Camera movement

Dynad · 08-19-2010 10:38 AM

Hey there,

Ive a small problem with the camera. Im trying to make a third person camera over shoulder like Gears of war, Mass effect etc. But when i try to make the camera a bit to the right it rotates on its own axis. But i want that the camera rotates on player axis.

Ive made a simple illustration what i mean.

thnx,
~Dynad

Zervox · 08-19-2010 10:56 AM

Create two different Cam.at, object rotates around Cam.at

you could set

Code:

Cam.at=pos-Vec(-1,0,0);

Cam.setSpherical(Players[0].pos(), Cam.yaw, Cam.pitch, 0, ball.r);

Pseudo Code

Ok, sorry that code didnt work as I expected. But perhaps you could post your camera code, makes it easier so I dont need to guess your setup? : ) If you want to that is.

Dynad · 08-19-2010 11:19 AM

yea i checked it but it didnt work indeed.

this what i use now atm:

PHP Code:

if(Ms.b(1))
             {
                 desired_camera.yaw  =Lerp(camYaw, -PI_4,Time.d());
                 desired_camera.pitch=Lerp(camPitch, -PI_4/2,Time.d());
                 
             } else
             {
                desired_camera.yaw    = Players[0].angle.x;
                desired_camera.pitch  = Players[0].angle.y;
             }
             Clamp(desired_camera.pitch,-PI_2,PI_2);
             camYaw  =desired_camera.yaw  ;
             camPitch=desired_camera.pitch;

             OrientP &head=Players[0].cskel.getPoint("head"); // obtain player "head" skeleton point (this was created in Mesh Editor)

             Ball ball(0.001f, desired_camera.at);
             Physics.move(ball, desired_camera.matrix.pos-ball.pos);

             if(camPitch > 0.1f)
             {
                camPitchInterp = LerpAngle(camPitchInterp, camPitch/2.0f,Time.d()*3);
                camUpInterp = Lerp(camUpInterp, camPitch,Time.d()*3);
                desired_camera.setSpherical(head.pos,desired_camera.yaw,desired_camera.pitch,0,1.5);
             }
             else
             {
                 camPitchInterp = Lerp(camPitchInterp, camPitch/4,Time.d()*3);
                 camUpInterp = Lerp(camUpInterp, camPitch,Time.d()*3);
                 desired_camera.setSpherical(head.pos,desired_camera.yaw,desired_camera.pitch,0,1.5);
             }

             Cam.setPosDir(desired_camera.matrix.pos+Vec(0,camPitchInterp,0), desired_camera.matrix.z, desired_camera.matrix.y); 

Zervox · 08-19-2010 11:44 AM

Code:

{

Vec head =plr.cskel.skeleton()->getPoint("Head").pos+Vec(1,0.18f,-0.05f) -plr.cskel.skeleton()->getBone ("Body").pos;

head*=plr.cskel.scale   ();

Matrix3 look_matrix; look_matrix.setRotateXY(-plr.angle.y,-plr.angle.x); head*=look_matrix;

Vec pos=          plr.stored_pos+head;

pos=Lerp(pos, plr.stored_pos              , 0.5f);

pos=Lerp(pos, plr.stored_pos+Vec(0,0.2f,0),           CamTppCustom);

Cam.at=pos;

}

This atleast locks the camera to be constantly on one side instead of the point rotating around the player.

eg right side of the player.

This line is what does it

Code:

Player &plr         =Players[0];

Vec head =plr.cskel.skeleton()->getPoint("Head").pos+Vec(1,0.18f,-0.05f) -plr.cskel.skeleton()->getBone ("Body").pos;

but from what I understood, is that you want it to look over the shoulder, and when rotating around you want it to focus on the player, or did you just a locked point which didnt rotate around him constantly?

EDIT:

just to explain

Code:

CamTppCustom

Code:

Flt CamTppCustom;

Bool custom=(InvGui.visible()); // custom rotation

AdjustValTime(CamTppCustom,custom,0.001f);

Dynad · 08-19-2010 12:16 PM

Quote:but from what I understood, is that you want it to look over the shoulder, and when rotating around you want it to focus on the player, or did you just a locked point which didnt rotate around him constantly?

