Game camera

In The Sims series, the game camera is the feature which shows the simulated world on the player's screen.

Camera controls
In addition to using the buttons in the user interface, the camera can be rotated by using the and  keys, and zoomed in and out by using either the  and  or  and  keys. The camera can be panned around using edge scrolling, by right-clicking and dragging, or by using the WASD or arrow keys. In 3D games in the series, the camera can be rotated (horizontally) and tilted (vertically) around using the Ctrl + Right mouse combination, Shift + WASD keys or Ctrl + WASD or Arrow Keys (Windows and Mac OS X); the right analog/C-Stick (all consoles except the Wii); C + Control Stick(Wii). Starting with The Sims 2 and The Urbz: Sims in the City, the camera control can be reverted to "The Sims 1 Style". Another way is holding the U key and moving the mouse.

Hotkeys can also be used to control the camera. Pressing or  causes the camera to focus on the selected Sim. In The Sims 3, +  shifts the camera to the active household's home lot.

The Sims
In the original PC version of The Sims, the camera was limited to an isometric perspective. There were four viewing angles, each of which was 90 degrees apart; and three zoom levels.



In addition to the controls in the Control Panel, the and  keys would rotate the view— went right and  went left. Zoom could be controlled with the and  keys.

In the console versions of The Sims, The Sims Bustin' Out and The Urbz: Sims in the City, the camera is in 3D format and the control is similar to the one used in The Sims 2 and The Sims Stories. The player can control the camera using the Right Analog Stick or C-Stick. In The Urbz: Sims in the City, the camera control can be inverted, similar to "The Sims 1 Style" in The Sims 2 and The Sims Stories. Also in The Urbz: Sims in the City, the camera can be brought to ground level as in The Sims 2 and The Sims Stories.

The Sims 2 and The Sims Stories
The camera is now in 3D, which allows the view to be rotated 360 degrees and tilted up and down. "The Sims 1 Style" of camera rotation can be selected in Game options. The UI controls,  and   keys, and   and   keys work as in The Sims, although the 3D environment allows for smooth zooming instead of being limited to preset zoom levels. If the mouse has a scroll wheel, it can be used to zoom in and out. The camera can also be controlled by using the middle mouse button (if present), or by holding down the Ctrl button and the right mouse button. As in The Urbz: Sims in the City, the camera can be brought to ground level.

The Sims 2 introduced a "cameraman mode" that can be toggled by pressing, which will allow the player to move the camera around in first-person perspective. The camera can be raised or lowered by pressing and, respectively. The camera can be panned around using the WASD keys, and zoomed in and out with a fisheye effect using and. Pressing again or pressing  will exit cameraman mode.

The Sims 2 Console games
The camera works as in The Urbz: Sims in the City, except that the camera controls can be set to either Direct or Classic Control (The Sims 2 and The Sims 2: Pets).

The Sims 3 and The Sims Medieval
Camera controls in The Sims 3 and The Sims Medieval are the same as The Sims 2 and The Sims Stories. However, the CTRL + WASD/Arrow Keys can now be used. More options have been added to the user interface to control the camera, including a tilt button to til the camera angle up and down. Options to pan the camera to the currently selected Sim or to the active household's home lot were added. Prior to version 1.3 of The Sims Medieval, lots did not have 3D view, and only a Stage view was allowed. The Sims 3 and The Sims Medieval can still be set to use the "The Sims 1 Style" of camera control, but this now allows the vertical camera control to be used.

With the open-world concept of The Sims 3, the camera can be zoomed out to map view either by clicking on the Map View button, or by zooming out in live mode and then click on the grey magnifier icon that appears. The player will be given a birds'-eye view of the entire world, and can move the camera around the neighborhood freely; however, they cannot tilt the camera angle. Exiting map view will cause the camera to zoom back down to ground level.

The Sims 4
The camera system in The Sims 4 is again similar to its predecessors, with a 3D camera that can be rotated and tilted. By default, it can only be panned by clicking and dragging and zoomed by scrolling in or out, but not rotated up and down as that isn't optimal for tablets. Players can opt to use The Sims 3's method of controlling the camera which allows rotating by pressing Ctrl+Shift+Tab (Command+Shift+Tab on Mac), which is more suitable for desktop computers and laptops.