CameraNode and ChaseCamera, object not rotating

Troubleshooting
1

I’m having trouble making a node always follow the camera in the bottom right of the screen. The node is an item node, the item is what the player is holding.

I have a ChaseCamera set up and the flyCam is disabled. I have created an itemNode attached to my characterNode. I create a cube geometry and attach it to the itemNode when the user selects an item. The cameraNode is attached to the itemNode.

What I am seeing is the item floating above the player, up and to the left. When I rotate the camera it does not rotate. However when I move the player it follows my movement.

I have copied what I think is the relevant portion of code in. This is a snippet from my PlayerControl class. I’ll be happy to put the whole thing in if anyone requests it.

Any help is appreciated.

    @Override
public void setSpatial(Spatial spatial)
{
    super.setSpatial(spatial);

    if (spatial instanceof Node)
    {
        Node parentNode = (Node) spatial;
        parentNode.attachChild(characterNode);

        this.blockTerrain = app.getStateManager().getState(RunningAppState.class).getBlockTerrain();
        this.blockExplosionControl = app.getStateManager().getState(RunningAppState.class).getBlockExplosionControl();
        this.itemControl = app.getStateManager().getState(RunningAppState.class).getItemControl();
        this.gunControl = new GunControl(app, this);
        characterNode.addControl(gunControl);
        characterNode.setLocalTranslation(getPlayerStartLocation());
        characterNode.setUserData("player", this);

        this.playerHeight = cubeSettings.getBlockSize() * 2;
        physicsCharacter = new BetterCharacterControl((cubeSettings.getBlockSize() / 2), playerHeight, 5);
        
        characterNode.addControl(physicsCharacter);
        physics.getPhysicsSpace().add(physicsCharacter);
        physicsCharacter.setDuckedFactor(0.5f);
        physicsCharacter.setJumpForce(new Vector3f(0.0f, 125.0f, 0.0f));
        physicsCharacter.setGravity(new Vector3f(0.0f, -70.0f, 0.0f));

        // Disable the default flyby cam
        flyCam.setEnabled(false);
        initChaseCamera();
        
        
        this.itemNode = new Node("item");
        this.cameraNode = new CameraNode("camera node", cam);
        this.cameraNode.setEnabled(true);
        this.cameraNode.setControlDir(CameraControl.ControlDirection.CameraToSpatial);
        this.characterNode.attachChild(cameraNode);
        characterNode.attachChild(itemNode);
        itemNode.attachChild(cameraNode);

    }
}

private void initChaseCamera()
{
    chaseCam = new ChaseCamera(cam, characterNode, app.getInputManager());
    chaseCam.setMinDistance(0.1f);
    chaseCam.setMaxDistance(0.1f);
    chaseCam.setInvertVerticalAxis(true);
    chaseCam.setDragToRotate(false);
    chaseCam.setLookAtOffset(new Vector3f(0.0f, cubeSettings.getBlockSize(), 0.0f));
    chaseCam.setDefaultVerticalRotation(0);
    chaseCam.setDefaultHorizontalRotation(FastMath.DEG_TO_RAD * 270);
}
2

Maybe you should take a look to:

Why are you rotating the camera instead of the player, if, as you say, the item follows the player movement?.

3

I’m not rotating the camera in my code. I just mean when I move the mouse to look around the block isn’t following the rotation.

I think the proper way for me to handle this is by getting my character mesh imported. Then, from what I have read, I should be able to add an attachment node to a bone of the character. Then the framework will handle all of this for me.