Yea i want it to look over the shoulder, and when rotating around i want it to focus on the player.

But this code is made for rpg2 right? did you add this in the camera class?

Zervox · 08-19-2010 12:23 PM

No, I used RPG2 as reference. Mostly only variable names now is the same throughout all my classes. And yes I add this in the camera class. You can do

Code:

Vec head;

if(Ms.b(1))

{

  // do own rotation code

}else

{

head =plr.cskel.skeleton()->getPoint("Head").pos+Vec(1,0.18f,-0.05f) -plr.cskel.skeleton()->getBone ("Body").pos;

head*=plr.cskel.scale   ();

Matrix3 look_matrix; look_matrix.setRotateXY(-plr.angle.y,-plr.angle.x); head*=look_matrix;

Vec pos=          plr.stored_pos+head;

pos=Lerp(pos, plr.stored_pos              , 0.5f);

pos=Lerp(pos, plr.stored_pos+Vec(0,0.2f,0),           CamTppCustom);

Cam.at=pos;

}

and make a lerp() or maybe adjustTimeVal() between for smooth transition

between your Ms.b(1) code and the else pos values.

Dynad · 08-19-2010 12:34 PM

Ok well i tried it but there is 1 problem tho.. the camera stays fixed in 1 direction. I want when i rotate my character the camera rotates in the direction of the character aswell.

Like:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugjgEisc-Cs

Zervox · 08-19-2010 12:46 PM

My code does this atleast. Perhaps you could find a good seperation/mix between the two.

it does got one bug though, my code stops working because I am not done with the physics collision on it.(gets underneath water, or gets to high or low in the Y for some strange reason too.

Its a mess, but thats because I constantly test out things inside the cam class. still got a lot of cleaning up to do.

Code:

/*************************************************/

#include "stdafx.h"

#include "MainCRR.h"

/**************************************************/

Flt CamTppDist       ,

CamTppCustom     ,

CamTppCustomYaw  ,

CamTppCustomPitch;

Flt CameraTimerReset;

Bool CamIsRotated;

/********************************************************/

Camera      cam;

/*************************************************/

void UpdateCamera()

{

    Bool zoom=(Ms.wheel() && (!Gui.wheel() || Gui.wheel()==Gui.desktop()));

    if(Players.elms())

    {

        Player &plr         =Players[0];

        UInt    actor_groups=~(IndexToFlag(AG_CONTROLLER)|IndexToFlag(AG_PLAYER)|IndexToFla​g(AG_ITEM)|IndexToFlag(AG_RAGDOLL)|IndexToFlag(AG_KINEMATIC_RAGDOLL));

        Bool custom=(InvGui.visible()); // custom rotation

        AdjustValTime(CamTppCustom,custom,0.001f);

        if(Ms.b(1)) // rotate

        {

            //Players[0].matrix().angles().y+=Mid(dy,-max,max);

            CamTppCustomYaw  -=Ms.dir_d.x;

            CamTppCustomPitch+=Ms.dir_d.y;

            Ms.freeze();

        }else{

            CamTppCustomYaw =LerpAngle(Cam.yaw,-Players[0].matrix().angles().y,Time.d()*2);

        }

        Clamp(CamTppCustomPitch, -DegToRad(50), -DegToRad(10));

        Cam.yaw  =CamTppCustomYaw;

        Cam.pitch=CamTppCustomPitch;

        {

            if(zoom)CamTppDist*=ScaleFactor(Ms.wheel()*-0.2f);

            Clamp(CamTppDist,2.5f,9.5f);

            Cam.dist=Max(CamTppDist,CamTppCustom);

            if(zoom)CamTppDist=Cam.dist;

        }

        // camera position

        {

            Vec head =plr.cskel.skeleton()->getPoint("Head").pos+Vec(1,0.18f,-0.05f) // calculate behind and above head position relative to body bone

                -plr.cskel.skeleton()->getBone ("Body").pos;

            head*=plr.cskel.scale   ();

            Matrix3 look_matrix; look_matrix.setRotateXY(-plr.angle.y,-plr.angle.x); head*=look_matrix;

