4.9.6 Camera Movement

This section describes how to move the camera.

The Camera is a Transform

Internally in the engine the `csCamera' class inherits directly from `csOrthoTransform' which inherits from `csReversibleTransform'. If you work with `iCamera' then you can get the reference to this transform with camera->GetTransform(). In addition to the transformation a camera also holds a pointer to the current sector.

This means that all operations you have in `csOrthoTransform' can be used on the camera. One of the most useful functions there is LookAt() with which you can make the camera point to some spot. Using LookAt() it is very easy to make a 3rd person view.

In addition to the standard functions from `csOrthoTransform' there are a number of other functions that you can use. The most interesting are MoveWorld() and Move(). These functions will move the camera and make sure that it cannot walk through a wall and also make sure that walking through portals will work. Both functions move the camera a relative amount. The difference between MoveWorld() and Move() is that the latter will move the camera in camera space. For example, take the following code:

iCamera* camera;
camera->GetTransform ().Move (csVector3 (0, 0, 1));

This will move the camera forward in camera space. This means that the camera will walk 'forward' :-) On the other hand:

iCamera* camera;
camera->GetTransform ().MoveWorld (csVector3 (0, 0, 1));

This will move the camera in the world so that it goes one unit in the positive Z direction. This will happen independently of the orientation of the camera.

Here is another example which demonstrates how to use the LookAt() function. The following example will set a camera at location `3,5,1' and let it look at `3,5,10'. The up vector of the camera will be `0,1,0' (which is default):

csVector3 camera_pos (3, 5, 1);
csVector3 look_at_pos (3, 5, 10);
csVector3 up (0, 1, 0);
camera->GetTransform ().Move (camera_pos);
camera->GetTransform ().LookAt (camera_pos - look_at_pos, up);

Include Files

The include files useful for this section are:

#include <iengine/camera.h>
#include <csgeom/transfrm.h>

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