Smart 3rd person camera

This code has been declared by its author to be Public Domain code.

Smart 3rd person camera by AntMan - Banned in the line of duty. (Posted 23 years ago)
Will track an entity and will ensure no geo is obscuring it. It will only avoid entities that are using a collision pick mode. I suggest 2 for levels. (i.e entityPickMode mesh,2,true) xoff,yoff,zoff is the offset vector to where the camera should try to be. It may not be there, if there's geo in the line of sight between it and the entity. spd is in a range of 0 to 1. 1=instant.0=never.
type csys.sys field cx#,cy#,cz# field mx#,my#,sps end type Function chaseCam(cam,entity,xoff#,yoff#=2,zoff#=-5,spd#=0.8) sys.csys=first csys if sys=null sys=new cSys sys\sps=createpivot() endif sys\mx=mousex() sys\my=mousey() sps=sys\sps PositionEntity sps,EntityX(entity),EntityY(entity),EntityZ(entity) TFormVector xOff,yOff,zOff,entity,0 ex#=EntityX(entity) ey#=EntityY(entity) ez#=EntityZ(entity) nx#=ex+TFormedX() ny#=ey+TFormedY() nz#=ez+TFormedZ() dx#=nx-ex dy#=ny-ey dz#=nz-ez hit=LinePick(ex,ey,ez,dx,dy,dz,0.2) If hit nx=PickedX() ny=PickedY() nz=PickedZ() EndIf sys\cx=sys\cx+(nx-sys\cx)spd sys\cy=sys\cy+(ny-sys\cy)spd sys\cz=sys\cz+(nz-sys\cz)*spd positionEntity cam,sys\cx,sys\cy,sys\cz pointentity cam,entity,0 End Function

Smart 3rd person camera by AntMan - Banned in the line of duty.

(Posted 23 years ago)

Will track an entity and will ensure no geo is obscuring it.

It will only avoid entities that are using a collision pick mode. I suggest 2 for levels. (i.e entityPickMode mesh,2,true)

xoff,yoff,zoff is the offset vector to where the camera should *try* to be. It may not be there, if there's geo in the line of sight between it and the entity.

spd is in a range of 0 to 1. 1=instant.0=never.

type csys.sys
   field cx#,cy#,cz#
   field mx#,my#,sps
end type
Function chaseCam(cam,entity,xoff#,yoff#=2,zoff#=-5,spd#=0.8)
      sys.csys=first csys
      if sys=null 
             sys=new cSys
             sys\sps=createpivot()
      endif
      sys\mx=mousex()
      sys\my=mousey()
sps=sys\sps
PositionEntity sps,EntityX(entity),EntityY(entity),EntityZ(entity)
TFormVector xOff,yOff,zOff,entity,0
ex#=EntityX(entity)
ey#=EntityY(entity)
ez#=EntityZ(entity)
nx#=ex+TFormedX()
ny#=ey+TFormedY()
nz#=ez+TFormedZ()
dx#=nx-ex
dy#=ny-ey
dz#=nz-ez
hit=LinePick(ex,ey,ez,dx,dy,dz,0.2)
If hit
nx=PickedX()
ny=PickedY()
nz=PickedZ()
EndIf
sys\cx=sys\cx+(nx-sys\cx)*spd
sys\cy=sys\cy+(ny-sys\cy)*spd
sys\cz=sys\cz+(nz-sys\cz)*spd
positionEntity cam,sys\cx,sys\cy,sys\cz
pointentity cam,entity,0
End Function