[1.12.2] Rendering fireball in both first-person and third-person

[DavidM]

I have a "wand" item that, when right-clicked, should shoot a fireball.

I would like the wand to act somewhat like a vanilla bow. When right-click is held, a fireball is summoned (stationary) in front of the player; the longer right-click is held, the bigger the fireball gets. When right-click is released, the fireball is shot forward.

 

I'm currently unsure on what is the best method of rendering the "stationary" fireball during the period of time right-click is held, as I want the fireball to be rendered both in first-person and third-person.

In first-person, the fireball should appear in front of the screen.

In third-person, the fireball should appear in front of the player.

What is the best method to achieve this?

Should I create a fireball entity and hold it in front of the player? Should I subscribe to RenderPlayer and RenderScreen and manually render the fireball?

[desht]

Personally I'd go with the entity, no questions asked.  Since you're shooting the fireball anyway, it sounds like the perfect candidate for something that extends EntityProjectile.  You'll get all the shooting/collision logic for free, as well as not needing to do any manual rendering, transformations, etc.