Help make camera zoom smoother

Questions & Answers
1

Hi!

So I’ve been trying for a while now to make my camera script zoom smoother since right now it can be very jumpy due to the nature of the script and I’d love some help to try and fix that.

using UnityEngine;
using System.Collections;

public class cameraScript : MonoBehaviour {
	Transform Player1;
	Transform Player2;

	public float maxSize = 10;
	public float minSize = 5;

	public float xMax;
	public float xMin;
	public float yMax;
	
	public float cameraZoomModifier = 1.8f;
	public float xOffset;

	public float playerDist;

	Vector3 cameraCenter;

	PositionChecker posCheck;


	void Start(){
		posCheck = this.GetComponent<PositionChecker> ();
		playerDist = Vector2.Distance(Player1.transform.position, Player2.transform.position);
	}
	

	void Update () {
		Player1 = posCheck.GetPos (1);
		Player2 = posCheck.GetPos (posCheck.GetLength());

		playerDist = Vector2.Distance(Player1.transform.position, Player2.transform.position);
		cameraCenter = Vector3.Lerp (Player1.transform.position, Player2.transform.position, 0f);

		this.transform.position = new Vector3(Mathf.Clamp(cameraCenter.x, xMin, xMax) + xOffset, Mathf.Clamp(cameraCenter.y, -yMax, yMax), -10); 

		this.GetComponent<Camera>().orthographicSize = playerDist/cameraZoomModifier;
		this.GetComponent<Camera>().orthographicSize = Mathf.Clamp(this.GetComponent<Camera>().orthographicSize, minSize, maxSize);
	}
}

The game “support” 4 players, Player1 being the one in the lead of the race and Player2 being the one in the far back.

using UnityEngine;
using System.Collections;

public class PositionChecker : MonoBehaviour {
	//Names of the player objects
	public string[] objectNames;


	Transform[] players;


	int dnf = 0;


	// Use this for initialization
	void Start () {
		players = new Transform[objectNames.Length];

		for (int i = 0; i < objectNames.Length; i++) {
			players  _= GameObject.Find (objectNames *).transform;*_

* }*
* }*

* // Update is called once per frame*
* void Update () {*
* for (int i = 0; i < players.Length; i++) {*
* if (i == 0) {*

_ } else if (players .position.x > players [i - 1].position.x){
Transform j = players*;
Transform k = players[i - 1];
players [i - 1] = j;
players = k;
}
}
}*_

* //Currently used in the rubber banding to give more stamina to the last players*
* public float GetLead(Transform obj){*
* float lead = players[0].position.x - obj.position.x;*

_ /if (lead < 1)
lead = 1;
Mathf.Clamp (lead, 1, 10);/_

* return Mathf.Abs(lead) / 2;*
* }*

* //Get the Transform of a player (1 - Max Length)*
* public Transform GetPos(int pos){*
* return players [pos - 1];*
* }*

* //Get Lenght of players[]*
* public int GetLength(){*
* return players.Length - dnf;*
* }*

* //Add one to DNF (Did Not Finish)*
* public void DNF(){*
* dnf += 1;*
* }*

* public int GetDNF(){*
* return dnf;*
* }*
}

Now, in my player controller script I have a function that checks if that player is out of bounds and then kick him/her from the race and calling DNF() in the position checker script.
Here comes the problem, whenever one player gets kicked out the camera makes a jump since the new player that is in the back is further ahead than the player that got kicked. I’d like this transition to become smoother and not just jump forward.
If someone could help me out it would be very appreciated!

2

Use a Lerp for smooth movements

EDIT:
If you do not understand Lerp correctly, watch the official 2 from Unity

EDIT2:
Added a Unitypackage with example how to move a camera via Lerp. Download here

EDIT3:
as @Beatrate stated you should put the camera movement in the LateUpdate(), which
I did NOT do in the example.

3

Move the camera in LateUpdate().

LateUpdate is called after all Update functions have been called. This is useful to order script execution. For example a follow camera should always be implemented in LateUpdate because it tracks objects that might have moved inside Update.

4

To Clear it up.

I added a function in my camera script that allows it to find a “dnf” player and it’s position.

I then changed my PlayerDist code to this:

if (Player3 != null) {
			posThing = Vector3.Lerp (posThing, Player2.position, Time.deltaTime);
			playerDist = Vector2.Distance(Player1.transform.position, posThing);
		}
		else
			playerDist = Vector2.Distance(Player1.transform.position, Player2.transform.position);

Updated Script

using UnityEngine;
using System.Collections;

public class PositionChecker : MonoBehaviour {
	
	public string[] objectNames;


	Transform[] players;


	int dnf = 0;


	// Use this for initialization
	void Start () {
		players = new Transform[objectNames.Length];

		for (int i = 0; i < objectNames.Length; i++) {
			players  _= GameObject.Find (objectNames *).transform;*_

* }*
* }*

* // Update is called once per frame*
* void LateUpdate () {*
* for (int i = 0; i < players.Length; i++) {*
* if (i == 0) {*

_ } else if (players .position.x > players [i - 1].position.x){
Transform j = players*;
Transform k = players[i - 1];
players [i - 1] = j;
players = k;
}
}
}*_

* //Currently used in the rubber banding to give more stamina to the last players*
* public float GetLead(Transform obj){*
* float lead = players[0].position.x - obj.position.x;*

* return Mathf.Abs(lead) / 2;*
* }*

* //Get the Transform of a player (1 - Max Length)*
* public Transform GetPos(int pos){*
* return players [pos - 1];*
* }*

* //Get Lenght of players[]*
* public int GetLength(int i){*
* return players.Length - dnf + i;*
* }*

* //Add one to DNF (Did Not Finish)*
* public void DNF(){*
* dnf += 1;*
* GetComponent ().AddDNF ();*
* }*

* public int GetDNF(){*
* return dnf;*
* }*
}