A camera control for three.js, similar to THREE.OrbitControls yet supports smooth transitions and more features.
camera move | default user input (Configurable) |
---|---|
Orbit rotation | left mouse drag / touch: one-finger move |
Dolly | middle mouse drag, or mousewheel / touch: two-finger pinch-in or out |
Truck (Pan) | right mouse drag / touch: two-finger move or three-finger move |
- basic
- fit-and-padding
- fit-to-rect
- fit-to-bounding-sphere
- infinity dolly
- boundary
- focal offset
- click to set orbit point
- look in the point direction
- viewport within the canvas
- multiple camera-controls and viewport
- z-up camera
- orthographic
- event attach / detach
- user input config
- mouse drag with modifier keys
- combined gestures
- keyboard events
- rest and sleep events
- changing the cursor
- collision
- collision (custom)
- first-person
- third-person (with meshwalk)
- pointer lock
- auto rotate
- view offset translate
- camera shake effect
- rotate with time duration and easing (with gsap)
- path animation (with gsap)
- complex transitions with
await
- set view padding
- WebWorker (OffscreenCanvas)
- outside of iframe dragging
- in react-three-fiber (simplest)
- in react-three-fiber (drei official) (see doc)
(The below code is for three.js users. If you use react-three-fiber (aka R3F), r3f-ready camera-controls is available on @react-three/drei
import * as THREE from 'three';
import CameraControls from 'camera-controls';
CameraControls.install( { THREE: THREE } );
// snip ( init three scene... )
const clock = new THREE.Clock();
const camera = new THREE.PerspectiveCamera( 60, width / height, 0.01, 1000 );
const cameraControls = new CameraControls( camera, renderer.domElement );
( function anim () {
// snip
const delta = clock.getDelta();
const hasControlsUpdated = cameraControls.update( delta );
requestAnimationFrame( anim );
// you can skip this condition to render though
if ( hasControlsUpdated ) {
renderer.render( scene, camera );
}
} )();
You must install three.js before using camera-controls. Not doing so will lead to runtime errors (undefined references to THREE).
Before creating a new CameraControls instance, call:
CameraControls.install( { THREE: THREE } );
You can then proceed to use CameraControls.
Note: If you do not wish to use the entire three.js to reduce file size(tree-shaking for example), make a subset to install.
import {
Vector2,
Vector3,
Vector4,
Quaternion,
Matrix4,
Spherical,
Box3,
Sphere,
Raycaster,
} from 'three';
const subsetOfTHREE = {
Vector2 : Vector2,
Vector3 : Vector3,
Vector4 : Vector4,
Quaternion: Quaternion,
Matrix4 : Matrix4,
Spherical : Spherical,
Box3 : Box3,
Sphere : Sphere,
Raycaster : Raycaster,
};
CameraControls.install( { THREE: subsetOfTHREE } );
CameraControls( camera, domElement )
-
camera
is aTHREE.PerspectiveCamera
orTHREE.OrthographicCamera
to be controlled. -
domElement
is aHTMLElement
for draggable area. (optional. if domElement is omitted here, can be connect later with.connect()
)
CameraControls uses Spherical Coordinates for orbit rotations.
If your camera is Y-up, the Azimuthal angle will be the angle for y-axis rotation and the Polar angle will be the angle for vertical position.
- A Zoom involves changing the lens focal length. In three.js, zooming is actually changing the camera FOV, and the camera is stationary (doesn't move).
- A Dolly involves physically moving the camera to change the composition of the image in the frame.
