3D Platformer Camera Question

Questions & Answers
1

I’m making a 3D platforming demo in Unity, and I’ve always struggled to get the correct behaviour from my camera.

I want similar behaviour to what I’d expect from a 3D platformer of old. i.e. Jak and Daxter, Sly Cooper etc.

I want the camera to:

  • always look at the player (or arbitrary point)
  • freely orbit about the player (or arbitary point)
  • stay a fixed distance from the player
  • only move when it has to

I have achieved the first by using a simple transform.LookAt(), the second I can manage on my own. It’s the second two I have trouble with.

What I mean by these last two points is that the camera should be pulled along behind the player but not necessarily always behind.

2

You could try this. It may need to be modified to fit your exact needs.

var target : Transform;
var distance = 3.0;
var height = 3.0;
var damping = 5.0;
var smoothRotation = true;
var rotationDamping = 10.0;

function Update () {
var wantedPosition = target.TransformPoint(0, height, -distance);
transform.position = Vector3.Lerp (transform.position, wantedPosition, Time.deltaTime * damping);

if (smoothRotation) {
var wantedRotation = Quaternion.LookRotation(target.position - transform.position, target.up);
transform.rotation = Quaternion.Slerp (transform.rotation, wantedRotation, Time.deltaTime * rotationDamping);
}

else transform.LookAt (target, target.up);
}

Add it to your camera and drag your character to the target variable.

3

Points 3 and 4 can be done by having the main camera float freely in world space (so no childing to the player character) and attaching a the SmoothLookAt script from the standard assets. This will allow you to set a follow distance thus giving you the fixed camera distance.