Free Camera

Free Camera

Paragon (guest) 26 Oct 2012 19:34

So far these are some of the most concise, clearly written, and practical tutorials I have found yet, esp for the 3d and HLSL stuff. One thing that I think you should do a tutorial on would be a fully free movement camera. Most of the time you'll find tutorials on chase-camera's or Fps cameras that only account for pit and yaw, and ignore roll. I think it would be very helpful if you were able to explain how to create a free movement camera, and how to avoid all the pit-falls that always seem to pop up. (Directions switching, unexpected rotations, etc). Also, IMHO, the camera should not be controlled by any user input directly, but rather through function calls triggered by user input.

Re: Free Camera

rbwhitaker 26 Oct 2012 21:20

This is a good idea. I've had people suggest some camera tutorials to me by email, so you're not alone.

Also, I agree with what you're saying about the camera not being directly controlled by user input. If the camera code contains code to directly poll the input device, you don't have the right level of separation between the camera and the player input. It makes it very tough to reuse the camera system in a different game that wants to be able to control the camera in a different way.

For anyone else reading this post, I'd also make the suggestion that even movement of the object representing the player (ship, character, whatever) should not contain code to directly poll input. The two are different concerns and should be managed separately.

Anyway, this is a good suggestion for a tutorial. Thanks for suggesting it!