against a bug on day 1! The bug is me. Thanks in advance! ---
**Author:** ![spmky](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@spmky](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/spmky)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2019, 7:52pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/camera-detaches-itself-when-saving/443950/2 "2019-02-22T19:52:33Z")
Answering my own question here. I was creating the CineCamera Actor via the button in the Sequencer. This creates a camera with a lightning bolt icon. Assuming this has something to do with it’s spawning property which would explain why it would not be attached on spawn unless explicitly set to. Adding a standard camera via the Content browser works as expected and does not detach after save. To clarify, this is probably not a ‘detach on save’, rather a ‘not attached on open’. Which is confusing since I only saved. ---
**Author:** ![Gnomeass](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/gnomeass/32/88715_2.png) [@Gnomeass](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Gnomeass)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2023, 10:50am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/camera-detaches-itself-when-saving/443950/3 "2023-02-18T10:50:55Z")
I’m having this issue too in UE5, but I can’t seem to resolve it. Do you have any further tips? I’ve brought camera tracking info in from Blender to UE5, but whenever I save or try to export an animation, the imported camera detaches from the offset actor in UE5. ---
**Author:** ![Max.Chen](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/max.chen/32/1194502_2.png) [@Max.Chen](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Max.Chen)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 1:44am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/camera-detaches-itself-when-saving/443950/4 "2023-02-24T01:44:17Z")
Similar to this post, you’ll need to use attach tracks if you want to parent spawnables: > [@Reposition Cinematic Camera after importing motion data?](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/reposition-cinematic-camera-after-importing-motion-data/775836): > > Hello, Is anyone aware of a way to reposition a Cinematic Camera (In Sequencer) AFTER importing Camera Motion data from an external 3D package? I need to move the Cinematic Camera to an appropriate part of the level AND keep its existing/imported keyframes and not jump back to where it was at render time. I’ve tried parenting the cinematic camera to another object in Outliner and moving that but at render time the Camera becomes unparented (Because the camera is set to spawnable) - somewhere … ---
**Author:** ![mcguigan.design](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@mcguigan.design](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/mcguigan.design)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2024, 8:35pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/camera-detaches-itself-when-saving/443950/5 "2024-02-04T20:35:10Z")
Having the same issue. Need to use a CineCameraActor so that I can use the Look At functionality and would like to control my camera with a separate Actor. All is good until I hit save and the camera detaches from the Actor that controls the camera movement. Any good solutions here? ---
**Author:** ![YetiRenders](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/yetirenders/32/902814_2.png) [@YetiRenders](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/YetiRenders)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 3:11am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/camera-detaches-itself-when-saving/443950/6 "2024-02-15T03:11:35Z")
Converting both the actor and the camera to possessable (no lightning bolt icon) via right click in the sequencer seemed to fix it for me ---
**Author:** ![comlys](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/comlys/32/998665_2.png) [@comlys](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/comlys)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 6:54pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/camera-detaches-itself-when-saving/443950/7 "2024-02-15T18:54:19Z")
Yes, Spawnables do not exist in the level until the level sequence is opened. Saving the level goes through a garbage collection process and might be removing that spawned camera in memory. The lighting bolt means its spawnable. If you make them Possesable it should not be so aggressive in the garbage collection process. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/7/1/3/713c9d3f58553f0de89543d76a8a3a2779dc9fa4.png) [@system](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2024, 6:55pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/camera-detaches-itself-when-saving/443950/8 "2024-03-16T18:55:04Z")
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