Locking the Z axis of a quaternion camera rotation

[ktirrell (Rungus)]

this would work for euler angles but i dont think it would work for quaternions

for reference my current cam cframe looks like this 53.556 0, 7.73523808, 12.0740738, 0.479156375, -0.194079429, 0.856003881, -0.0137755023, 0.97346431, 0.228421941, -0.87762171, -0.121241428, 0.463768244

[EtNowis]

you dont work directly with quaternions
because a basic quaternions is (q, x, y, z)
where q=cos(theta/2) and x,y,z forms the axis of rotation with magnitude sin(theta/2)

also you seem to print out the cframe directly, and it outputs 12 entries, it is because it is probably giving you the 4x3 matrix representation which includes the rotation and translation (position).

in either representations, you cannot just set an entry to zero to make the roll go away

[ktirrell (Rungus)]

well i dont have an updownindegree variable and i have no idea what i would set it to

[EtNowis]

you may post the code that move your camera. then we could see what changes can be made

[ktirrell (Rungus)]

[iicloudsforeveriii (cloudy)]

A random question but why are you using quaternions for camera manipulation? I just find it an unnecessarily complicated way to achieve something so easy. And why do you have nested functions inside of a RenderStepped loop?

[EtNowis]

steps.RenderStepped:Connect(function()
  local mousemovement = (uis:GetMouseDelta() / 180) * 0.5
  cam.CFrame = cam.CFrame * CFrame.fromOrientation(mousemovement.Y, mousemovement.X, 0)
end)

[ktirrell (Rungus)]

i very specfically need quaternions for this, radical euler angles are susceptible to gimbal lock and would ruin the gameplay of my game

[EtNowis]

no actual difference using those methods because they are quaternions/matrix underneath

but you can try
local quatr1 = multiply(quaternionX, quaternionY)
i suspect your current order of rotation is not correct

[ktirrell (Rungus)]

it is i already tried swapping these around

[ktirrell (Rungus)]

gimbal lock, a problem quaternions dont have

[GamEditoPro]

CFrames don’t have gimball lock, because CFrames work with Vectors as directions instead. Quaternions should be used if you have limited memory, like saving some data in DataStores.

[ktirrell (Rungus)]

by default the camera rotates by setting the cframe of the camera to a euler angle, euler angles have gimbal lock which causes problems with full rotations of the y axis, i need to use quaternions to alleviate this

[Programm_Bot (Aeculus)]

Not sure if this is what your looking for but I’m assuming you want to include the roll when changing pitch and yaw

For example when your roll is 90 degrees and you move the mouse up the camera doesn’t go left/right and instead goes up and down from the players view

local Camera = workspace.CurrentCamera :: Camera

local RunService = game:GetService("RunService")
local UserInputService = game:GetService("UserInputService")

local position = Vector3.zero :: Vector3
local yaw = 0 :: number
local pitch = 0 :: number
local roll = 0 :: number
local sensitivity = 0.25 :: number

RunService.RenderStepped:Connect(function ()
	local delta = UserInputService:GetMouseDelta()
	
	-- I commented out "% 360" cause sometimes you need more degrees to ensure smooth rotations
	pitch = (pitch + delta.Y * sensitivity)-- % 360
	yaw = (yaw + delta.X * sensitivity)-- % 360
	roll = 0
	
	local adjustedyaw = pitch * math.sin(math.rad(roll)) + yaw * math.cos(math.rad(roll))
	local adjustedPitch = pitch * math.cos(math.rad(roll)) - yaw * math.sin(math.rad(roll))

	local yawQuat = CFrame.new(position.X, position.Y, position.Z, 0, math.sin(math.rad(adjustedyaw) * 0.5), 0, math.cos(math.rad(adjustedyaw) * 0.5))
	local pitchQuat = CFrame.new(position.X, position.Y, position.Z, math.sin(math.rad(adjustedPitch) * 0.5), 0, 0, math.cos(math.rad(adjustedPitch) * 0.5))
	local rollQuat = CFrame.new(position.X, position.Y, position.Z, 0, 0, math.sin(math.rad(roll) * 0.5), math.cos(math.rad(roll) * 0.5))
	
	local orientation = yawQuat * pitchQuat * rollQuat
	
	Camera.CFrame = CFrame.fromMatrix(position, orientation.RightVector, orientation.UpVector, -orientation.LookVector)
end)

I think I am only using luau’s built-in quaternion methods but correct me if I’m wrong!
It feels super jarring though, it’s making me dizzy even though it works as it’s supposed to (may have some issues I’m not aware of). I have a more conventional one if you want it

---

Example with a 90 degree roll:

This works fine in intervals of 90 but you may come across some issues when not going in intervals of 90. This is because yaw and pitch are being changed depending on the roll and not the camera rotation itself. I suggest shifting the whole quaternion when changing roll but if you don’t know how to do that then feel free to message me if you would like help with that!

