Official Announcing Cinemachine 3.0

Is the API subject to major changes or could we try it on already ?

 

Sorry I was not clear enough, is the 3.0-pre api subject to upcoming changes or is it stable enough to build upon? It's allright if bugs are coming in the way.

 

Plan on making any walk throughs of the changes?

 

They gave the doc link https://docs.unity3d.com/Packages/com.unity.cinemachine@3.0/manual/CinemachineUpgradeFrom2.html

 

This is totally fine and is in fact a better way of introducing new features instead of slapping them on top of old ones, maintaining legacy code with systems that does similar things is depressing.
We currently set cinemachine through its Inspector exposed properties, through timeline cinemachine track and on code is just few lines to blend between them. Code wise, is not an issue upgrade to new APIs. Is more of if/when the time comes for us to upgrade to v3, we would like to maintain existing cameras behavior at minimum.
PS: Kudos for v3!

 

Does it play well with dots?

 

How does this play with post processing? Are things like focus distance exposed so the calculation doesn't need to be done twice if needed for other effects?

 

Awesome! That alone might make me switch, cause I have a whole script that's designed to try and pass through focus values to post processing. And it's sometimes hit or miss.

I assume it still instances the volume? I would love a guide on reccomended implementations, later today I'll post my current scripts for reference.

 

Yeah, thats more or less what i do now, but I have this script that has to take the cinemachine info per camera.

Code (CSharp):

1. using UnityEngine;
2. using Beautify.Universal;
3. using Cinemachine.PostFX;
4. using Cinemachine;
5. using Sirenix.OdinInspector;
6.  
7. [DisallowMultipleComponent]
8. [ExecuteAlways]
9. [SaveDuringPlay]
10. public class BeautifyFocusCompatibility : CinemachineExtension
11. {
12.     public CinemachineVolumeSettings volumeSettings;
13.     [HideIf("volumeSettings", null)]
14.     public FocusTarget altFocusTarget = FocusTarget.LookAtTarget;
15.     [HideIf("volumeSettings", null)]
16.     public float focusOffset;
17.     [ShowIf("altFocusTarget", FocusTarget.CustomTarget)]
18.     public Transform followTarget;
19.     /// <summary>
20.     /// Enable this to ignore the current volume configuration, using custom settings can sometimes get better results.
21.     /// </summary>
22.     [HideIf("volumeSettings", null)]
23.     public bool ignoreVolumeSettings = true;
24.  
25.     protected override void OnEnable()
26.     {
27.         volumeSettings = this.gameObject.GetComponent(typeof(CinemachineVolumeSettings)) as CinemachineVolumeSettings;
28.     }
29.  
30.     /// <summary>Apply PostProcessing effects</summary>
31.     /// <param name="vcam">The virtual camera being processed</param>
32.     /// <param name="stage">The current pipeline stage</param>
33.     /// <param name="state">The current virtual camera state</param>
34.     /// <param name="deltaTime">The current applicable deltaTime</param>
35.     protected override void PostPipelineStageCallback(CinemachineVirtualCameraBase vcam, CinemachineCore.Stage stage, ref CameraState state, float deltaTime)
36.     {
37.         // Set the focus after the camera has been fully positioned.
38.         if (stage == CinemachineCore.Stage.Finalize)
39.         {
40.             // Only process if this current camera is active
41.             if (vcam.VirtualCameraGameObject == this.gameObject)
42.             {
43.                 //Do not run if instance does not have dof enabled
44.                 if (BeautifySettings.sharedSettings.depthOfField.value)
45.                 {
46.                     //If volume settings is not null process from that
47.                     if (volumeSettings != null)
48.                     {
49.                         float focusDistance = volumeSettings.m_FocusOffset;
50.                         if (volumeSettings.m_FocusTracking == CinemachineVolumeSettings.FocusTrackingMode.LookAtTarget)
51.                             focusDistance += (state.FinalPosition - state.ReferenceLookAt).magnitude;
52.                         else
53.                         {
54.                             Transform focusTarget = null;
55.                             switch (volumeSettings.m_FocusTracking)
56.                             {
57.                                 default: break;
58.                                 case CinemachineVolumeSettings.FocusTrackingMode.FollowTarget: focusTarget = VirtualCamera.Follow; break;
59.                                 case CinemachineVolumeSettings.FocusTrackingMode.CustomTarget: focusTarget = volumeSettings.m_FocusTarget; break;
60.                                 case CinemachineVolumeSettings.FocusTrackingMode.Camera: focusDistance = volumeSettings.m_FocusOffset; break;
61.                             }
62.                             if (focusTarget != null)
63.                                 focusDistance += (state.FinalPosition - focusTarget.position).magnitude;
64.                         }
65.                         GameEventHub.PublishUpdateDistance(Mathf.Max(0, focusDistance));
66.                     }
67.                     //If volume settings is null determine if volume settings is desired if not work off custom data, else find the volume settings
68.                     else if (volumeSettings == null)
69.                     {
70.                         if (ignoreVolumeSettings)
71.                         {
72.                             float focusDistance = focusOffset;
73.                             if (altFocusTarget == FocusTarget.LookAtTarget)
74.                                 focusDistance += (state.FinalPosition - state.ReferenceLookAt).magnitude;
75.                             else
76.                             {
77.                                 Transform focusTarget = null;
78.                                 switch (altFocusTarget)
79.                                 {
80.                                     default: break;
81.                                     case FocusTarget.FollowTarget: focusTarget = VirtualCamera.Follow; break;
82.                                     case FocusTarget.CustomTarget: focusTarget = followTarget; break;
83.                                     case FocusTarget.None: focusDistance = focusOffset; break;
84.                                 }
85.                                 if (focusTarget != null)
86.                                     focusDistance += (state.FinalPosition - focusTarget.position).magnitude;
87.                             }
88.                             /*
89.                             if (BeautifySettings.instance != null)
90.                             {
91.                                 BeautifySettings.sharedSettings.depthOfFieldDistance.Override(Mathf.Max(0, focusDistance));
92.                             }
93.                             */
94.                             GameEventHub.PublishUpdateDistance(Mathf.Max(0, focusDistance));
95.                         }
96.                         else
97.                         {
98.                             volumeSettings = this.gameObject.GetComponent(typeof(CinemachineVolumeSettings)) as CinemachineVolumeSettings;
99.                         }
100.  
101.                     }
102.                 }
103.             }
104.         }
105.     }
106. }
107.  
108. public enum FocusTarget
109. {
110.     None = 0,
111.     LookAtTarget = 1,
112.     FollowTarget = 2,
113.     CustomTarget = 3,
114.     Camera = 4
115. }
116.  