See the demo
Name | Type | Default | Description |
---|---|---|---|
.camera |
THREE.Perspective | THREE.Orthographic |
N/A | The camera to be controlled |
.enabled |
boolean |
true |
Whether or not the controls are enabled. |
.active |
boolean |
false |
Returns true if the controls are active updating. |
.currentAction |
ACTION |
N/A | Getter for the current ACTION . |
.distance |
number |
N/A | Current distance. |
.minDistance |
number |
Number.EPSILON |
Minimum distance for dolly. The value must be higher than 0
|
.maxDistance |
number |
Infinity |
Maximum distance for dolly. |
.minZoom |
number |
0.01 |
Minimum camera zoom. |
.maxZoom |
number |
Infinity |
Maximum camera zoom. |
.polarAngle |
number |
N/A | Current polarAngle in radians. |
.minPolarAngle |
number |
0 |
In radians. |
.maxPolarAngle |
number |
Math.PI |
In radians. |
.azimuthAngle |
number |
N/A | current azimuthAngle in radians ¹. |
.minAzimuthAngle |
number |
-Infinity |
In radians. |
.maxAzimuthAngle |
number |
Infinity |
In radians. |
.boundaryFriction |
number |
0.0 |
Friction ratio of the boundary. |
.boundaryEnclosesCamera |
boolean |
false |
Whether camera position should be enclosed in the boundary or not. |
.smoothTime |
number |
0.25 |
Approximate time in seconds to reach the target. A smaller value will reach the target faster. |
.draggingSmoothTime |
number |
0.125 |
The smoothTime while dragging. |
.azimuthRotateSpeed |
number |
1.0 |
Speed of azimuth rotation. |
.polarRotateSpeed |
number |
1.0 |
Speed of polar rotation. |
.dollySpeed |
number |
1.0 |
Speed of mouse-wheel dollying. |
.truckSpeed |
number |
2.0 |
Speed of drag for truck and pedestal. |
.verticalDragToForward |
boolean |
false |
The same as .screenSpacePanning in three.js's OrbitControls. |
.dollyToCursor |
boolean |
false |
true to enable Dolly-in to the mouse cursor coords. |
.dollyDragInverted |
boolean |
false |
true to invert direction when dollying or zooming via drag. |
.interactiveArea |
DOMRect |
N/A | Set drag-start, touches and wheel enable area in the domElement. each values are between 0 and 1 inclusive, where 0 is left/top and 1 is right/bottom of the screen. |
.colliderMeshes |
array |
[] |
An array of Meshes to collide with camera ². |
.infinityDolly |
boolean |
false |
true to enable Infinity Dolly for wheel and pinch. Use this with minDistance and maxDistance ³. |
.restThreshold |
number |
0.0025 |
Controls how soon the rest event fires as the camera slows |
- Every 360 degrees turn is added to
.azimuthAngle
value, which is accumulative.
360º = 360 * THREE.MathUtils.DEG2RAD = Math.PI * 2
,720º = Math.PI * 4
.
Tip: How to normalize accumulated azimuthAngle? - Be aware colliderMeshes may decrease performance. The collision test uses 4 raycasters from the camera since the near plane has 4 corners.
- If the Dolly distance is less (or over) than the
minDistance
(ormaxDistance
),infinityDolly
will keep the distance and pushes the target position instead.
CameraControls instance emits the following events.
To subscribe, use cameraControl.addEventListener( 'eventname', function )
.
To unsubscribe, use cameraControl.removeEventListener( 'eventname', function )
.
Event name | Timing |
---|---|
'controlstart' |
When the user starts to control the camera via mouse / touches. ¹ |
'control' |
When the user controls the camera (dragging). |
'controlend' |
When the user ends to control the camera. ¹ |
'transitionstart' |
When any kind of transition starts, either user control or using a method with enableTransition = true
|
'update' |
When the camera position is updated. |
'wake' |
When the camera starts moving. |
'rest' |
When the camera movement is below .restThreshold ². |
'sleep' |
When the camera end moving. |
-
mouseButtons.wheel
(Mouse wheel control) does not emit'controlstart'
and'controlend'
.mouseButtons.wheel
uses scroll-event internally, and scroll-event happens intermittently. That means "start" and "end" cannot be detected. - Due to damping,
sleep
will usually fire a few seconds after the camera appears to have stopped moving. If you want to do something (e.g. enable UI, perform another transition) at the point when the camera has stopped, you probably want therest
event. This can be fine tuned using the.restThreshold
parameter. See the Rest and Sleep Example.
