CamOn: A Real-Time Autonomous Camera System

Abstract

This demonstration presents CamOn, an autonomous camera control system for real-time 3D games. CamOn employs multiple Artificial Potential Fields (APFs), a robot motion planning technique, to control both the location and orientation of the camera. Scene geometry from the 3D environment contributes to the potential field that is used to determine position and movement of the camera. Composition constraints for the camera are modelled as potential fields for controlling the view target of the camera. CamOn combines the compositional benefits of constraint-based camera systems, and improves on real-time motion planning of the camera. Moreover, the recasting of camera constraints into potential fields is visually more accessible to game designers and has the potential to be implemented as a plug-in to 3D level design and editing tools currently available with games.