Recentering keeps bouncing

Unity Engine
1

I would like to have a freelook camera slowly following the player when the player is moving. To do so I implemented the following code:

for (int i = 0; i < m_freelook_cam.Length; i++)
{
      m_freelook_cam[i].m_RecenterToTargetHeading.m_WaitTime = 0.2f;
      m_freelook_cam[i].m_RecenterToTargetHeading.m_RecenteringTime = COMMON_Save.m_instance.GetCurrentSlot().m_cam_repositioning;
      m_freelook_cam[i].m_RecenterToTargetHeading.m_enabled = Mathf.Abs(COMMON_Gamepad.m_instance.m_left_axis_magnitude) > 0.1f;

}

Unfortunately as shown in this video the camera keeps bouncing and never moving behind the character:

I have also try moving the camera directly but the same issue happens:

float l_angle = COMMON_MathHelper.SignedVectorAngle(Vector3.forward, Vector3.ProjectOnPlane(m_target.forward, Vector3.up), Vector3.up);

for (int i = 0; i < m_freelook_cam.Length; i++)
{
      if (Mathf.Abs(COMMON_Gamepad.m_instance.m_left_axis_magnitude) > 0.1f)
      {
           m_freelook_cam[i].m_XAxis.Value = Mathf.Lerp(m_freelook_cam[i].m_XAxis.Value, l_angle, Time.deltaTime * COMMON_Save.m_instance.GetCurrentSlot().m_cam_repositioning);
           m_freelook_cam[i].m_YAxis.Value = Mathf.Lerp(m_freelook_cam[i].m_YAxis.Value, 0.5f, Time.deltaTime * COMMON_Save.m_instance.GetCurrentSlot().m_cam_repositioning);
      }
               
}

I’m using this exact same code when I want to recenter the camera inmediately (without the Lerp) and there it works fine with no issues.

I’m using a statedriven cam and I also noticed (you can see in the video around the 30s mark) that when the statedriven camera changes to another freelook it seems to somewhow bump the recenteting speed for a bit.

Here is a screenshot of the freelook camera component:

755Ă—735 46.7 KB

2

Have you tried changing the binding mode to SimpleFollowWithWorldUp? I think that will give you a nice naturalistic recentering when the target is moving.

The downside is that you’ll lose the FreeLook’s built-in recentering feature, and your custom recentering code will be a little more complicated. This is because in SimpleFollow, the Axis values are in camera-relative co-ordinates, so that that an X axis value of 0 means “where the camera is”. But all is not lost. Here is a sample script to recenter a SimpleFollow camera to be behind the player.

using UnityEngine;
using Cinemachine;
using Cinemachine.Utility;

public class SimpleFollowRecenter : CinemachineExtension
{
    public bool Recenter;
    public float RecenterTime = 0.5f;

    protected override void PostPipelineStageCallback(
        CinemachineVirtualCameraBase vcam,
        CinemachineCore.Stage stage, ref CameraState state, float deltaTime)
    {
        if (stage != CinemachineCore.Stage.Body)
            return;

        Transform target = vcam != null ? vcam.Follow : null;
        if (target == null)
            return;

        if (Recenter)
        {
            // How far away from centered are we?
            Vector3 up = vcam.State.ReferenceUp;
            Vector3 back = vcam.transform.position - target.position;
            float angle = UnityVectorExtensions.SignedAngle(
                back.ProjectOntoPlane(up), -target.forward.ProjectOntoPlane(up), up);
            if (Mathf.Abs(angle) < 0.1f)
                Recenter = false; // done!
            else
            {
                angle = Damper.Damp(angle, RecenterTime, deltaTime);
                Vector3 pos = state.RawPosition - target.position;
                pos = Quaternion.AngleAxis(angle, up) * pos;
                state.RawPosition = pos + target.position;
            }
        }
    }
}
2 Likes
3

Hey @Gregoryl thanks so much for the help!

I didn’t know SimpleFollowWithWorldUp will do that automacally. Is there an option to adjust how fast is trying to move behind the back?

Thanks!

4

There is no active recentering in simple follow. As the target moves forward, the camera is passively dragged along behind it, like a wheelbarrow being pulled. The motion gives a very natural follow. If you want to actively recenter, then you have to use the custom script I gave, or some modified version of it.

5

Perfect, thanks!