Building Interactive Worlds in 3D

Chapter 6

Virtual Cameras

1       Introduction

The design of a virtual world and the way that you film a virtual world are different ways to influence a viewer’s experience. The use and design of interactive cameras are key elements of telling stories in virtual spaces.

Cinema brought us the possibility of seeing and experiencing a scene through someone else’s eyes. Moviegoers are invited to view the world from the viewpoint of a film director or director of photography, but they do not have the ability to change the director’s viewpoint. They cannot choose, for example, which of multiple points of view they want to use for a scene.

In virtual sets, viewers also become authors because they can actually direct and create additional viewpoints ...