Reset camera using OrbitControls.js

Question

I'm using OrbitControls.js to allow mouse interaction. I'm adding a button into the scene that allows to "reset" the camera to it's state where it was before any mouse interactions.

I have tried to save camera.position and camera.rotation before any interactions:

    camera_initial_position = camera.position;
    camera_initial_rotation = camera.rotation;

And after the "reset" button is pressed, the initial position and rotation is set:

    camera.position = camera_initial_position;
    camera.rotation = camera_initial_rotation;

It works well if pan is not used. If user pans using mouse right button, then the above code cannot "reset" camera.

What is the right method to "reset" the camera to its previous state?

Revision of three.js is r58 and this is the OrbitControls.js:

/**
 * @author qiao / https://github.com/qiao
 * @author mrdoob / http://mrdoob.com
 * @author alteredq / http://alteredqualia.com/
 * @author WestLangley / http://github.com/WestLangley
 */

THREE.OrbitControls = function ( object, domElement ) {

    this.object = object;
    this.domElement = ( domElement !== undefined ) ? domElement : document;

    // API

    this.enabled = true;

    this.center = new THREE.Vector3();

    this.userZoom = true;
    this.userZoomSpeed = 1.0;

    this.userRotate = true;
    this.userRotateSpeed = 1.0;

    this.userPan = true;
    this.userPanSpeed = 2.0;

    this.autoRotate = false;
    this.autoRotateSpeed = 2.0; // 30 seconds per round when fps is 60

    this.minPolarAngle = 0; // radians
    this.maxPolarAngle = Math.PI; // radians

    this.minDistance = 0;
    this.maxDistance = Infinity;

    this.keys = { LEFT: 37, UP: 38, RIGHT: 39, BOTTOM: 40 };

    // internals

    var scope = this;

    var EPS = 0.000001;
    var PIXELS_PER_ROUND = 1800;

    var rotateStart = new THREE.Vector2();
    var rotateEnd = new THREE.Vector2();
    var rotateDelta = new THREE.Vector2();

    var zoomStart = new THREE.Vector2();
    var zoomEnd = new THREE.Vector2();
    var zoomDelta = new THREE.Vector2();

    var phiDelta = 0;
    var thetaDelta = 0;
    var scale = 1;

    var lastPosition = new THREE.Vector3();

    var STATE = { NONE: -1, ROTATE: 0, ZOOM: 1, PAN: 2 };
    var state = STATE.NONE;

    // events

    var changeEvent = { type: 'change' };


    this.rotateLeft = function ( angle ) {

        if ( angle === undefined ) {

            angle = getAutoRotationAngle();

        }

        thetaDelta -= angle;

    };

    this.rotateRight = function ( angle ) {

        if ( angle === undefined ) {

            angle = getAutoRotationAngle();

        }

        thetaDelta += angle;

    };

    this.rotateUp = function ( angle ) {

        if ( angle === undefined ) {

            angle = getAutoRotationAngle();

        }

        phiDelta -= angle;

    };

    this.rotateDown = function ( angle ) {

        if ( angle === undefined ) {

            angle = getAutoRotationAngle();

        }

        phiDelta += angle;

    };

    this.zoomIn = function ( zoomScale ) {

        if ( zoomScale === undefined ) {

            zoomScale = getZoomScale();

        }

        scale /= zoomScale;

    };

    this.zoomOut = function ( zoomScale ) {

        if ( zoomScale === undefined ) {

            zoomScale = getZoomScale();

        }

        scale *= zoomScale;

    };

    this.pan = function ( distance ) {

        distance.transformDirection( this.object.matrix );
        distance.multiplyScalar( scope.userPanSpeed );

        this.object.position.add( distance );
        this.center.add( distance );

    };

    this.update = function () {

        var position = this.object.position;
        var offset = position.clone().sub( this.center );

        // angle from z-axis around y-axis

        var theta = Math.atan2( offset.x, offset.z );

        // angle from y-axis

        var phi = Math.atan2( Math.sqrt( offset.x * offset.x + offset.z * offset.z ), offset.y );

        if ( this.autoRotate ) {

            this.rotateLeft( getAutoRotationAngle() );

        }

        theta += thetaDelta;
        phi += phiDelta;

        // restrict phi to be between desired limits
        phi = Math.max( this.minPolarAngle, Math.min( this.maxPolarAngle, phi ) );

        // restrict phi to be betwee EPS and PI-EPS
        phi = Math.max( EPS, Math.min( Math.PI - EPS, phi ) );

        var radius = offset.length() * scale;

        // restrict radius to be between desired limits
        radius = Math.max( this.minDistance, Math.min( this.maxDistance, radius ) );

        offset.x = radius * Math.sin( phi ) * Math.sin( theta );
        offset.y = radius * Math.cos( phi );
        offset.z = radius * Math.sin( phi ) * Math.cos( theta );

        position.copy( this.center ).add( offset );

        this.object.lookAt( this.center );

        thetaDelta = 0;
        phiDelta = 0;
        scale = 1;

        if ( lastPosition.distanceTo( this.object.position ) > 0 ) {

            this.dispatchEvent( changeEvent );

            lastPosition.copy( this.object.position );

        }

    };


    function getAutoRotationAngle() {

        return 2 * Math.PI / 60 / 60 * scope.autoRotateSpeed;

    }

    function getZoomScale() {

        return Math.pow( 0.95, scope.userZoomSpeed );

