Camera Documentation

The camera can be interfaced through either the in game camera system (activated by typing "pushmenu camera" in the console) as well as from the scripting language.

Spawning a Camera

To spawn a camera from script use the following command:

spawn Camera targetname MyCamera

Switching Between Cameras

Switching between cameras is accomplished with these commands:

• cuecamera cameraName [switchTime]
  Switch to the specified camera. If switch time is specified and you are not already in camera view, the camera will smoothly transition from the third person camera to this camera.
  
  
• cueplayer [switchTime]
  Switch back to third person mode. If switchtime is specified, than camera will switch over that period of time.

Other Useful Scripting Commands

• freezeplayer
  Freezes the player wherever he is standing.
  
  
• releaseplayer
  Release the player after he has been frozen.
  
  
• fakeplayer
  Create a fake version of the player, hide the real one. The fake player has a targetname of “fakeplayer”.
  
  
• removefakeplayer
  Remove the fake player and unhide the real one.

In-game Camera System Commands:

• cam new
  Start a new camera path.
  
  
• cam load [filename]
  Loads the camera path from cams/[filename].cam. If no filename is set, filename is taken from the cam_filename CVAR.
  
  
• cam save [filename]
  Saves the current path to cams/[filename].cam. If the targetname of the path has not been set, then it is set the same as [filename]. If no filename is set, filename is taken from the cam_filename CVAR.
  
  
• cam savemap [filename]
  Saves the current path to cams/[filename].map. This is a special format for integration into existing map files.
  
  
• cam setpath targetname
  Changes the current path to the path with the specified targetname.
  
  
• cam settargetname targetname
  Sets the targetname of the current path point [targetname].
  
  
• cam settarget target
  Sets the target of the current path point to [target]. Doing this will cause the entity with the targetname of [target] to be triggered when the camera reaches this path point.
  
  
• cam setthread threadname
  Sets the thread of the current path point to [threadname]. Doing this will cause the thread [threadname] to be executed when the camera reaches this point.
  
  
• cam setspeed [speed]
  Sets the speed of the camera at this path node. Speed is displayed above the currently selected path point when the path is being drawn. Speed is the number of path points the camera will go through per second, so a speed of 2 makes the camera take ½ a second per path point. Speed defaults to 1. SetSpeed sets the speed on the current node and any nodes added in the future.
  
  
• cam add
  Creates a new path point at the current player location and angle using the current speed.
  
  
• cam delete
  Deletes the currently selected path point. The current node then becomes the path point that was immediately after the path point.
  
  
• cam replace
  Changes the position, angle, and speed of the currently selected path point to that of the player and current speed.
  
  
• cam moveplayer
  Places the player at the position of the current path point. The player’s view remains the same, however.
  
  
• cam next
  Selects the next point in the path.
  
  
• cam prev
  Selects the previous point in the path.
  
  
• cam show
  Displays the current path. The Current path point is draw in yellow with the speed drawn above it. At each node, a coordinate system is drawn to show the orientation. Red is forward, green is right, blue is up. The lines draw between path points to indicate the direction the camera will take.
  
  
• cam hide
  Stops drawing the current path.
  
  
• cam play
  Makes the camera play the path once.
  
  
• cam play [targetname]
  Causes the camera to play the path specified by targetname once.
  
  
• cam loop
  Makes the camera play the path and continuously loop.
  
  
• cam loop [targetname]
  Makes the camera play the path specified by targetname and continuously loop.
  
  
• cam stop
  Stops the camera and switches the view back to the player.
  
  
• cam watch [targetname]
  Mark the node to tell the camera to watch the specified target when the camera gets to that control point. [targetname] can be one of the reserved keywords path, node or none or it can just be a targetname for a specific entity:
  
  
  • path
    Watch the path as we move, in other words look in the direction that we are moving
  • node
    Orient ourselves based off of the orientation in each node, in other words use the stored orientations at each node to determine our view.
  • none
    Do not make any orientations whatsoever, This means that the camera will not change it’s orientation at all.
    
    
• cam nowatch
  Mark the node to tell the camera to stop watching any entities when the camera gets to that control point. Equivalent to “cam watch none”.
  
  
• cam setfov
  Set the fov of the current path node.
  
  
• cam setfadetime
  Set the fadetime of the current path node.

Script commands:

All commands must have the targetname of the camera pre-pended.

• start
  Start the camera moving or watching.
  
  
• pause
  Pause the camera along its path.
  
  
• continue
  Resume the camera’s movement.
  
  
• stop
  Stop the camera from moving and watching.
  
  
• speed newSpeed
  Set the speed of the camera.
  
  
• fov newFov [fadeTime]
  Set the fov of the camera and optionally the time over which the fov should transition, default is whatever the camera’s fadetime is set to.
  
  
• follow targetEntity [targetWatchEntity]
  Start following an entity, if that entity is a splinepath then the path will be followed. If targetWatchEntity is specified than that entity will be watched while following targetEntity. By default targetEntity will be watched as well.
  
  
• follow_distance followDistance
  Distance at which the camera should follow an entity, also used for orbit radius.
  
  
• follow_yaw yawOffset
  Yaw offset of the camera following an entity.
  
  
• follow_yaw_absolute
  Make the follow yaw absolute rather than relative to the follow entity’s angles
  
• follow_yaw_relative
  Make the follow yaw relative to the follow entitiy’s angles
  
• orbit targetEntity [targetWatchEntity]
  Start orbiting an entity, if that entity is a splinepath then the path will be followed and looped. If targetWatchEntity is specified than that entity will be watched while following targetEntity. By default targetEntity will be watched as well.
  
  
• orbit_height newHeight
  Height offset for orbiting an entity.
  
  
• watch watchEntity [fadeTime]
  Start watching an entity, and optionally the time over which the transition should occur. The default transition time is the camera’s fadetime.
  
  
• watchpath [fadeTime]
  Start looking along the direction of movement and optionally the time over which the transition should occur. The default transition time is the camera’s fadetime.
  
  
• watchnode [fadeTime]
  Start basing the camera’s orientation off of what is stored in the camera path nodes and optionally the time over which the transition should occur. The default transition time is the camera’s fadetime.
  
  
• nowatch [fadeTime]
  Stop watching an entity, looking along a path or anything else. The camera’s orientation is now static. Optionally transition overt the time specified. The default transition time is the camera’s fadetime.
  
  
• lookat targetEntity
  Immediately make the camera look at the given entity
  
• turnto newAngles
  Immediately turn the camera to the desired angles. NewAngles is a vector
  
• moveto targetEntity
  Immediately move the camera to the targetEntity’s origin
  
• movetopos newPosition
  Immediately move to the specified world space position
  
• fadetime newFadetime
  Specifiy a new fadetime for this camera, this fadetime will be used for any of the watch or follow commands if no explicit fadetime is specified.
  
  
• cut
  Switch cameras immediately, don’t transition over time.
  
  
• nextcamera cameraName
  Next camera to use in a security camera system arrangement.
  
  
• setthread threadName
  Sets the thread of the camera which is accessed from a trigger_camerause.