Advanced Camera
Advanced camera plugin for Construct 3
This plugin is currently in development, and will soon be published for purchasing it on multiple asset stores like itchio and construct asset store, follow our social networks for more information.
Advanced Camera is a 2D plugin that creates a complex pre-programmed camera for you.
This plugin simplifies and enhances the process of creating a complex camera in your games. What is usually a task of inserting several behaviors and adding events is turned into a simple plug-n-play activity by inserting the plugin in the layout, you will have a fully functional and customizable camera with no additional programming required in just seconds.
The plugin is a world-plugin, which means you can add it to the layout and locate it using the UI making it cleaner to manage. You can also rotate and resize it using the UI. Havin a world plugin allows you to add multiple cameras in the same layout to switch between them as needed. Due the the nature of the plugin, you can only have one camera active at the same time, and alternate between them as neede in your design.
The plugin offers four camera modes, camera motions with easing, it is fully compatible with timelines, save/load, scenegraph hierarchy, and supports advanced minification exports as well as worker mode. The camera is also integrated with the common ACE's like the position, size and angle. When using the transformation ACEs to affect the size, position and angle, the camera will also update the rendering. For instance, if you set the camera angle to 45, all of the layers registered to be rotated will be automatically set to 45 degrees to with no additional effort.
The camera types offered by the plugin are:
- Stand Still Camera. A simple camera that is fixed in the layout.
- Scroll-To Camera. A camera that follows an object or a set of objects at the same time.
- BoxTrap Camera. A more stable camera that creates a bounding box that follows the player only when he/she leaves the box.
- Grid Camera. A zelda-like camera that creates a grid in your layout and automatically changes the area when the player leaves the occupied grid-cell.
All the camera styles available can work tracking multiple instances at the same time, when this happens, the camera tracks the average position of all of the objects that exist in the layout. You can also set if the tracking should be static, tracking the same number of instances as when the Set Tracking was called; dynamic tracking updates the list of objects to track in realtime, if an instance is destroyed or added to the layout, the tracker will update automatically.
The plugin also offers different motions executed with easing functions to Move-To a location, Rotate-To an angle and even Zoom to a target scale. The easing functions supported immediately gives a highly-polished look-and-feel to your game and all of the motion types are framerate independent.
General Properties
| Properties | Description |
|---|---|
| Camera Type | Specifies the camera type to use. |
| Debug View | Displays the bounding box of the camera during gameplay |
| Enabled | Sets the plugin enabled or disabled |
Grid Camera Properties
| Properties | Description |
|---|---|
| Show Grid | Displays the grid. Only relevant for Grid Camera |
| Grid Width | Grid width. Only relevant for Grid Camera |
| Grid Height | Grid height. Only relevant for Grid Camera |
Camera Limits Properties
| Properties | Description |
|---|---|
| Clamp Camera | Prevents the camera from going out of the specified bounding-box |
| Left Limit | Left limit in the X axis (left) |
| Top Limit | Top limit in the Y axis (Top) |
| Bounding Box width | Camera displacement bounding-box width, starting from Left limit |
| Bounding Box height | Camera displacement bounding-box heigt, starting from Top limit |
Actions
Set Debug
Set camera's debug quad enabled/disabled during gameplay
Set Camera Bounds
Sets the camera bounds and clamps its movement to the specified bounding-box.
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Left | Left Coordinate (X) |
| Top | Top Coordinate (Y) |
| Width | Camera width |
| Height | Camera height |
Move To
Moves the camera to the specified position applying an easing function. This an asynchronous action that allows you to add a Wait-for-previous-action-to-complete after it to sync your game animations. You can also use the trigger conditions for the same purpose.
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| X | X Coordinate |
| Y | Y Coordinate |
| Type | Easing function to apply to the movement |
| Time | Time in seconds to complete the movement |
| Tag | Tag to identify the motion |
Shake
Shakes the screen with a custom intensity function for a period of time. This an asynchronous action that allows you to add a Wait-for-previous-action-to-complete after it to sync your game animations. You can also use the trigger conditions for the same purpose.
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Magnitude | Magnitude in pixels to shake the camera off |
| Duration | Duration in seconds |
| Type | Itensity function to use |
| Tag | Tag to identify the shake |
| Frequency | Shake cycles per second (Valid values:1 to 30). Only relevant when setting a Wave function. |
| Wave | Wave function to affect the screen shake offsetting |
Set Tracking
Sets the tracking type for this camera.
- Stand Still Camera. A simple camera that is fixed in the layout.
- Scroll-To Camera. A camera that follows an object or a set of objects at the same time.
- BoxTrap Camera. A more stable camera that creates a bounding box that follows the player only when he/she leaves the box.
- Grid Camera. A zelda-like camera that creates a grid in your layout and automatically changes the area when the player leaves the occupied grid-cell.