    }

    function onMouseDown( event ) {

        if ( scope.enabled === false ) return;
        if ( scope.userRotate === false ) return;

        event.preventDefault();

        if ( event.button === 0 ) {

            state = STATE.ROTATE;

            rotateStart.set( event.clientX, event.clientY );

        } else if ( event.button === 1 ) {

            state = STATE.ZOOM;

            zoomStart.set( event.clientX, event.clientY );

        } else if ( event.button === 2 ) {

            state = STATE.PAN;

        }

        document.addEventListener( 'mousemove', onMouseMove, false );
        document.addEventListener( 'mouseup', onMouseUp, false );

    }

    function onMouseMove( event ) {

        if ( scope.enabled === false ) return;

        event.preventDefault();

        if ( state === STATE.ROTATE ) {

            rotateEnd.set( event.clientX, event.clientY );
            rotateDelta.subVectors( rotateEnd, rotateStart );

            scope.rotateLeft( 2 * Math.PI * rotateDelta.x / PIXELS_PER_ROUND * scope.userRotateSpeed );
            scope.rotateUp( 2 * Math.PI * rotateDelta.y / PIXELS_PER_ROUND * scope.userRotateSpeed );

            rotateStart.copy( rotateEnd );

        } else if ( state === STATE.ZOOM ) {

            zoomEnd.set( event.clientX, event.clientY );
            zoomDelta.subVectors( zoomEnd, zoomStart );

            if ( zoomDelta.y > 0 ) {

                scope.zoomIn();

            } else {

                scope.zoomOut();

            }

            zoomStart.copy( zoomEnd );

        } else if ( state === STATE.PAN ) {

            var movementX = event.movementX || event.mozMovementX || event.webkitMovementX || 0;
            var movementY = event.movementY || event.mozMovementY || event.webkitMovementY || 0;

            scope.pan( new THREE.Vector3( - movementX, movementY, 0 ) );

        }

    }

    function onMouseUp( event ) {

        if ( scope.enabled === false ) return;
        if ( scope.userRotate === false ) return;

        document.removeEventListener( 'mousemove', onMouseMove, false );
        document.removeEventListener( 'mouseup', onMouseUp, false );

        state = STATE.NONE;

    }

    function onMouseWheel( event ) {

        if ( scope.enabled === false ) return;
        if ( scope.userZoom === false ) return;

        var delta = 0;

        if ( event.wheelDelta ) { // WebKit / Opera / Explorer 9

            delta = event.wheelDelta;

        } else if ( event.detail ) { // Firefox

            delta = - event.detail;

        }

        if ( delta > 0 ) {

            scope.zoomOut();

        } else {

            scope.zoomIn();

        }

    }

    function onKeyDown( event ) {

        if ( scope.enabled === false ) return;
        if ( scope.userPan === false ) return;

        switch ( event.keyCode ) {

            case scope.keys.UP:
                scope.pan( new THREE.Vector3( 0, 1, 0 ) );
                break;
            case scope.keys.BOTTOM:
                scope.pan( new THREE.Vector3( 0, - 1, 0 ) );
                break;
            case scope.keys.LEFT:
                scope.pan( new THREE.Vector3( - 1, 0, 0 ) );
                break;
            case scope.keys.RIGHT:
                scope.pan( new THREE.Vector3( 1, 0, 0 ) );
                break;
        }

    }

    this.domElement.addEventListener( 'contextmenu', function ( event ) { event.preventDefault(); }, false );
    this.domElement.addEventListener( 'mousedown', onMouseDown, false );
    this.domElement.addEventListener( 'mousewheel', onMouseWheel, false );
    this.domElement.addEventListener( 'DOMMouseScroll', onMouseWheel, false ); // firefox
    this.domElement.addEventListener( 'keydown', onKeyDown, false );

};

THREE.OrbitControls.prototype = Object.create( THREE.EventDispatcher.prototype );

Answer 1

You can reset the camera when using OrbitControls like so:

controls.reset();

three.js r.71

Answer 2

Pan operation is updating vector called this.center , you need to reset it to see pan method ,

this.center.add( distance );

set this method to:

this.resetCamera = function ( ) {
        this.object.position.x= camera_initial_position.xPosition;
        this.object.position.y = camera_initial_position.yPosition;
        this.object.position.z = camera_initial_position.zPosition;
        this.center.x= camera_initial_target.x;
        this.center.y= camera_initial_target.y;
        this.center.z= camera_initial_target.z;
    };

and then the update method will keep the camera looking at the center vector.

Answer 3

ah.adel is correct Pan operation will update the center of the camera controller. Therefore if you need to reset/restore the camera to a predefined camera, you need to set camera controller center also.

Following code is a simple code to store camera position, rotation and control center

var camToSave = {};
camToSave.position = camera.position.clone();
camToSave.rotation = camera.rotation.clone();
camToSave.controlCenter = controls.target.clone();

Use this function to restore camera later.

function restoreCamera(position, rotation, controlCenter){
    camera.position.set(position.x, position.y, position.z);
    camera.rotation.set(rotation.x, rotation.y, rotation.z);

    controls.target.set(controlCenter.x, controlCenter.y, controlCenter.z);
    controls.update();

    render();
}

Call restoreCamera function to restore saved camera.

restoreCamera(camToSave.position, camToSave.rotation, camToSave.controlCenter);

Hope this will help to anyone who having this problem