Real-Time Cameras: A Guide for Game Designers and Developers

Real-Time Cameras: A Guide for Game Designers and Developers
Mark Haigh-Hutchinson | Pdf | 530 pgs | 3 mb

Video games and other interactive real-time applications are often
required to present a view of a virtual world in a manner that is both
contextually appropriate and aesthetically pleasing. The internal
mechanism responsible for this process is colloquially known as a
virtual camera system. As the main avenue through which the viewer
interacts with the virtual world, the effectiveness of the camera system
at presenting such a view has a major infl uence on the viewer’s satisfaction
and enjoyment of the experience. A poorly implemented camera
system will likely cripple the application to such an extent that
excellence in graphical presentation or interactive mechanics may be
insuffi cient to overcome it. A brief perusal of video game reviews, for
example, will reveal common problems such as poor framing, cameras
passing through environmental features, and so forth. These recognized
problems will have a negative effect on the rating that the
game receives. On the other hand, a well-designed camera system —
one that presents the virtual world in an unobtrusive and easy to
understand manner — allows a great interactive design to become
fully realized. In light of this, it is surprising that there is so little
information available to the designers and implementers of interactive
camera systems.

Real-Time Cameras is aimed at expanding the knowledge of designers
and programmers regarding this crucial yet often overlooked topic.
While there is common ground between traditional cinematography
techniques and virtual camera systems (especially, of course, with
respect to non-interactive movie sequences), the dynamically changing
nature of video games and other interactive real-time applications
demands different approaches and solutions. Interactive application
design lags behind traditional movie making in that the underlying
principles of real-time camera design are still in their formative process.
However, enough information is now available to establish a set
of ground rules that should apply regardless of the genre or presentation
style.

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