Best smoothest way scrolling camera

Unity Engine
1

Hey all,

I’m fooling around with making a vertical scroller and I was wondering what is the best method or what methods are available.

I’ve been doing it in the following way.

public float gameSpeed = 2f;
private float moveAmount = 0;

void Update ()
{
moveAmount = gameSpeed * Time.deltaTime;
gameCamera.transform.Translate(Vector3.up * moveAmount);
}

The camera speed will change from time to time. Speed up, Slow Down and Stop. At the moment I do this using iTween. But I’m not sure this is the best method.

I was just wondering what is the best way to move the camera?

2

But multiplying by Time.deltaTime it should maintain a constant speed. Are you moving the camera in another script which is causing the behaviour?

3

Nope just messing with the camera in that script. I was just wondering if there are better ways to move a camera other then the way I was doing it manually. Don’t really work with 3d much so cameras and movement in 3d space isn’t my strong side, so I don’t really know what the best options are other then what I can think of.

Manually updating the position or treating it like a rigid body and giving it different velocities.

4

I am still a newbie coder and what I see is from my view the simplest way of doing this, witch should work. I agree with raider that there seems to be something else contributing to this velocity change. You have the speed of 2 and nothing else is changing that value in this script.

I don’t see an easier way of doing it.

5

Ahh sorry I see what you both are saying. What I meant by

Its not an error occurring. I actually want the speed to change, I was just asking whats a good way to deal with a scrolling camera keeping in mind I want it to be able to Stop, Slow down and speed up etc. I currently use iTween to change the speed value but was just wondering about better methods.

Because its core to my game I just wanted to make sure I was using the most efficient method of doing so.

Sorry I think I may have worded my post badly. Hope it makes a little more sense now. But all good I’ve done tests and the method I’m using seems to run pretty well with the rest of the game.

Thanks for the replies.

6

Yes - your posted code has a fixed speed, so if the game runs smoothly then the camera will move smoothly.
However, when you change the speed of the camera movement you want that to look smooth.

I have not used iTween, but it will probably provide you with the ease in and out you need for smooth transitions in speed.

Alternately, something like:

 public float gameSpeed = 2f;
private boolean slowToStop = true;

if ( slowToStop  gameSpeed > 0) gameSpeed = Mathf.Lerp ( gameSpeed, 0, Time.deltaTime);

but notice that gameSpeed has lost its original value - how do you know to get back to 2.0 as the best speed?

public float targetGameSpeed = 2f;
private float currentSpeed = targetGameSpeed;

then only adjust the currentSpeed up and down, and return it to the value of targetGameSpeed when needed (or targetGameSpeed * 0.5, etc.)