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Camera Type | Specifies the camera type to use. |
Ease transition
Sets the camera ease function to use when tracking an object
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Type | Easing function to track the object |
| Step value | Step value for the linear interpolation of the camera |
Track Object
Sets the objects to be tracked by the camera
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Object | Object to track |
| Type | Tracking type. Dynamic tracking updates the objects in the layout every tick; Static tracking always tracks the picked instances at the moment of calling Track Object action. |
Set Enabled
Activates/Deactivates the Advanced Camera plugin
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Enabled | Indicator to Enabled/Disabled the plugin |
Switch Camera
Switches on the camera and disables all the AdvancedCamera instances found in the layout
Set Default Scale
Establishes the default scale for the registered layers and immediately adjusts all the layers.
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Scale | Default scale (min value is 0.1) |
Set Default Angle
Establishes the default angle for the registered layers and immediately adjusts all the layers.
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Angle | Default angle |
Restore Camera
Restores the main transform properties of the camera setting its angle and scale back to the defaults values. If not changed, the default scale is 1 and the default angle is 0.
Restore Default Angle
Restores the angle of all the registered layers to the default angle and immediately adjusts all the layers.
Restore Default Scale
Restores the scale of all the registered layers to the default scale and immediately adjusts all the layers.
Stop Tracking
Stops tracking objects
Stop Zoom
Stops the running Zoom and marks it has completed, then it triggers the OnZoomFinished and OnAnyZoomFinished conditions
Stop Movement
Stops the running Move-To action and marks it has completed, then it triggers the OnMovementFinished and OnAnyMovementFinished conditions
Stop Rotation
Stops the running Rotate-To action and marks it has completed, then it triggers the OnRotationFinished and OnAnyRotationFinished conditions
Zoom
Zooms the registered layers to a target scale using an easing function. This an asynchronous action that allows you to add a Wait-for-previous-action-to-complete after it to sync your game animations. You can also use the trigger conditions for the same purpose.
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Scale | Target scale to zoom to (minimum possible scale is 0.1) |
| Time | Time in seconds to complete the zoom. Set it to zero for an instant Zoom. |
| Type | Easing function to apply |
| Tag | Tag to identify the zoom |
Add Zoom Layer
Registers a layer to be handled by the Zoom action.
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Layer | Layer name |
Add Rotation Layer
Registers a layer to be handled by the rotation of the camera.
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Layer | Layer name |
Rotate To
Rotates all the registered layers to the indicated angle. This action has no effect if no layers are registered with 'Add Rotation Layer' action. This an asynchronous action that allows you to add a Wait-for-previous-action-to-complete after it to sync your game animations. You can also use the trigger conditions for the same purpose.
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Angle | Target angle to rotate to |
| Type | Easing function to apply |
| Direction | Direction of the rotation: clockwise or counter-clockwise. |
| Time | Time in seconds to complete the rotation |
| Tag | Tag to identify the rotation |
Pause Zoom
Pauses the current Zoom and marks it has uncompleted.
Pause Movement
Pauses the current Move-To running and marks it has uncompleted.
Pause Rotation
Pauses the current Rotate-To and marks it has uncompleted.
Resume Zoom
Resumes the last paused Zoom.
Resume Movement
Resumes the last paused Move-To.
Resume Rotation
Resumes the last paused Rotate-To.
Conditions
Is Enabled
Returns true if the camera is enabled
Is Moving
Returns true if the camera is moving by a Move To action
Is Tag Moving
Returns true if the camera is moving for the specified Tag by a Move To action
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Tag | Tag to identify the motion |
On Movement Finished
Triggered when a Move-To action has completed
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Tag | Tag to identify the motion |
On Any Movement Finished
Triggered when any Move-To action has completed
Is Rotating
Returns true if the camera is rotating by a Rotate To action
Is Tag Rotating
Returns true if the camera is rotating for the specified Tag by a Rotate To action
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Tag | Tag to identify the rotation |
On Rotation Finished
Triggered when a Rotate-To action has completed
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Tag | Tag to identify the rotation |
On Any Rotation Finished
Triggered when any Rotate-To action has completed
Is Zooming
Returns true if the camera is zooming by a Zoom action
Is Tag Zooming
Returns true if the camera is zooming for the specified Tag by a Zoom action
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Tag | Tag to identify the zoom |
On Zoom Finished
Triggered when a zoom action has completed
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Tag | Tag to identify the zoom |
On Any Zoom Finished
Triggered when any zoom action has completed
Is Shaking
Returns true if the camera is shaking
Is Tag Shaking
Returns true if the camera is shaking for the specified Tag by a Shake action
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Tag | Tag to identify the shake |
On Shake Completed
Triggered when the specified shake action has completed
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Tag | Tag to identify the shake |
On Any Shake Finished
Triggered when any shake action has completed
Expressions
GetZoomTag
Returns the tag forthe last Zoom called
GetShakeTag
Returns the tag for the last Shake called
GetMoveTag
Returns the tag for the last Move-To called
GetRotationTag
Returns the tag for the last Rotate-To called
GetMovementProgress
Returns current progress of the Move-To action (From 0 to 1)
GetZoomProgress
Returns current progress of the Zoom action (From 0 to 1)
GetRotationProgress
Returns current progress of the Rotate-To action (From 0 to 1)
