Where Can I Find The Default Camera Codes?

[Pesky]

Hi,

I’m trying to learn how to program the camera, and sadly, the manual doesn’t really go far enough, so what I’d really like to do, is study and play around with Panda’s default camera codes. In the manual it says:

By default, Panda3D runs a task that enables you to move the camera using the mouse. The keys to do this are:

· Left Button: pan left and right
· Right Button: move forwards and backwards
· Middle Button: rotate around the origin of the application
· Right and Middle Buttons: roll the point of view around the view axis

The task controls the camera by updating the camera’s position every frame to where the mouse thinks it should be.

The ShowBase class contains some handy methods to allow the user control over the camera. The useDrive() command enables keyboard and mouse control. Both control systems move only on the x and y axes, so moving up and down along the z axis is impossible with these systems.

The keyboard system uses the arrow keys. Up moves the camera forward, and down move it back. The left and right arrows turn the camera.

The mouse system responds whenever any button is held. If the pointer is towards the top of the sceen, the camera moves forward. If it is towards the bottom, the camera moves backwards. If it is on either side, the camera rotates to that direction. The speed the camera moves is determined by how far from the center the mouse pointer is. Additionally, there is another command that allows control based on trackball mice.

The trouble is, I can’t find any of these codes. I looked in the ShowBase directory but no luck. Does anybody know where I can find the codes for the default camera ‘tasks’ and ‘methods’ such as useDrive() that are mentioned above.

Thanks a lot.

[Martin]

Why do you need the camera control code?

Maybe you can find what you need here
http://www.panda3d.org/manual/index.php/Camera_Control.html
http://www.panda3d.org/manual/index.php/The_Default_Camera_Driver.html
http://www.panda3d.org/manual/index.php/Lenses_and_Field_of_View.html
http://www.panda3d.org/manual/index.php/Orthographic_Lenses.html

[Pesky]

I just want to study them to see how they work. You see, I’m really trying hard to learn Panda3D and I’ve found that studying actual code is an enormous help to my learning process.

I was hoping that the actual camera code was somewhere in one of the Panda directories (like GravityWalker.py, DirectButton.py… and so on).

I guess that what I’m looking for is some pre-defined code that I can learn from and tweak to make my own camera controls, without having to write it all from scratch (which is very hard for a newbie ).

Thanks for your response.

[Pesky]

It’s ok, I found them. Geez, I knew they had to be there somewhere (I’ve just searched through every directory ).

For anybody who’s interested, you can find them in this directory:

direct > src > directtools > DirectCameraControl.py

Hehehe now I’ve got something to work with (fear not, I won’t alter the original code, I’ll make a copy of it to play with).

Cheers