Cameras

In all scenes, we need a view. If you create dialogues on Game Objects, the camera will always start fixed on that Game Object, which works fine in most cases. If you have several game objects with dialogues, you can choose which one to start at by right clicking and selecting "Set as starting point".

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Creating cameras

In order to get a bit more control of the viewpoint, you can create cameras.

The look of a Camera.

You can find the Camera in the Toolbar under Basics -> Utilities.

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Tip: You can also create a camera at your current position, with the same rotation, by pressing Ctrl + W.

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Setting up a camera

Place a Camera into the Scene.

You will see a Details Panel for the Camera on the right side.

Name your object relevant to what the Camera sees or does. For example, "Camera: Lookout" or "Camera: Close-up".

To the right of the name, there is an ID with a number. This is to easily differentiate between two Game Objects with the same name when you are looking for them in the Dialogue Editor. This is automatically assigned.

Then you have Add Dialogue. This is to create a Dialogue on the selected Game Object.

Set size is where you can change the selection size of the Game Object. When you change this you can see a blue sphere around the Game Object change in size.

Reset Rotation is useful if you rotate the Camera around and you mess up the rotation you want. Click this button, and it will reset its rotation back to the original.

Hide Object is not very relevant for a Camera but it can be used for Actions and Conditions triggers. The Camera is always hidden while playing the Game or Scene.

If you want to use the Camera as a camera at the start of the game, right click it in the world outliner, and select "Set as starting point". It will be marked with a red dot.

If you press Play now you will start the Scene with the view from the Camera you created. The Game will end pretty quickly since there are no actual dialogues happening. But if you now add Dialogue, you can have the camera look in the direction you want.

You can have many Cameras in the Scene and use Actions to move between them depending on what you want to show the player.

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