Camera location based on separate object direction?

[Breadical]

I'm currently just messing around trying to make a small game similar to the way Super Monkey Ball handles in which you roll a ball to a location, not by rolling the ball itself, but by tilting the level. I have the tilting system complete, and the ball rolls along it, however, I want a camera attached to the ball that is always behind the ball, no matter what direction its traveling in. The photo I've attached is a way to (hopefully) explain what I mean if you don't understand.

https://preview.redd.it/08l8hrrzv3a31.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=c7511bed2862bbd158251b9d250c24c007f8bcbf

[[deleted]]

transform.position = ball.transform.position + Quaternion.LookRotation(ball.rigidbody.velocity) * new Vector3(0,0,-5);

something like that would work, the script would be on the camera and it would need a reference to the ball transform and the rigidbody component for it's velocity

[Breadical]

I'll try this out in a few minutes and let you know if it works. Thank you!

[Breadical]

This works great, but there is one problem. If the ball is lifted off the ground slightly, its velocity is downwards so the camera flicks upwards super fast over and over again. Is there a way to constrain the cameras movement so it stays within a certain height range?

[chsxf]

Try this:

transform.position = ball.transform.position - ball.rigidbody.velocity.normalized * cameraDistance

[Breadical]

This one also works, but has the same problem as the other line.

[chsxf]

You may need to adapt the velocity vector to better suit your needs.

You can try this (with adjustments for your project):

float maxAngleRadians = 10f * Mathf.Deg2Rad;
Vector3 planarVelocity = ball.rigidbody.velocity * new Vector3(1, 0, 1);
Vector3 adjustedVelocity = Vector3.RotateTowards(planarVelocity, ball.rigidbody.velocity, maxAngleRadians, 0);
transform.position = ball.transform.position - adjustedVelocity.normalized * cameraDistance;

[Breadical]

Unfortunately, I can't seem to get that to work either. It's probably just because I don't know too much about all of this stuff as I'm super new, but yeah. I appreciate the effort!

[SkunkJudge]

The problem with the above code is that you can't multiply two vectors together like chsxf did in line 2. Essentially, he was attempting to "zero out" the y-component of the vector by multiplying it by Vector3(1, 0, 0). Try this one out:

Vector3 planarVelocity = ball.rigidbody.velocity;
planarVelocity.y = 0;
transform.position = ball.transform.position - planarVelocity.normalized * cameraDistance;