Applying Constraint Weighting to Autonomous Camera Control

Abstract

Automating camera control for third-person perspective computer games is a difficult and time-consuming task. One of the challenges games developers confront is how to manage the trade-off between implementation complexity and system usability. In this study, we investigate the application of constraint weighting techniques to the autonomous camera control problem. We demonstrate that this technique can significantly simplify autonomous camera control and reduce the gap between implementation and usability requirements. We describe the use of weighting profiles to control the behaviour of the camera and specialized heuristics for efficiently searching for the solution. We also describe a novel integrated visibility maintenance method. As part of the experimental study, we implemented a 3D game engine that supports dynamic environments; and demonstrate the effectiveness of the use of constraint solving techniques for autonomous camera control problems.