Stuttering when updating Phantom Camera Offset

[Trailight]

Hi there! I'm trying to update the Phantom Camera's Offset using move_towards, and while it technically works, I'm getting stuttering every so often until the camera catches up with the updated offset. I tried turning off Snap to Pixel but the same issue occurs. Turning on Follow Damping with .08 on the X fixes the stutter but I'm wondering if there's a way to do this without turning that on. Code and video below.

func _physics_process(delta: float) -> void:
	if update_offset == true:
		update_camera_offset(offset, camera_speed)

func update_camera_offset(updated_offset: Vector2, speed: float):
	var move_towards_offset = pc_active_camera.follow_offset.move_toward(updated_offset, speed)
	pc_active_camera.follow_offset = move_towards_offset
	if pc_active_camera.follow_offset == offset:
		update_offset = false

Screen.Recording.2026-05-27.234726.mp4

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!

[Trailight]

Well, turning Follow Damping on doesn't necessarily work either it seems. The occasional stutter still happens regardless of the numbers I type in for it (unless it's so slow the camera can't keep up with the object it's suppose to follow is).

[Trailight]

A work around in the meantime was for me to create a Marker2D node, setting that as a child to the player scene and having that be the object to follow for the Phantom Camera. Using move_toward to change the position of that marker creates a smooth camera shift. I've also done this as a way to "offset" the Dead Zone, as there are no settings that shift that away from the center of the camera (which would be a nice feature to add in the future :) )

If there's something I'm missing with the offset not updating smoothly though, I'd be interested to learn how I can make that work.

[ramokz]

Would you be able to give a bit more context about what you're trying to do?

I can imagine using move_toward() on a PCam that is already moving would cause some tick rate mismatch as you're applying additional movement processing on top of what the camera is doing internally, which can cause some positional misalignments.

[ramokz]

Out of curiosity, have you tried using the lookahead feature? It sounds like that is basically what you're looking for—you would just need to tweak some properties and, potentially, enable/disable it at the right time.

[Trailight]

So that option wasn't available to me. I thought I had updated PC to the current version but it looks like I was still on .8 (even though I redownloaded it from the AssetLib tab). I was able to get the current version off the Asset Store and install it and it's now updated though. Will experiment with this and see if it works. Thanks!

[ramokz]

No probs! Feel free to reach out again if you're having trouble still.

[Trailight]

No trouble but coming back to relay that while the look ahead feature wasn't working for me when toggling it on mid-camera movement, the move_towards on the follow offset now does work smoothly after updating to 0.11.

[ramokz]

Lookahead should ideally not be toggled off mid-movement, as that can easily lead to odd jumpy camera movement as you effectively inject additional logic behavior into the calculation.
What I typically suggest instead is leaving it toggled on, but changing the lookahead_time as needed. Either by simply toggling the value, or by gradually interpolating the value from 0 to a capped amount.