Working example: user input config
button to assign | behavior |
---|---|
mouseButtons.left |
CameraControls.ACTION.ROTATE * | CameraControls.ACTION.TRUCK | CameraControls.ACTION.OFFSET | CameraControls.ACTION.DOLLY | CameraControls.ACTION.ZOOM | CameraControls.ACTION.NONE
|
mouseButtons.right |
CameraControls.ACTION.ROTATE | CameraControls.ACTION.TRUCK * | CameraControls.ACTION.OFFSET | CameraControls.ACTION.DOLLY | CameraControls.ACTION.ZOOM | CameraControls.ACTION.NONE
|
mouseButtons.wheel ¹ |
CameraControls.ACTION.ROTATE | CameraControls.ACTION.TRUCK | CameraControls.ACTION.OFFSET | CameraControls.ACTION.DOLLY | CameraControls.ACTION.ZOOM | CameraControls.ACTION.NONE
|
mouseButtons.middle ² |
CameraControls.ACTION.ROTATE | CameraControls.ACTION.TRUCK | CameraControls.ACTION.OFFSET | CameraControls.ACTION.DOLLY * | CameraControls.ACTION.ZOOM | CameraControls.ACTION.NONE
|
- Mouse wheel event for scroll "up/down" on mac "up/down/left/right"
- Mouse click on wheel event "button"
- * is the default.
- The default of
mouseButtons.wheel
is:-
DOLLY
for Perspective camera. -
ZOOM
for Orthographic camera, and can't setDOLLY
.
-
fingers to assign | behavior |
---|---|
touches.one |
CameraControls.ACTION.TOUCH_ROTATE * | CameraControls.ACTION.TOUCH_TRUCK | CameraControls.ACTION.TOUCH_OFFSET | CameraControls.ACTION.DOLLY
|
touches.two |
ACTION.TOUCH_DOLLY_TRUCK | ACTION.TOUCH_DOLLY_OFFSET | ACTION.TOUCH_DOLLY_ROTATE | ACTION.TOUCH_ZOOM_TRUCK | ACTION.TOUCH_ZOOM_OFFSET | ACTION.TOUCH_ZOOM_ROTATE | ACTION.TOUCH_DOLLY | ACTION.TOUCH_ZOOM | CameraControls.ACTION.TOUCH_ROTATE | CameraControls.ACTION.TOUCH_TRUCK | CameraControls.ACTION.TOUCH_OFFSET | CameraControls.ACTION.NONE
|
touches.three |
ACTION.TOUCH_DOLLY_TRUCK | ACTION.TOUCH_DOLLY_OFFSET | ACTION.TOUCH_DOLLY_ROTATE | ACTION.TOUCH_ZOOM_TRUCK | ACTION.TOUCH_ZOOM_OFFSET | ACTION.TOUCH_ZOOM_ROTATE | CameraControls.ACTION.TOUCH_ROTATE | CameraControls.ACTION.TOUCH_TRUCK | CameraControls.ACTION.TOUCH_OFFSET | CameraControls.ACTION.NONE
|
- * is the default.
- The default of
touches.two
andtouches.three
is:-
TOUCH_DOLLY_TRUCK
for Perspective camera. -
TOUCH_ZOOM_TRUCK
for Orthographic camera, and can't setTOUCH_DOLLY_TRUCK
andTOUCH_DOLLY
.
-
Rotate azimuthal angle(horizontal) and polar angle(vertical). Every value is added to the current value.
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
azimuthAngle |
number |
Azimuth rotate angle. In radian. |
polarAngle |
number |
Polar rotate angle. In radian. |
enableTransition |
boolean |
Whether to move smoothly or immediately |
If you want to rotate only one axis, put a angle for the axis to rotate, and 0
for another.
rotate( 20 * THREE.MathUtils.DEG2RAD, 0, true );
Rotate azimuthal angle(horizontal) to the given angle and keep the same polar angle(vertical) target.
