Camera Rigs

Camera Rigs

One rule above all: exactly ONE camera is active. In 3D that is the single Camera3D with current = true; two current cameras = flicker or the wrong view, and a scene with no current camera renders nothing in the game. In 2D a Camera2D is active when enabled = true (the default) and it is in the tree; with several enabled cameras, call make_current() on the one you want.

Trigger phrases: "black screen on play", "camera shows past the level edge", "jerky follow", "wrong FOV", "I need a top-down / isometric / orbit camera".

Ops use engine variant strings ("Vector3(0, 5, 10)"), never JSON objects ({x: 0, y: 5, z: 10} fails). Every mutation names its scene: pass the exact scenePath (e.g. res://main.tscn). One summer_batch per rig saves the scene once; the examples below use it.

2D follow camera

Add the Camera2D as a CHILD of the player so it follows for free, then smooth it and clamp it to the level.

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summer_batch(scenePath="res://main.tscn", ops=[
  {"op": "AddNode", "parent": "./Player", "type": "Camera2D", "name": "Camera"},
  {"op": "SetProp", "path": "./Player/Camera", "key": "position_smoothing_enabled", "value": true},
  {"op": "SetProp", "path": "./Player/Camera", "key": "position_smoothing_speed", "value": 6.0},
  {"op": "SetProp", "path": "./Player/Camera", "key": "limit_left", "value": 0},
  {"op": "SetProp", "path": "./Player/Camera", "key": "limit_right", "value": 1920},
  {"op": "SetProp", "path": "./Player/Camera", "key": "limit_top", "value": 0},
  {"op": "SetProp", "path": "./Player/Camera", "key": "limit_bottom", "value": 1080}
])

• Smoothing speed 5-8 feels responsive; higher = tighter, lower = drifty.
• Set limits to the actual level bounds (the numbers above are placeholders). limit_smoothing_enabled = true avoids a hard stop at the edge.
• Zoom Vector2(2, 2) zooms IN (bigger), Vector2(0.5, 0.5) zooms OUT (top-down).

2D top-down camera

Same as above minus the platformer edge-lock urgency. Zoom out to show the field (Vector2(0.5, 0.5)). Keep it centered on the player; no vertical bias.

3D first-person camera

Camera is a child of a Head node on the player. Body yaws, Head pitches. See the character-movement skill (its 3D movement reference: summer_docs_read id skill/character-movement/references/movement-3d.md) or fps-controller for the look script. FOV 70-75, near 0.05.

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summer_batch(scenePath="res://main.tscn", ops=[
  {"op": "AddNode", "parent": "./Player/Head", "type": "Camera3D", "name": "Camera"},
  {"op": "SetProp", "path": "./Player/Head/Camera", "key": "fov", "value": 72.0},
  {"op": "SetProp", "path": "./Player/Head/Camera", "key": "near", "value": 0.05},
  {"op": "SetProp", "path": "./Player/Head/Camera", "key": "current", "value": true}
])

3D third-person camera (spring arm)

The SpringArm3D pushes the camera in when a wall is behind the player, so it never clips through geometry. This is the correct third-person rig - do not just park a Camera3D behind the player.

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summer_batch(scenePath="res://main.tscn", ops=[
  {"op": "AddNode", "parent": "./Player", "type": "SpringArm3D", "name": "SpringArm"},
  {"op": "SetProp", "path": "./Player/SpringArm", "key": "position", "value": "Vector3(0, 2, 0)"},
  {"op": "SetProp", "path": "./Player/SpringArm", "key": "spring_length", "value": 4.5},
  {"op": "SetProp", "path": "./Player/SpringArm", "key": "collision_mask", "value": 2},
  {"op": "AddNode", "parent": "./Player/SpringArm", "type": "Camera3D", "name": "Camera"},
  {"op": "SetProp", "path": "./Player/SpringArm/Camera", "key": "current", "value": true}
])

Set collision_mask to the LEVEL layer only. If it includes the player layer the arm collapses to length 0 and you see inside the character (a controller script can also call add_excluded_object(get_rid()) on the arm).

Orthographic top-down 3D (twin-stick, strategy, isometric)

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summer_batch(scenePath="res://main.tscn", ops=[
  {"op": "SetProp", "path": "./Camera", "key": "projection", "value": 1},
  {"op": "SetProp", "path": "./Camera", "key": "size", "value": 20.0},
  {"op": "SetProp", "path": "./Camera", "key": "position", "value": "Vector3(0, 20, 0)"},
  {"op": "SetProp", "path": "./Camera", "key": "rotation_degrees", "value": "Vector3(-90, 0, 0)"}
])

projection = 1 is orthogonal. size is the vertical world units shown - bigger = more zoomed out. For isometric, rotate ~(-30, 45, 0) instead of straight down.

FOV guidance

• 60-75: most 3D games. 90+: fast FPS (feels faster, more peripheral).
• Under 40 or over 110 distorts. Never animate FOV wildly; a small kick (+8 on sprint, tweened back) reads as speed.

Verify

A camera is only proven by a frame. After the rig is in, summer_play, then summer_screenshot with target: "game", then summer_stop; or save frames from a RunVerification probe while the player moves (see playtesting-a-feature). An editor viewport screenshot shows the editor's camera, not the game's.

Troubleshooting

From a shell

No Summer MCP tools in this session? Run each one as a command; when summer --version is missing or below 4.0, use npx -y summer-engine@latest in place of summer. Fields are flags in kebab-case (--scene-path res://main.tscn) or one --input '<json>', and summer ops describe <op> prints the exact input. The summer-cli skill has the rest.