How to setup pitch/yaw control on the player controller's camera.

Development Programming & Scripting C++
1

Hey guys,

I’ve been trying to separate the camera used in my game from the possessed pawn. I want to do this because the possessed pawn changes during gameplay, but I want to keep the same camera, to have a smooth transition between pawns.

For now, I have gotten the camera to focus on my pawn. To do this,
I added two lines to my constructor :


ATrollPlayerController::ATrollPlayerController(const FObjectInitializer& ObjectInitializer) : Super(ObjectInitializer)
{
	PrimaryActorTick.bCanEverTick = true;

	bAutoManageActiveCameraTarget = false;

	SetViewTarget(GetPawn());
}

And I also tried to override CalcCamera.


void ATrollPlayerController::CalcCamera(float DeltaTime, struct FMinimalViewInfo& OutResult)
{
	FVector boom;
	boom = FVector(-200, 0, 20);

	OutResult.Location = GetPawn()->GetActorLocation() + boom;

	/*if (bFindCameraComponentWhenViewTarget)
	{
	// Look for the first active camera component and use that for the view
	TInlineComponentArray<UCameraComponent*> Cameras;
	GetComponents<UCameraComponent>(Cameras);

		for (UCameraComponent* CameraComponent : Cameras)
		{
			if (CameraComponent->bIsActive)
			{
			}
		}
	}*/
}



OutResult.Location = GetPawn()->GetActorLocation() + boom;

This line makes the camera follow the movements of the pawn. The boom FVector is a sort of makeshift spring arm so I can see my pawn from the outside and make sure it is changing properly.

The “if” is a bit of code that I was recommended to use in an answerhub thread, but I don’t really understand what it does. It seem to iterate through cameras and find the active one, but how do I use this?

My final goal would be to be able to control the pitch and yaw of this camera similarly to the third person template.

2

Bump of sorts? Is this allowed? It’s just that I’m quite helpless here, I’d be happy with just a starting point from which to start working.

3

Probably your best approach is to do something like



YourController::CalcCamera()
{
  if(!GetPawn()) //No Pawn
{
 OutResult.Location = GetActorLocation(); //Sets our location/rotation to ourself
 OutResult.Rotation = GetActorRotation();
}
else //We have a pawn
{
  OutResult.Location = GetPawn()->GetActorLocation() + boom;
  OutResult.Rotation = GetPawn()->GetActorRotation() + boomrotation;
}
}

then in your unpossess function



YourController::UnPossess()
{
  SetActorLocation = GetPawn()->GetActorLocation() + boom;
  SetActorRotation = GetPawn()->GetActorRotatino() + boomrotation;  
  
  Super:UnPossess();
}

edit: or you could also just mimick the Pawn’s setup. And create your own CameraComponent on the actual controller, and then you’re just modifying that the whole time, rather than the pawn’s.