[Closed] Rotating the camera target around the camera

first you need to store the position of the target relative to the camera which can be easily calculated like this for example:

targetOffset = [0, 0, - distance cam.pos cam.target.pos]

the next line will rotate the target around the camera on the Y axis 45 degrees:

cam.target.pos = targetOffset * (preRotateY cam.transform 45)

Hi Nicholas,
here are some code samples to perform camera and target rotations. Code can be made more compact, but I guess it’s easier to understand this way.

To rotate a Target Camera around its own axis, we need to transform its Target. This has meaning for X and Y rotations only.

(
    -- get currently selected Target Camera
    local myCamera = $
    -- get Camera TM
    local m3CameraTM = myCamera.transform

    -- get Target Position in World CS
    local p3TargetWPos = myCamera.target.position
    -- get Target Position in Camera CS
    local p3TargetCPos = p3TargetWPos * inverse(m3CameraTM)
    
    -- create the Rotation Matrix
    local m3Rotation = rotateYMatrix 15 -- or rotateXMatrix <degrees>
    -- rotate the Target in Camera CS
    local p3TargetCNewPos = p3TargetCPos * m3Rotation
    -- get new Target Position in World CS
    local p3TargetWNewPos = p3TargetCNewPos * m3CameraTM
    
    -- set new Target Position in World CS
    myCamera.target.position = p3TargetWNewPos
)

To rotate a Target Camera around its Z axis, we need to access the Roll_Angle controller value:

(
    -- get currently selected Target Camera
    local myCamera = $
    -- set Camera Roll Angle
    myCamera.transform.controller.Roll_Angle.controller.value += 15

    -- or the shorter version: myCamera[3][2].value += 15
)

To rotate a Target Camera around its Target, we need to create an Offset Matrix. This has meaning for X and Y rotations only.

(
    -- get currently selected Target Camera
    local myCamera = $

    -- create a TM oriented like Camera TM translated in Target Position
    local m3OffsetTM = myCamera.transform
    m3OffsetTM.position = myCamera.target.position

    -- get Camera Position in Offset CS
    local p3CameraOPos = myCamera.position * inverse(m3OffsetTM)
    
    -- create the Rotation Matrix
    local m3Rotation = rotateYMatrix 15 -- or rotateXMatrix <degrees>
    
    -- rotate the Camera in Offset CS
    local p3CameraONewPos = p3CameraOPos * m3Rotation
    -- get Camera new Position in World CS
    local p3CameraWNewPos = p3CameraONewPos * m3OffsetTM
    
    -- set new Camera Position in World CS
    myCamera.position = p3CameraWNewPos
)

• Enrico

So I implemented the changes suggested for x,y rotations to see if it solved my problem. And in both cases I’m getting the Y rotation working, but if the camera is flat and the target is above or below the camera in Z space, the target slowly works its way down to being on the same Z height as the camera.

When the camera is tilted the target still makes odd movements, but its harder to track down.

tried a few different versions, trying some different approachs. Here is the latest code I’m using.

-- get Camera TM
local m3CameraTM = mCam.transform
-- get Target Position in World CS
local p3TargetWPos = mCam.target.position
-- get Target Position in Camera CS
local p3TargetCPos = p3TargetWPos * inverse(m3CameraTM)

-- create the Rotation Matrix
local m3Rotation = rotateYMatrix 15 -- or rotateXMatrix <degrees>
-- rotate the Target in Camera CS
local p3TargetCNewPos = p3TargetCPos * m3Rotation
-- get new Target Position in World CS
local p3TargetWNewPos = p3TargetCNewPos * m3CameraTM

-- set new Target Position in World CS
mcam.target.position = p3TargetWNewPos

Thanks for everyones help