[Programm_Bot (Aeculus)]

Here’s the other method that doesn’t take roll into account when moving the mouse:

local Camera = workspace.CurrentCamera

local RunService = game:GetService("RunService")
local UserInputService = game:GetService("UserInputService")

local position = Vector3.zero :: Vector3
local yaw = 0 :: number
local pitch = 0 :: number
local roll = 0 :: number
local sensitivity = 0.25 :: number

RunService.RenderStepped:Connect(function ()
	local delta = UserInputService:GetMouseDelta()
	
	pitch = (pitch + delta.Y * sensitivity) % 360
	yaw = (yaw + delta.X * sensitivity) % 360
	
	local yawRad = math.rad(yaw)
	local pitchRad = math.rad(pitch)

	local yawQuat = CFrame.new(position.X, position.Y, position.Z, 0, math.sin(math.rad(yaw) * 0.5), 0, math.cos(math.rad(yaw) * 0.5))
	local pitchQuat = CFrame.new(position.X, position.Y, position.Z, math.sin(math.rad(pitch) * 0.5), 0, 0, math.cos(math.rad(pitch) * 0.5))
	local rollQuat = CFrame.new(position.X, position.Y, position.Z, 0, 0, math.sin(math.rad(roll) * 0.5), math.cos(math.rad(roll) * 0.5))
	
	local orientation = yawQuat * pitchQuat * rollQuat
	
	Camera.CFrame = CFrame.fromMatrix(position, orientation.RightVector, orientation.UpVector, -orientation.LookVector)
end)

You can omit roll entirely if you aren’t going to use it

---

Without roll

local Camera = workspace.CurrentCamera

local RunService = game:GetService("RunService")
local UserInputService = game:GetService("UserInputService")

local position = Vector3.zero :: Vector3
local yaw = 0 :: number
local pitch = 0 :: number
local sensitivity = 0.25 :: number

RunService.RenderStepped:Connect(function ()
	local delta = UserInputService:GetMouseDelta()
	
	pitch = (pitch + delta.Y * sensitivity) % 360
	yaw = (yaw + delta.X * sensitivity) % 360
	
	local yawRad = math.rad(yaw)
	local pitchRad = math.rad(pitch)

	local yawQuat = CFrame.new(position.X, position.Y, position.Z, 0, math.sin(math.rad(yaw) * 0.5), 0, math.cos(math.rad(yaw) * 0.5))
	local pitchQuat = CFrame.new(position.X, position.Y, position.Z, math.sin(math.rad(pitch) * 0.5), 0, 0, math.cos(math.rad(pitch) * 0.5))
	
	local orientation = yawQuat * pitchQuat
	
	Camera.CFrame = CFrame.fromMatrix(position, orientation.RightVector, orientation.UpVector, -orientation.LookVector)
end)

[ktirrell (Rungus)]

this doesnt work, most likely because it relies on the base camera instead of using scriptable camera, which means the camera module errors

[Programm_Bot (Aeculus)]

For scriptable cameras you have to lock the mouse
I think because the camera module handles that? I’m not quite sure myself but if you don’t lock the mouse then UserInputService:GetMouseDelta() will return an empty vector

local Camera = workspace.CurrentCamera
Camera.CameraType = Enum.CameraType.Scriptable

local RunService = game:GetService("RunService")
local UserInputService = game:GetService("UserInputService")

local position = Vector3.zero :: Vector3
local yaw = 0 :: number
local pitch = 0 :: number
local roll = 0 :: number
local sensitivity = 0.25

-- Locking the mouse
UserInputService.InputBegan:Connect(function(input: InputObject, gameProcessedEvent: boolean)
	if gameProcessedEvent then return end
	if input.UserInputType ~= Enum.UserInputType.MouseButton2 then return end

	UserInputService.MouseBehavior = Enum.MouseBehavior.LockCurrentPosition
end)

UserInputService.InputEnded:Connect(function(input: InputObject, gameProcessedEvent: boolean)
	if gameProcessedEvent then return end
	if input.UserInputType ~= Enum.UserInputType.MouseButton2 then return end

	UserInputService.MouseBehavior = Enum.MouseBehavior.Default
end)

RunService.RenderStepped:Connect(function ()
	local delta = UserInputService:GetMouseDelta()
	
	pitch = (pitch + delta.Y * sensitivity) % 360
	yaw = (yaw + delta.X * sensitivity) % 360
	
	local yawRad = math.rad(yaw)
	local pitchRad = math.rad(pitch)

	local yawQuat = CFrame.new(position.X, position.Y, position.Z, 0, math.sin(math.rad(yaw) * 0.5), 0, math.cos(math.rad(yaw) * 0.5))
	local pitchQuat = CFrame.new(position.X, position.Y, position.Z, math.sin(math.rad(pitch) * 0.5), 0, 0, math.cos(math.rad(pitch) * 0.5))
	local rollQuat = CFrame.new(position.X, position.Y, position.Z, 0, 0, math.sin(math.rad(roll) * 0.5), math.cos(math.rad(roll) * 0.5))
	
	local orientation = yawQuat * pitchQuat * rollQuat
	
	Camera.CFrame = CFrame.fromMatrix(position, orientation.RightVector, orientation.UpVector, -orientation.LookVector)
	
	print(delta)
end)

[Programm_Bot (Aeculus)]

You can also use one of my previous solutions if spherical coordinates suits your fancy

Removing MinZoomDistance?

You need to change the CameraMinZoomDistance from the player -- example in local script game:GetService("Players").LocalPlayer.CameraMinZoomDistance = 0 Even though, as the other guy mentioned, it is clamped to 0.5. And I don’t think the NearPlaneZ value can be edited. Additionally, spherical coordinates could be used to build your own camera system. Here is a more detailed version of one of my earlier postings! (to view my revision, you must slightly scroll down.) the reference for that …

[ktirrell (Rungus)]

this works swimmingly, and with a bit of position shenanigans sprinkled on top i get a fake shiftlock with full rotation capabilities