Camera Tutorial

Basics

A cinematic camera is what is commonly known as a "cutscene"; the player's input are dismissed and events happen during the video.
A camera is local to the computer where the script has been called; one player could see a cutscene but still get killed by another player that didn't trigger the video.

How to

The list of all camera commands can be found in the Camera command group category.

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The "Prepare" version of camera commands

In Operation Flashpoint the "Prepare" commands do not exist.
Use their "normal" counterpart instead (e.g camPreparePos → camSetPos, camCommitPrepared → camCommit).

Only camCommitted is common to both writings.

Create the camera

private _camera = "camera" camCreate getPosATL player;

Enter the camera

_camera cameraEffect ["internal", "back"];

Select a target

Object target

_camera camPrepareTarget player; // a camera will automatically target the human target's face

Position target

_camera camPrepareTarget getPosATL player;

Place the camera

World position

_camera camPreparePos (player getRelPos [5, 0]);

Relative position

_camera camCommitPrepared 0; // required to apply the prepared target first - otherwise a long trip from [0,0,0] is to follow
_camera camPrepareRelPos [0,5,0];

Apply camera's Field of View

_camera camPrepareFOV 0.5; // standard FOV is 0.7; lesser (e.g 0.5) is zoomed in, greater (e.g 0.9) is zoomed out

Apply all the changes

Immediately or with transition

_camera camCommitPrepared 0; // 0 for immediate change, value in seconds for transition

With a loading timeout

_camera camPreload 3; // since Armed Assault - instantly  moves the camera once preload or timeout is done.
						// tells the game to preload the future field of view. 3 here is a timeout, 0 for infinite timeout

Check that the commit happened

camCommitted _camera; // for camCommitPrepared usage

camPreloaded _camera; // for camPreload usage

Leave the camera

_camera cameraEffect ["terminate", "back"];

Delete the camera

camDestroy _camera;

Specific cases

• A camera of bird type (seagull or crowe) cannot be controlled via "Prepare" commands - only camSet* ones.
• A camera of bird type is always committed (camCommitted will always return true) even if it is still moving toward its destination.

Full example

Standard example

private _camera = "camera" camCreate [0, 0, 0];
_camera camPrepareTarget player;
_camera camCommitPrepared 0; // needed for relative position
_camera camPrepareRelPos [0, -5, 10];
_camera cameraEffect ["internal", "back"];
_camera camCommitPrepared 0;
waitUntil { camCommitted _camera };

_camera camPrepareRelPos [90, 25, 8];
_camera camCommitPrepared 5;
waitUntil { camCommitted _camera };

_camera camPrepareRelPos [-90, -5, 5];
_camera camCommitPrepared 3;
waitUntil { camCommitted _camera };

sleep 3;
_camera cameraEffect ["terminate", "back"];
camDestroy _camera;

Operation Flashpoint SQS example

_camera = "camera" camCreate [0, 0, 0]
_camera camSetTarget player
_camera camSetRelPos [0, -5, 10]
_camera cameraEffect ["internal", "back"]
_camera camCommit 0
@camCommitted _camera

_camera camSetRelPos [90, 25, 8]
_camera camCommit 5
@camCommitted _camera

_camera camSetRelPos [-90, -5, 5]
_camera camCommit 3
@camCommitted _camera

~3
_camera cameraEffect ["terminate", "back"]
camDestroy _camera

See also

• Camera.sqs
• Arma 3: Splendid Camera / BIS_fnc_camera