Real-Time Cameras: A Guide for Game Designers and Developers

Description

The control of cameras is as important in games as it is in cinema. How the camera tracks and moves determines our point of view and influences our attitude towards the content. A poorly designed camera system in a game can disrupt a users experience, while a well-designed one can make a good game into a great one. The challenge in games is that the camera must respond to unscripted events, and this is where much of the difficulty of designing real-time camera systems arises. The increasing use of motion in virtual environments, marked by the inclusion of physics modeling and complex collision detection systems, means that camera systems must be even more effective to keep up. Real-Time Cameras is written by an experienced game developer who has written camera control systems for award-winning games such as Metroid Prime. Mark Haigh-Hutchinson discusses the key algorithms for camera control and then shows how to implement them in code. This book is written for game developers and designers, although it is also pertinent to other professionals in the interactive media field. Real-Time Cameras presents a practical approach to camera systems, introducing their theory, design, and implementation.

* The first book on this critical and often poorly understood aspect of game development
* Includes analysis of camera and control systems from existing games along with practical implementation advice
* Discusses the key algorithms with pseudo code examples, and includes movies demonstrating camera technique on the companion CD-ROM

CONTENTS:

Introduction; Who should read this book?; How to read this book; Part One: Core Concepts; Game Overview; Camera Fundamentals; Cinematography;
Part Two: Design Principles; Camera Design; Camera Solutions; Camera Scripting; Part Three: Camera Engineering; Position and Orientation;Navigation and Occlusion; Motion and Collision; Camera Mathematics; Implementation