Sandbox Cutscenes

Sandbox Cutscenes

Sandbox Cutscenes is a flexible cutscene and cinematic system for Minecraft, designed for mod developers, map makers, and content creators who need precise, scriptable control over camera movement and on-screen presentation.

Cutscenes are defined using a JSON format and can be previewed and edited in-game, or triggered programmatically through an API.

Features

Camera Control

• Smooth camera paths with linear or curved movement
• Full rotation control: yaw, pitch, and roll
• Look-at targets to keep the camera focused on a block or position
• Normalized zoom (0.0 → 1.0) mapped safely to the player’s FOV
• Per-point speed, easing, and pauses

In-Game Editing and Preview

• World-space rendering of camera paths
• In-game editing of path points, including adding new points
• Live previewing of cutscenes without reloading resources
• Hotkeys for rerunning the last cutscene
• Saving the currently previewed path and clearing all previews
• Unsaved changes warnings

Events System

Events can be triggered:

• At the start of a cutscene
• At specific points
• At exact timestamps (milliseconds)
• When a cutscene finishes

Supported event types include:

• Running commands
• Changing time of day
• Changing weather
• Screen fades
• Texture overlays rendered to the screen

Multiple events can be executed at any supported trigger location.

Developer-Focused Design

• Developer mode (off by default) enables player-facing commands and keybinds for previewing and testing cutscenes
• Cutscenes triggered via the API continue to work regardless of developer mode

• End-of-cutscene events include:
  • The cutscene ID
  • The trigger source (command, hotkey, API, etc.)

• Camera state, zoom, fades, and overlays are safely restored when a cutscene ends

Running a Cutscene via API

Cutscenes can be started from code using:

•  

  SimpleCameraManager.runCutscene(ResourceLocation location, Vec3 origin);

• location is the resource location of the cutscene JSON
• origin is the world-space origin the cutscene is positioned relative to

This allows cutscenes to be triggered from gameplay logic, other mods, or scripted systems.

Source Code and Examples

An example resource pack with cutscene definitions and usage examples is available on GitHub:

https://github.com/RemagOfficial/Sandbox-Cutscenes/run/resourcepacks/cameraThings

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Sandbox Cutscenes focuses on predictable behavior, clean integration, and giving creators full control over cinematic presentation without forcing a specific workflow.