Camera Auto Circle (Flowgraph Node)

Overview

• Node Name: Camera Auto Circle
• Category: once_p_duration
• File: extensions/flowgraph/nodes/scene/camera/cameraCircle.lua
• Icon: Camera icon
• Color: Camera color

Makes the camera orbit in a circle around a vehicle or point. Supports configurable radius, height, speed, and optional terrain-snapping height.

Pin Schema

Input Pins

Output Pins

None.

Internals

• self.angle - current orbit angle in degrees, incremented by dtReal * speed each frame.
• self.centerPos, self.offset, self.camPos - reusable vec3 objects to avoid allocation.
• On workOnce, if a vehicle is targeted, the start angle is made relative to the vehicle's forward direction.
• When snapHeight is active, uses be:getSurfaceHeightBelow() and lerps between frames for smooth transitions.

How It Works

1. Setup (workOnce) - Switches to free camera, adjusts start angle relative to vehicle facing direction (if applicable).
2. Each frame (work):
   • Updates the center position from the vehicle's OOBB center or the centerPos override.
   • Computes camera position on the circle: center + (sin(angle), cos(angle), 0) * radius + height.
   • If snapHeight, adjusts Z to terrain height (with smoothing), clamped to prevent going below center.
   • Points the camera at the center using quatFromDir.
   • Increments angle by dtReal * speed.

Lua Code Example

-- Cinematic orbit around the player vehicle:
-- cameraCircle (radius=10, height=3, speed=15)
-- Camera slowly orbits at 10m distance, 3m up, 15°/sec clockwise.

-- Orbit around a fixed point:
-- cameraCircle (centerPos={100,200,50}, radius=20, height=5, speed=-10)
-- Counterclockwise orbit around world position.

Key Dependencies

• core_camera - setPosRot()
• commands.isFreeCamera() / commands.setFreeCamera()
• be:getSurfaceHeightBelow() - terrain height query
• getObjectByID() - vehicle lookup
• self.mgr.dtReal - real-time delta

Additional Methods

C:_executionStarted()

Called when graph execution starts. Used for initialization/reset.

C:onNodeReset()

Called when the node is reset.

See Also

• Camera Transform (Flowgraph Node) - Related reference
• Camera Look at Position (Flowgraph Node) - Related reference
• Simple Cam Path (Flowgraph Node) - Related reference
• FlowGraph Guide - Guide