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
azimuthAngle |
number |
Azimuth rotate angle. In radian. |
enableTransition |
boolean |
Whether to move smoothly or immediately |
Rotate polar angle(vertical) to the given angle and keep the same azimuthal angle(horizontal) target.
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
polarAngle |
number |
Polar rotate angle. In radian. |
enableTransition |
boolean |
Whether to move smoothly or immediately |
Rotate azimuthal angle(horizontal) and polar angle(vertical) to the given angle. Camera view will rotate over the orbit pivot absolutely:
Azimuth angle
0º
\
90º -----+----- -90º
\
180º
0º front, 90º (Math.PI / 2
) left, -90º (- Math.PI / 2
) right, 180º (Math.PI
) back
Polar angle
180º
|
90º
|
0º
180º (Math.PI
) top/sky, 90º (Math.PI / 2
) horizontal from view, 0º bottom/floor
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
azimuthAngle |
number |
Azimuth rotate angle to. In radian. |
polarAngle |
number |
Polar rotate angle to. In radian. |
enableTransition |
boolean |
Whether to move smoothly or immediately |
Dolly in/out camera position.
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
distance |
number |
Distance of dollyIn |
enableTransition |
boolean |
Whether to move smoothly or immediately |
Dolly in/out camera position to given distance.
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
distance |
number |
Distance of dollyIn |
enableTransition |
boolean |
Whether to move smoothly or immediately |
Dolly in, but does not change the distance between the target and the camera, and moves the target position instead. Specify a negative value for dolly out.
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
distance |
number |
Distance of dollyIn |
enableTransition |
boolean |
Whether to move smoothly or immediately |
Zoom in/out camera. The value is added to camera zoom.
Limits set with .minZoom
and .maxZoom
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
zoomStep |
number |
zoom scale |
enableTransition |
boolean |
Whether to move smoothly or immediately |
You can also make zoomIn function using camera.zoom
property.
e.g.
const zoomIn = () => cameraControls.zoom( camera.zoom / 2, true );
const zoomOut = () => cameraControls.zoom( - camera.zoom / 2, true );
Zoom in/out camera to given scale. The value overwrites camera zoom.
Limits set with .minZoom
and .maxZoom
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
zoom |
number |
zoom scale |
enableTransition |
boolean |
Whether to move smoothly or immediately |
Truck and pedestal camera using current azimuthal angle.
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
x |
number |
Horizontal translate amount |
y |
number |
Vertical translate amount |
enableTransition |
boolean |
Whether to move smoothly or immediately |
Look in the given point direction.
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
x |
number |
point x |
y |
number |
point y |
z |
number |
point z |
enableTransition |
boolean |
Whether to move smoothly or immediately |
Set focal offset using the screen parallel coordinates.
z
doesn't affect in Orthographic as with Dolly.
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
x |
number |
Horizontal offset amount |
y |
number |
Vertical offset amount |
z |
number |
Depth offset amount. The result is the same as Dolly but unaffected by minDistance and maxDistance
|
enableTransition |
boolean |
Whether to move smoothly or immediately |
Set orbit point without moving the camera.
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
targetX |
number |
Orbit center position x |
targetY |
number |
Orbit center position y |
targetZ |
number |
Orbit center position z |
Move forward / backward.
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
distance |
number |
Amount to move forward / backward. Negative value to move backward |
enableTransition |
boolean |
Whether to move smoothly or immediately |
Move target
position to given point.
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
x |
number |
x coord to move center position |
y |
number |
y coord to move center position |
z |
number |
z coord to move center position |
enableTransition |
boolean |
Whether to move smoothly or immediately |
Move up / down.
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
height |
number |
Amount to move up / down. Negative value to move down |
enableTransition |
boolean |
Whether to move smoothly or immediately |
Fit the viewport to the box or the bounding box of the object, using the nearest axis. paddings are in unit.
set cover: true
to fill enter screen.