If this whole process can be simplified that would be fantastic.

 

I've just watch the video, and the improvements are fascinating! No hidden gameobject pipeline, better naming, Splines package supporting, GroupComposer -> move to Extensions, split screens by channel (not unity layer) ... everything is so good!
I appreciate the hard work of the Cinemachine team. Great Job!! Can't wait to use this in my new projects.

 

I was just thinking, is it a hard rule for the minimum version, or mostly a "use at your own risk" in earlier version? For instance, right now I'm using the Spline package in 2021 LTS, which looks like one of the reason or the 2022.2 requirement, it does compile and is functional.

Anyway we'll probably switch the 2022 LTS when it's realeased, but if we can start to work on in it in the meantime it'd be great.

 

Hey, love to see these changes, the UX is so much better! And the more component based modularity is great!

However one thing really bothers me and that is the naming of

CmCamera

, I find to very off putting.
Just in general using a shorthand for a class name goes against C# guidelines. It makes it harder (if only a bit) to know what the component is. And beyond that, every other component in Cinemachine uses the full

Cinemachine___

name. So not only does it look kind of ugly, it is also inconsistent. I understand if it is too late to change it now, or if you have some reason for having it as it is. But I thought I would at least share.
I still would have preferred something like

VirtualCamera

as the naming convention instead of

Cinemachine

, as it tells you what it is, and not what it is from, but I understand the reasoning.

Anyways, that is just my two cents. Love the new scene tools integration too btw!

 

I also think it should be Cinemachine Camera like every other component that starts with "Cinemachine"

 

Everything there is great! The only thing I reacted to very negatively was "Unity now has a different product named VirtualCamera". That is the worst thing! What the hell? You can't have a "virtual camera" concept for half a decade and then turn around and go "that's no a cmCamera and there's a different thing now called VirtualCamera".

What's that other virtual camera, and is there a way we can shout at the people responsible for it? They've made a product that's 100% never going to be found by anyone, so they're making Cinemachine worse and wasting their own time.

 

This all sounds awesome! Just wondering, with the minimum being 2022.2 does that there might be a version that works with 2022 LTS at some point? If it's 2023 only, that means it would be over a year away for me at least 'cause I have to wait for the LTS .
Anyway, great work!

 

Awesome! That's great news
Hmm, how would I find the package name for the "Add Package By Name" field? I've can't seem to get anything to work.

Edit - Got it!

 

great to hear this, and any timeline for dots?

 

I can't seem to get the camera to follow a smooth, vertical arc using the FreeLook Camera on 2.9.5 (Red line is the Cinemachine's Y arc)

Is this something that could be fixed/changed in 3.0?

And something I found weird in 2.9+ is that the FreeLook camera's X and Y axis have different speeds values with no intuitive way of aligning them (or maybe there is a way, but i don't know it - I'd love some advice!). So i'm left nudging values till i get something that sort of feels like the X and Y move at similar speeds. It would be great is there was another speed option that would make the two axis' speed aligned

 

I know you are probably tired of being asked this all the time and there's no good answer either but... can you give us a very rough time frame? This year? Else we just need to use a proxy, same as with animation.
edit: just realized that it's not this easy because of physics checks inside Cinemachine. Here's how: Dots camera

As a dots user I get the feeling that the "new" world will only ever be on-par with the existing stuff in like 10 years because you guys keep extending the "old" world. Getting mixed signals here.

 

I was wondering what features of CM3 would be different from the current 2022.3 and the full release in 2023.2 if I started a new project today.

 

CM3 is designed as a "featureless update", so usability and structure for users.

 

Sorry, what I meant was, is there any reason to use 2023 now that would improve CM3, or can I use CM3 in 2022.3 with the same functionality.

 

This refactoring is great, nices shorter naming, clearer inspector is awesome. But still no simple setup for First Person Camera.....

 

Really?

This info is completely missing from the 3.0.0-pre[latest] docs right now.

Note: 'entering the package name in ..' has no effect: it installs CM-2.9.7, and there appears no way to prevent it.

 

Is this forum closed? No answering to the questions.

 

HELLO My CINEMACHINE IS 3.0.1 buti made a mistake to make it back to 2.9.7 ,
now i want back to 3.0.1 BUT NOT FOUND 3.0.1 in package manager,pls save me! thank you ! thank you very much!

 

Edit it in the package manifest file

 

Use the

Add package by name...

function. You can specify version number in the dialog box.
https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/upm-ui-quick.html