Cinemachine: A Look into the “FreeLook” Camera

Gabriel Perez
3 min readMar 25, 2022

FreeLook Camera

The FreeLook camera is a complete third-person camera solution! This virtual camera orbits around a target’s position specified by three separate camera rigs: Top, Middle, and Bottom.

The best part of this camera is its use of simplicity of user input. It automatically handles input without any code once activated.

FreeLook Camera Settings

The freelook camera is the orbital algorithm on steroids. Instead of the look movement being restricted to the x-axis, we now have settings for the y and z-axis with several new features.

Axis Control

Axis Control settings specify the vertical and horizontal axes for blending between rigs.

  • Value: A value range of 0 to 1 represents the blend position between the rigs. A value of 0.5 represents the middle rig.
  • Max Speed: The maximum speed of an Axis.
  • Speed Mode: How the axis responds to input.
  • Accel Time: The amount of time in seconds to accelerate to Max Speed.
  • Decel Time: The amount of time in seconds to decelerate to zero.
  • Input Axis Name: The name of the axis as specified in Unity Input Manager.
  • Input Axis Value: The value of the input axis.
  • Invert: Check to invert the raw value of the input axis.

Y Axis Recentering

The Y Axis Recentering controls the automatic recentering of the camera.

  • Enabled: Check to enable automatic recentering.
  • Wait Time: The amount of time it takes before detecting no input on either axis before recentering.
  • Recentering Time: The speed in which it takes to recenter back into position.

Orbits

The Orbits settings are properties that define the top, middle and bottom rigs.

  • Binding Mode: The coordinate space to use to interpret the offset from the target.
  • Spline Curvature: The curvature line in which the camera rigs orbit.
  • Height and Radius: The radius and height of the top, middle, and bottom rigs relative to the Follow target.

Conclusion

The FreeLook camera provides an all in one 3rd Person Camera solution. It requires no code at all, just plug and play!

Gabriel

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Gabriel Perez

Hello everyone, My name is Gabriel Perez, I am a Unity Developer and a creator who is always learning and experimenting.