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
box3OrMesh |
THREE.Box3 | THREE.Mesh
|
Axis aligned bounding box to fit the view. |
enableTransition |
boolean |
Whether to move smoothly or immediately |
options |
object |
Options |
options.cover |
boolean |
Whether fill enter screen or not. Default is false
|
options.paddingTop |
number |
Padding top. Default is 0
|
options.paddingRight |
number |
Padding right. Default is 0
|
options.paddingBottom |
number |
Padding bottom. Default is 0
|
options.paddingLeft |
number |
Padding left. Default is 0
|
Fit the viewport to the sphere or the bounding sphere of the object.
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
sphereOrMesh |
THREE.Sphere | THREE.Mesh
|
bounding sphere to fit the view. |
enableTransition |
boolean |
Whether to move smoothly or immediately |
Look at the target
from the position
.
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
positionX |
number |
Camera position x. |
positionY |
number |
Camera position y. |
positionZ |
number |
Camera position z. |
targetX |
number |
Orbit center position x. |
targetY |
number |
Orbit center position y. |
targetZ |
number |
Orbit center position z. |
enableTransition |
boolean |
Whether to move smoothly or immediately |
lerpLookAt( positionAX, positionAY, positionAZ, targetAX, targetAY, targetAZ, positionBX, positionBY, positionBZ, targetBX, targetBY, targetBZ, t, enableTransition )
Similar to setLookAt
, but it interpolates between two states.
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
positionAX |
number |
The starting position x of look at from. |
positionAY |
number |
The starting position y of look at from. |
positionAZ |
number |
The starting position z of look at from. |
targetAX |
number |
The starting position x of look at. |
targetAY |
number |
The starting position y of look at. |
targetAZ |
number |
The starting position z of look at. |
positionBX |
number |
Look at from position x to interpolate towards. |
positionBY |
number |
Look at from position y to interpolate towards. |
positionBZ |
number |
Look at from position z to interpolate towards. |
targetBX |
number |
look at position x to interpolate towards. |
targetBY |
number |
look at position y to interpolate towards. |
targetBZ |
number |
look at position z to interpolate towards. |
t |
number |
Interpolation factor in the closed interval. The value must be a number between 0 to 1 inclusive, where 1 is 100% |
enableTransition |
boolean |
Whether to move smoothly or immediately |
Set angle and distance by given position.
An alias of setLookAt()
, without target change. Thus keep gazing at the current target
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
positionX |
number |
Position x of look at from. |
positionY |
number |
Position y of look at from. |
positionZ |
number |
Position z of look at from. |
enableTransition |
boolean |
Whether to move smoothly or immediately |
Set the target position where gaze at.
An alias of setLookAt()
, without position change. Thus keep the same position.
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
targetX |
number |
Position x of look at. |
targetY |
number |
Position y of look at. |
targetZ |
number |
Position z of look at. |
enableTransition |
boolean |
Whether to move smoothly or immediately |
Set the boundary box that encloses the target of the camera. box3
is in THREE.Box3
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
box3 |
THREE.Box3? |
Boundary area. No argument to remove the boundary. |
Set (or unset) the current viewport.
Set this when you want to use renderer viewport and .dollyToCursor
feature at the same time.
See: THREE.WebGLRenderer.setViewport()
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
vector4 |
THREE.Vector4? |
Vector4 that represents the viewport, or undefined for unsetting this. |
Same as setViewport( vector4 )
, but you can give it four numbers that represents a viewport instead:
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
x |
number |
Leftmost of the viewport. |
y |
number |
Bottommost of the viewport. |
width |
number |
Width of the viewport. |
height |
number |
Height of the viewport. |
Returns the orbit center position, where the camera looking at.
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
out |
THREE.Vector3 |
The receiving Vector3 instance to copy the result |
receiveEndValue |
boolean |
Whether receive the transition end coords or current. default is true
|
Returns the camera position.
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
out |
THREE.Vector3 |
The receiving Vector3 instance to copy the result |
receiveEndValue |
boolean |
Whether receive the transition end coords or current. default is true
|
Returns the spherical coordinates of the orbit.
