Camera Actions

The Editor’s camera system offers a robust toolkit for controlling the way a player sees the game. What really unlocks this as a creative force is the addition of Camera Actions. With these you can animate cameras, transition between them, and apply a range of effects and filters. This sort of dynamic camera use allows you to incorporate a cinematic element into your project’s storytelling or gameplay.

Creative Camera Angles in joecab’s Optical Illusion Piece

Camera Actions Listing

You can access camera actions during action creation by navigating to the ‘Camera’ label. This will bring you to the following view.

Camera Actions Camera Actions

The table below contains a breakdown of a selection of camera actions.

Action Effect
Apply Camera Object Sets a Camera as the main camera of a Player over a Duration of time, with an Initial Velocity and Decelerate setting for the transition.
Apply Camera Property Applies a Property to the Camera over a Duration of time, with an Initial Velocity and Decelerate setting for the transition. This will not change the camera object of that player.
Follow Unit Group with Camera Toggles the follow status of a Player to Do/Do Not Do with their currently selected unit group. A camera on follow will maintain smooth, constant movement over its target.
Lock Camera Input Toggles the Lock status of a Player. This prevents the player from making any alterations to the camera. This is frequently used for cutscenes.
Lock Camera Mouse Relative Mode On/Off Toggles the camera mouse relative mode to On/Off for a Player. This mode changes a player’s mouse movements into what is effectively drag-scrolling behavior, similar to holding down the middle mouse button. It will also hide the mouse cursor. This is commonly used in conjunction with Turn Camera Mouse Rotation On/Off to create the kind of movement typically found in a first-person game.
Make Camera Look At Adjusts the camera for a Player to look at a target Point within a Region. This function will essentially trace the camera’s target in the XY plane without disrupting any of its other features. Occurs over a Duration of time, with an Initial Velocity and Decelerate setting for the transition.
Make Camera Look At And Follow Actor Similar to a combination of Make Camera Look At and Follow Unit Group with Camera. It distinguishes itself from that combination by also accepting an Actor input.
Make Camera Look At And Follow Unit Similar to a combination of Make Camera Look At and Follow Unit Group with Camera. It distinguishes itself from that combination by also accepting a Unit input.
Pan Camera Adjusts the camera for a Player to look at a target Point within a Region. This function will essentially trace movement in the isometric plane without disrupting any of its other features. Occurs over a Duration of time, with an Initial Velocity and Decelerate setting for the transition. If Smart panning is enabled, the camera will not pan if it is already looking at the target Point.
Restore Camera Restores a camera to a previously saved configuration for a Player. Occurs over a Duration of time, with an Initial Velocity and Decelerate setting for the transition.
Save Camera Saves the current camera configurations for a Player.
Set Camera Bounds Sets the camera bounds for a group of Players to a Region. This will limit the camera’s movement to inside those bounds. Selecting the Minimap parameter Do will resize it to fit the camera bounds. This is a frequent choice in the campaign for dividing a map into smaller areas that can be explored separately.
Set Camera Mouse Rotation Speed Sets the Yaw or Pitch sensitivity of the camera for a Player. This is engaged when camera mouse rotation is turned on.
Set Camera Object Property Sets a Property of a Camera to a Value. Properties include Distance, Rotation, and Roll.
Set Camera Object Target Sets the target of a Camera object to a Target within a Region.
Shake Camera Shakes the camera for a Player. The shake is controlled along a Direction by a base Frequency that is disrupted with a Random value and lasts a Duration. If the Duration parameter is set to 0, it will shake the camera indefinitely until the Stop Shaking Camera action is used.
Shake Camera Using Preset Shakes the camera for a Player by selecting from a list of presets that set the Amplitude and Frequency. This shake supports a Blend In and Blend Out across its Duration.
Stop Shaking Camera Stops the camera shaking for a Player.
Turn Camera Height Displacement On/Off Toggles the camera height displacement On/Off for a Player. This feature provides a height adjustment for any flying units that are currently being followed to ensure their visibility during camera zooms.
Turn Camera Height Smoothing On/Off Toggles the camera height smoothing On/Off for a Player. This feature provides a smooth transition as the camera moves between terrain heights.
Turn Camera Mouse Rotation On/Off Toggles the camera mouse rotation to On/Off for a Player. When this is turned on, it will make a player’s drag-scroll camera movements rotate the camera in a free-look fashion rather than dragging the camera. This can be used in conjunction with Lock Camera Mouse Relative Mode On/Off to make the type of camera commonly seen in a first-person game.
Turn Camera Vertical Field of View On/Off Toggles the vertical field of view to On/Off for a Player. By default, horizontal screen space is preserved between aspect ratios, while vertical space is cropped or expanded as necessary. When vertical field of view is turned on, the vertical screen space will be preserved between aspect ratios, while the horizontal space is cropped or expanded as necessary.
Zoom Camera Zoom the camera in on a location for a Player. The zoom proceeds from a DistanceFrom to a DistanceTo over a Duration.

Using Camera Actions

Examine the following sequence of camera actions.

Camera Action Sequence Camera Action Sequence

This sequence begins by removing the game UI and adding a group of marines. After that, a set of camera actions is used. A Pan Camera action places the camera at the centre of the marine pairing. This transition is made near-instantaneously by using an extremely small Duration value and no Deceleration. An Apply Camera Object action is then used to zoom the camera in by setting a small Distance value. Another Apply Camera Object then changes the camera’s axis by setting the Rotation to an angle between the two marines. These properties are applied over the same near-instantaneous Duration as the previous action. The result of this action sequence is shown by the image below.

Custom Camera Settings with Actions Custom Camera Settings with Actions

Attachments