What are the steps to smoothly move a camera towards an object in three.js?

In my scene, I have created various objects and implemented raycasting/tweening code so that when an object is clicked, it smoothly animates to move in sync with the camera's position and rotation.

Below is the code snippet for the raycasting/tweening operation:

function onDocumentMouseDown( event ) {

            event.preventDefault();

            mouse.x = ( event.clientX / renderer.domElement.clientWidth ) * 2 - 1;
            mouse.y = - ( event.clientY / renderer.domElement.clientHeight ) * 2 + 1;

            raycaster.setFromCamera( mouse, camera );

            var intersects = raycaster.intersectObjects( scene.children );

            if ( intersects.length > 0 ) {

                new TWEEN.Tween( intersects[ 0 ].object.position ).to( {
                    x: 0,
                    y: 0,
                    z: -100 }, 2000 )
                .easing( TWEEN.Easing.Elastic.Out).start();

                new TWEEN.Tween( intersects[ 0 ].object.rotation ).to( {
                    x: 0,
                    y: 0,
                    z: 0 }, 2000 )
                .easing( TWEEN.Easing.Elastic.Out).start();
                object.lookAt.camera;

            }
        }

Now, I am contemplating how I can modify the tween animation to make the camera follow and track the selected object instead of the object moving towards the camera. My goal is to have dynamic movement and rotation of objects while enabling the camera to focus and follow individual objects seamlessly.

Just to clarify, all these operations are carried out using a perspective camera.

Answer №1

If you are utilizing OrbitControls.js to manage your camera movement, the next step is to define the target of the controls by using

controls.target = new THREE.Vector3(0, 0, -100);
which should be set at the center of your object (or tweens). Since you have set your object's rotation to (0, 0, 0), if you wish to view your object from above, adjust your camera's position to (0, 10, -100) - aligning it with the target but shifted in the desired direction.
In case your object's rotation is not (0, 0, 0), you will need to compute its forward vector (or any other preferred vector for viewing) and position the camera along this vector's axis.

Answer №2

I've been working on something similar, and here's where I'm at right now. However, I'm having some trouble figuring out how to get the direction vector of the object's face.

function convertToObj(target) {

var lookDirection = new THREE.Vector3(0, 0, 1);
lookDirection.applyQuaternion(target.quaternion);
console.log(lookDirection);
var rotationAnimation = new TWEEN.Tween(controls.target)
    .to({
        x: target.position.x,
        y: target.position.y,
        z: target.position.z
    }, 4000)
    .interpolation(TWEEN.Interpolation.CatmullRom)
    .easing(TWEEN.Easing.Quintic.InOut)
    .start();

var movementAnimation = new TWEEN.Tween(camera.position)
    .to({
        x: target.position.x,
        y: target.position.y,
        z: target.position.z + 10
    }, 4000)
    .interpolation(TWEEN.Interpolation.CatmullRom)
    .easing(TWEEN.Easing.Quintic.InOut);

movementAnimation.start();
movementAnimation.onComplete(function() {
    console.log('Finished!');
});

}

To make this work properly, you need to include the following line of code: controls = new THREE.TrackballControls(camera);

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