Center view on bouncing ball

I have a large level with the player being a bouncing ball, I would like to center the view on the player as he moves around the level. Now I know about Scroll to object but that follows the movement of the bouncing ball and 'bounces' the level while keeping the player steady, nice effect but not what I'm after. I can keep the player centralized in either the horizontal direction (Set scroll X to player.x) or vertical direction Set scroll Y to player.y) but if I use both it's exactly like using the Scroll to object.

So...

How do I keep a bouncing sprite centralized while moving around a large level without bouncing the level?

NOT what I want: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2485349/Bounder/index.html

Try creating another sprite, giving it the platform movement and making it invisible, then center the camera on it. Then, make the ball always have the same X position as it, while still boucing.. might work.

I did try that andreyin but the player can move vertical as well as horizontal around the level. Setting the X position works fine horizontally but not vertically, and of course setting the X and Y will just make it act exactly like Scoll to object. <img src="smileys/smiley24.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

You could try this:

every tick:

----scroll x to player.x

player y > scrolly + 100:

----scroll y to scrolly + 100*dt

player y < scrolly - 100:

----scroll y to scrolly - 100*dt

The numbers may need some tweaking, but that makes the screen scroll when the player goes 100 pixels from the center of the screen, so you essentially get a dead zone where no vertical scrolling occurs.

Another approach that doesn't have a dead zone, but is less jarring than scollto, is to always scroll toward the player at a speed proportional to the distance the player is from the center of the screen.

every tick:

----scroll to position: scrollx+(player.X-scrollx)*2*dt, scrolly+ (player.Y-scrolly)*2*dt

The numbers can be tweaked to adjust the responsiveness. As it is now it will scroll to exactly where the player is in half a second if the player is not moving.