#Editor Camera

#include <safi/editor/editor_camera.h>

In Edit mode the editor needs its own view, separate from whatever camera the game uses. SafiEditorCamera is a dedicated ECS entity that carries {SafiTransform, SafiCamera, SafiEditorCamera} and runs a fly-cam controller on EcsOnUpdate. When the editor is in Edit, the fly-cam owns the SafiActiveCamera tag; switching to Play or Paused restores the tag to whichever entity held it before.

The editor cam is installed automatically by safi_app_init when enable_debug_ui is set. It is not serialized — it rebuilds from defaults every launch.

#Controls (Edit mode only)

Pitch is clamped to ±89° to avoid gimbal lock. A new right-mouse-drag is only accepted if the cursor is over the viewport — but once dragging, the cursor can sweep over any MicroUI panel without breaking the gesture (SDL relative-mouse mode captures the cursor for the duration).

WASD / QE only translate while RMB is held. Without RMB the keys are free for the Q/W/E/R tool shortcuts; pressing W to switch to Translate doesn't also fly the camera forward. This matches the Unreal scene-view UX.

#Struct

typedef struct SafiEditorCamera {
    float yaw;          /* radians, rotation about world +Y */
    float pitch;        /* radians, clamped ±89°            */
    float move_speed;   /* units / second (base)            */
    float look_speed;   /* radians / pixel of mouse motion  */
    bool  dragging;     /* true while RMB is held           */
    /* private: previous SafiActiveCamera holder, restored on mode leave */
    ecs_entity_t _prev_active_cam;
} SafiEditorCamera;

Defaults: move_speed = 5.0, look_speed = 0.003. Mutable at runtime — bump them in the Inspector once a "+ Add Component" workflow lands, or set them directly from user code.

#API

void         safi_editor_camera_install(ecs_world_t *world);
ecs_entity_t safi_editor_camera_entity (const ecs_world_t *world);

• safi_editor_camera_install creates the editor-cam entity, registers the fly-cam system on EcsOnUpdate, and primes active-camera arbitration. Idempotent — calling it twice is a no-op. The engine calls it automatically in safi_app_init when the debug UI is enabled.
• safi_editor_camera_entity returns the editor-cam id (0 if not installed).

#Active-camera arbitration

The fly-cam system checks SafiEditorState.mode at the top of every tick and shuffles the SafiActiveCamera tag accordingly:

• Entering Edit. If the editor cam isn't already active, remember whichever entity is (stash its id in _prev_active_cam), remove the tag from it, and attach it to the editor cam.
• Leaving Edit. Remove the tag from the editor cam and restore it on _prev_active_cam (if still alive). Also drops any in-flight RMB drag so SDL relative-mouse mode doesn't linger into gameplay.

The result: the renderer's (SafiCamera, SafiActiveCamera) query always finds exactly one viewpoint — the gameplay camera during Play, the fly-cam during Edit. Users don't have to plumb anything.

   ┌─────────────┐   F1          ┌─────────────┐
   │  PLAY       │ ───────────▶  │  EDIT       │
   │ "Camera"    │   toggle      │ EditorCamera│
   │  has tag    │ ◀──────────── │  has tag    │
   └─────────────┘               └─────────────┘

#Input guards

The fly-cam cooperates with the debug UI:

• WASD/QE are skipped when safi_debug_ui_wants_input() is true — i.e. the user is typing into an Inspector field. Without this, typing w in a property would fly the camera.
• New RMB drags are rejected when safi_debug_ui_mouse_over_viewport() is false — clicks that land on the Scene or Inspector panel never start a camera rotation.

Both helpers live in safi/ui/debug_ui.h.

#Camera pose fields

SafiCamera now carries an explicit pose (eye, forward, up). The fly-cam writes to those fields each frame; the render system reads them directly. Legacy scenes that only store target still work — the deserializer synthesises a pose from the old eye = target + (0,0,3) convention. See Camera System for the struct.

#Demo keybind

The gltf_viewer demo maps F1 to toggle Edit ↔ Play. In Edit, right-click-drag the viewport to fly around the scene; press F1 to return to Play and watch the gameplay camera snap back.

#See also

• Editor State — the mode flag the fly-cam gates on
• Camera System — the SafiCamera pose fields the fly-cam writes
• Scheduler — why the fly-cam runs on EcsOnUpdate and not the game phase
• Debug UI — safi_debug_ui_mouse_over_viewport