            Vec pos=          plr.stored_pos+head;

            pos=Lerp(pos, plr.stored_pos              , 0.5f);

            pos=Lerp(pos, plr.stored_pos+Vec(0,0.2f,0),           CamTppCustom);

            Cam.at=pos;

        }

        // physics collisions

        Ball ball(0.1f,Players[0].stored_pos); // start camera position at stored position

        Vec  move=Cam.at-ball.pos;

        PhysHit phys_hit; 

        if(Physics.sweep(ball,move,&phys_hit,actor_groups)) // move toward desired camera center

        {

            // encountered an obstacle

            Cam.setSpherical(ball.pos + move*phys_hit.frac, Cam.yaw, Cam.pitch, 0, ball.r); // we're forced to stop the camera at contact

        }else

        {

            // no obstacle detected

            Cam.setSpherical();

            ball.pos=Cam.at; // set ball at camera focus

            move=Cam.matrix.pos-ball.pos; // set movement from focus to "look from" point

            if(Physics.sweep(ball,move,&phys_hit,actor_groups))

            {

                Cam.dist*=phys_hit.frac;

                Cam.setSpherical();

            }

        }

    }else

    {

        CamHandle(0.1f,1000,(zoom?CAMH_ZOOM:0)|(Ms.b(0)?CAMH_MOVE_XZ:Ms.b(1)?CAMH_M​OVE:CAMH_ROT));

    }

}

/*****************************************/

Dynad · 08-19-2010 01:07 PM

Ok thnx but when i include your camera code. The camera stands still in middle of nowhere and not reacting on player controls. Dunno if its on my side ill report back if some progress is made.

Zervox · 08-19-2010 01:09 PM

Camera.h
void CameraUpdate();

in your gamestate update()

Code:

UpdateCamera     ();

Also in if you are spawning a long way from the first zone in world

you can use waypoints like this in the init()

Code:

        if(Game::Waypoint *start=Game::World.getWaypoint("start"))

            if(start->points())

            {

                Cam      +=start->point(0).pos;

I did it this way because then I can change a Camera.cpp at anytime and just change which to actually use in the main gameloop.

Also you can set use it for spawn points when loading each map to easily control that the camera isnt suddenly thrown off.

Dynad · 08-19-2010 01:14 PM

Yea i got it working now.

Those 2 werent defined anywhere wink

Cam.updateVelocities();
Cam.set();

Ok what i see now lookup and look down isn't working. I want it to work like a FPS camera but in third person mode. And the moving to left and right is kinda slow maybe that can be tweaked tho.

EDIT:
I think the camera has to work the other way around. Camera is smoothing to new location. But the camera must be fast and the character is rotating some time later. Its kinda weird if you can instant rotate the player and camera is late.

Zervox · 08-19-2010 01:16 PM

increase the Time.d()*xxx

Code:

CamTppCustomYaw =LerpAngle(Cam.yaw,-Players[0].matrix().angles().y,Time.d()*2);

set this to set a specific range of pitch movement

Code:

Clamp(CamTppCustomPitch, -DegToRad(50), -DegToRad(10));

This makes it rotate to a degree of 120 when rotating down
and 120degrees up when moving the mouse up.

Where 360 is a full rotation around the object
You could remove it for free rotation around

Code:

Clamp(CamTppCustomPitch, -DegToRad(120), DegToRad(120));

Dynad · 08-19-2010 07:29 PM

Well its almost working good only im not satisfied with 1 thing.

The rotation of CamTppCustomPitch; the rotation is going in a circle but isnt it possible to make that circle smaller or better yet keep the camera fixed at his position?

EDIT:
Ok ive changed it to CamTppCustomPitch= plr.angle.y; and its working fine for now.

Zervox · 08-19-2010 11:32 PM

Glad it worked for you. smile

Dynad · 08-19-2010 11:48 PM

Ive still a small thing tho. When i clamp the camera and the players angles it works OK. But for example the clamp is at pitch 0.8 and -0.8 when i move my mouse continuously UP or Down it gets past 0.8/-0.8 like 0.9 depends how fast you go up and down with the mouse. And it tries to get 0.8 cause of the clamp. But this causes some jitter effect small up and downs trying to match the 0.8.

Is there another way to fix this?

Camera movement
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