Cinemachine - How to add Zoom control to Freelook camera

muniraj_143 · November 21, 2017, 8:22am

My project requires Zoom control along with Orbit control in Free Look camera.
Can you please guide to add it to the existing script

Gregoryl · November 21, 2017, 2:55pm

You can directly manipulate the vcam’s FOV with script, the same way you would manipulate an ordinary Camera’s FOV. Something like this:

using Cinemachine;
CinemachineVirtualCamera vcam = bla;
vcam.m_Lens.FieldOfView = 20;

For a FreeLook, there is the added complexity that it’s possible to have separate lens setting on each of the 3 internal rigs. The simplest solution is to use a common lens:

using Cinemachine;
CinemachineFreeLook vcam = bla;
vcam.m_CommonLens = true;
vcam.m_Lens.FieldOfView = 20;

Otherwise, you’ll have to maipulate the FOV of each of the rigs:

using Cinemachine;
CinemachineFreeLook vcam = bla;
vcam.m_CommonLens = false;
for (int i = 0; if < 3; ++i)
    vcam.GetRig(i).m_Lens.FieldOfView = 20;

OhiraKyou · November 21, 2017, 3:55pm

FOV manipulation is a pretty bad idea for a player driven camera if the zoom is an important gameplay control rather than a simple visual effect that the player can disable in a settings menu. The change in FOV can induce simulator sickness, and there’s a limit to how far you can feasibly zoom in or out with FOV alone without introducing significant distortion.

Instead, my best suggestion at the moment would be to interpolate the orbit circle offsets and radii to simulate the orbit itself expanding. Ideally, I’d like a utility function that calculates and sets the offset and radius values based on an origin position offset, radius, lower angle limit, and upper angle limit, as calculating those values manually is quite clunky, to say the least. Although, as I haven’t updated Cinemachine in a while, it’s possible that calculating those values has been simplified in a more recent version.

Adam_Myhill · November 21, 2017, 4:22pm

Or just blend between different freelooks based on game events. That way you can sculpt the outcome VS driving an input.

The Gears of War ‘Roadie Run’ is an example of an FOV change on a player driven camera. Definitely needs to be done in moderation and with skill.

muniraj_143 · November 23, 2017, 6:20am

Thanks a lot for the help

OhiraKyou · November 23, 2017, 6:33am

Oh! You can also probably just nest a virtual camera as a child of the free look’s virtual camera, pull it back as far as you need, and then blend between those two. The free look’s camera would then drive the zoom out camera automatically. The downside is that you might have to reduce the free look’s speed to compensate for the extra perceived speed caused by being farther from the orbit’s center.

nswayze · February 19, 2018, 11:29am

Hi Gregoryl. Thanks for providing your help.

I understand that you can use vcam.m_lens.FieldOfView to adjust the FOV but how do I adjust the “Camera Distance” variable? I can’t seem to find it.

Gregoryl · February 19, 2018, 4:32pm

There is no single Camera Distance variable, as the radius is defined 3 times: once for each rig.
Look at freeLook.m_Orbits.

nswayze · February 20, 2018, 8:39am

Oh sorry I took things out of context after skimming through different threads. I’m not using a freelook camera but a virtual camera with a framing transposer (as a 3D Platformer) is freeLook.m_Orbits still the best place to modify? thanks

Gregoryl · February 20, 2018, 2:04pm

In that case you’ll want vcam.GetCinemachineComponent<CinemachineFramingTransposer>().m_CameraDistance = bla;

mradfo21 · February 21, 2018, 8:16am

i think adding the different fields of view would be a welcome addition. That trick of bringing the camera in, looking up, and widening the FOV from Journey is a brilliant notion. And I know we’re all looking for a way to implement it. Cinemachine is SO close to easily providing this functionality.

nswayze · February 21, 2018, 2:17pm

Perfect. That’s exactly what I was after. Thank you.

Gregoryl · February 21, 2018, 2:31pm

If you’re talking about the possibility of having different FOV settings on each of the 3 FreeLook rigs, then we already have it. If you uncheck this:

then you can set the lens individually on each rig.

mradfo21 · February 21, 2018, 9:27pm

oh neat Gergoryl! Awesome!

Kev00 · March 8, 2018, 2:07am

For a camera zoom, is it not possible to change the height and radius uniformly?

It would be nice if the freelook camera used the mouse wheel to do this automatically across all three rigs. That way I could use the GetInputAxis delgate.

Kev00 · March 8, 2018, 3:15am

ok I got zoom working this way

just figure out the percentage of your zoom and call UpdateOrbit on Update();

        private CinemachineFreeLook freelook;
        private CinemachineFreeLook.Orbit[] originalOrbits;
        public void Start()
        {
            freelook = GetComponentInChildren<CinemachineFreeLook>();
            originalOrbits = new CinemachineFreeLook.Orbit[freelook.m_Orbits.Length];
            for (int i = 0; i < freelook.m_Orbits.Length; i++)
            {
                originalOrbits[i].m_Height = freelook.m_Orbits[i].m_Height;
                originalOrbits[i].m_Radius = freelook.m_Orbits[i].m_Radius;
            }
        }
 
        public void UpdateOrbit(float zoomPercent)
        {
 
            for (int i = 0; i < freelook.m_Orbits.Length; i++)
            {
                freelook.m_Orbits[i].m_Height = originalOrbits[i].m_Height * zoomPercent;
                freelook.m_Orbits[i].m_Radius = originalOrbits[i].m_Radius * zoomPercent;
            }
        }

VP_no1 · May 24, 2018, 3:36pm

Kev, please share for beginners where to insert your code lines.
I really want my follow camera to scroll as well.
Much obliged!

Kev00 · May 24, 2018, 4:14pm

Sure here you go. Add this script to the game object with your CinemachineFreeLookCamera.

For the sake of simplicity, you can use the slider to change the zoom.

Please note that the initial orbit settings for the FreeLook camera will be your max zoom, but you should be able to modify the range of the slider to change that.

In my game I’ve hooked the slider up to my mouse wheel and added a Lerp.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using Cinemachine;
using UnityEngine;

namespace Test
{

    [RequireComponent(typeof(CinemachineFreeLook))]
    class CinemachineFreeLookZoom : MonoBehaviour
    {
        private CinemachineFreeLook freelook;
        private CinemachineFreeLook.Orbit[] originalOrbits;

        [Range(0.0F, 1F)]
        public float zoomPercent;
        public void Awake()
        {
            freelook = GetComponentInChildren<CinemachineFreeLook>();
            originalOrbits = new CinemachineFreeLook.Orbit[freelook.m_Orbits.Length];

           
            for (int i = 0; i < freelook.m_Orbits.Length; i++)
            {
                originalOrbits[i].m_Height = freelook.m_Orbits[i].m_Height;
                originalOrbits[i].m_Radius = freelook.m_Orbits[i].m_Radius;
            }
        }

        public void Update()
        {
            for (int i = 0; i < freelook.m_Orbits.Length; i++)
            {
                freelook.m_Orbits[i].m_Height = originalOrbits[i].m_Height * zoomPercent;
                freelook.m_Orbits[i].m_Radius = originalOrbits[i].m_Radius * zoomPercent;
            }
        }
    }
}

VP_no1 · May 24, 2018, 5:01pm

thank you but i cannot add that script due to this error:

it is because of 1 line i see
using System.Collections;
instead of simple System

brb to test

Kev00 · May 24, 2018, 5:09pm

did you name the script the same as the class? CinemachineFreeLookZoom.cs should be the name of the script.