[duffarn-dev]

Stage 4 M6, part J: the camera path for the user's idea "film so we see the whole character", as an orbit around the player at the climax kill. With #60 (a clip's cfg), a clip can load the path:

mirv_campath clear
mirv_campath load "C:/fragforge-jobs/campaths/<file>.xml"
mirv_campath enabled 1

lib/campath.py:

• orbit_samples(demo, steamid, ticks) gets the player's position and game_time at a few ticks from demoparser2, plus their view yaw at the first.
  • game_time is the time base mirv_campath uses. The tick isn't.
  • With demoparser2's own value, there's no server_start_tick to work out: the demo header doesn't have it.
• orbit_keys places the camera:
  • 140 units from the player, 30 above the eyes
  • starting behind them and swinging 140° around
  • always aimed at the head
  • following the player as they move
• campath_xml writes what mirv_campath save writes: <campath><points><p t x y z fov rx ry rz/>, where rx is roll, ry pitch and rz yaw. It adds a guard key one tick outside each end so the path eases in and out, and unwraps the yaw so the spline doesn't spin a full turn at ±180°.

The format and the two traps come from cs2cinema's notes, which were tested with HLAE 2.192 in October 2026. Only the facts are used; that repo has no license.

Nothing uses this in a film yet. The M6 spike renders it first, with the user: one job of the Stage 4 climax clip four ways (POV, spec_mode 3 in the cfg, spec_mode 3 through mirv_cmd, and this orbit). It needs the new worker.py on the render PC (already copied) and a restart. The spike answers whether the camera goes through walls, whether the timing is right, and whether it looks good enough to become a feature.

How it was tested

tests/test_campath.py (new):

• look_at in Source's convention
• the orbit:
  • radius, height, behind the player halfway
  • a 140° sweep
  • aimed at the head (0.000° off)
  • follows a moving player
• the XML:
  • HLAE's layout and all attributes
  • the guard keys
  • rising game time
  • no yaw step over 90° while passing 180°

A path made from the real demo: 13 keys around the climax kill at game time ~1290.0 s, following the player as they run.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code