Implement camera icon as 3D model facing the correct direction

[Sakari369]

Describe the project you are working on:
Any project.

Describe the problem or limitation you are having in your project:
When zooming the scene far away,and looking at the camera in the scene, it can be confusing to think that the camera icon is showing which way the camera is looking at in the scene.

For example, here looking at the camera from far away where the camera detail is not shown, I see this, and might think that the camera is facing outwards from the center of the scene:

Now when I zoom in on the scene, actually the camera is facing the other way

I notice myself being constantly confused by this fact that the icon is facing whatever direction that is not related to the actual camera looking at direction in 3D space.

Describe how this feature / enhancement will help you overcome this problem or limitation:

Would suggest implementing the camera icon as an actual 3D model of a camera, that is always facing in the correct orientation. Would help to see better anyway where the model is looking at.

Or possibly replacing the icon with a direction neutral one.

*Show a mock up screenshots/video or a flow diagram explaining how your proposal will work:

Unreal engine seems to do this already:

Or as an easier solution, use a direction neutral camera icon like this:

Describe implementation detail for your proposal (in code), if possible:
Figure out a 3D model for the camera, replace the icon with this 3D model.

If this enhancement will not be used often, can it be worked around with a few lines of script?:
Dont think so.

Is there a reason why this should be core and not an add-on in the asset library?:

Part of the core mechanics. Would make it more user friendly.

[Calinou]

We can remove the camera billboard sprite entirely and maybe enlarge the purple gizmo we currently have. This is a very simple solution to the problem described here. What do you think?

[Sakari369]

We can remove the camera billboard sprite entirely and maybe enlarge the purple gizmo we currently have. This is a very simple solution to the problem described here. What do you think?

I would say this is a good simple solution, if it works in all ranges well, and can be made visible in all cases. Having a 3D model would help in cases of course where the fov or range of the camera is very small and the visual representation of that could get lost because of the small values.

Thanks for thinking about this!

[Tanza3D]

how about something similar to what blender has?

[Calinou]

@Tanza3D This was addressed recently in 4.2.dev by readding the camera gizmo icon and keeping the lines.

There's already a triangle at the top of the Camera3D gizmo lines, but it's an outline instead of being solid.