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
out |
THREE.Vector3 |
The receiving Spherical instance to copy the result |
receiveEndValue |
boolean |
Whether receive the transition end coords or current. default is true
|
Returns the focal offset, which is how much the camera appears to be translated in screen parallel coordinates.
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
out |
THREE.Vector3 |
The receiving Vector3 instance to copy the result |
receiveEndValue |
boolean |
Whether receive the transition end coords or current. default is true
|
stop all transitions.
Set current camera position as the default position
Normalize camera azimuth angle rotation between 0 and 360 degrees.
Reset all rotation and position to default.
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
enableTransition |
boolean |
Whether to move smoothly or immediately |
Update camera position and directions. This should be called in your tick loop and returns true
if re-rendering is needed.
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
delta |
number |
Delta time between previous update call |
When you change camera-up vector, run .updateCameraUp()
to sync.
Apply current camera-up direction to the camera.
The orbit system will be re-initialized with the current position.
Attach all internal event handlers to enable drag control.
Detach all internal event handlers to disable drag control.
Dispose the cameraControls instance itself, remove all eventListeners.
Adds the specified event listener.
Removes the specified event listener.
Removes all listeners for the specified type.
Get all state in JSON string
Reproduce the control state with JSON. enableTransition
is where anim or not in a boolean.
If you need a normalized accumulated azimuth angle (between 0 and 360 deg), compute with THREE.MathUtils.euclideanModulo e.g.:
const TAU = Math.PI * 2;
function normalizeAngle( angle ) {
return THREE.MathUtils.euclideanModulo( angle, TAU );
}
const normalizedAzimuthAngle = normalizeAngle( cameraControls.azimuthAngle );
You may rotate 380deg but actually, you expect to rotate -20deg.
To get the absolute angle, use the below:
const TAU = Math.PI * 2;
function absoluteAngle( targetAngle, sourceAngle ){
const angle = targetAngle - sourceAngle
return THREE.MathUtils.euclideanModulo( angle + Math.PI, TAU ) - Math.PI;
}
console.log( absoluteAngle( 380 * THREE.MathUtils.DEG2RAD, 0 ) * THREE.MathUtils.RAD2DEG ); // -20deg
console.log( absoluteAngle( -1000 * THREE.MathUtils.DEG2RAD, 0 ) * THREE.MathUtils.RAD2DEG ); // 80deg
All methods that take the enableTransition
parameter return a Promise
can be used to create complex animations, for example:
async function complexTransition() {
await cameraControls.rotateTo( Math.PI / 2, Math.PI / 4, true );
await cameraControls.dollyTo( 3, true );
await cameraControls.fitToSphere( mesh, true );
}
This will rotate the camera, then dolly, and finally fit to the bounding sphere of the mesh
.
The speed and timing of transitions can be tuned using .restThreshold
and .smoothTime
.
If enableTransition
is false
, the promise will resolve immediately:
// will resolve immediately
await cameraControls.dollyTo( 3, false );
camera-controls used to use simple damping for its smooth transition. camera-controls v2 now uses SmoothDamp.
one of the benefits of using SmoothDamp is, SmoothDamp transition can be controlled with smoothTime which is approximately the time it will take to reach the end position.
Also, the Maximum speed of the transition can be set with max speed
.
Due to the change, the following are needed.
(if you haven't changed dampingFactor
and draggingDampingFactor
in v1.x, nothing is needed)
deprecated
-
dampingFactor
(use smoothTime instead) -
draggingDampingFactor
(use draggingSmoothTime instead)
added
smoothTime
draggingSmoothTime
maxSpeed
...That's it!
This project exists thanks to all the people who contribute.
Pre-requisites:
- a npm registry up and running with a
NPM_TOKEN
$ export NPM_TOKEN=npm_XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
- a Github PAT
$ export GITHUB_TOKEN=github_pat_XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
$ npm run release -- --dry-run