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Question by D43DB33F · May 28, 2017 at 01:46 PM · camerafollowchoppy

Unsmooth vehicle-following camera

Hello,

I have written a smooth ve$$anonymous$$cle-following camera, but for some reason, it is shaky, like it was not updated often enough.

I've read several questions about t$$anonymous$$s. Some people suggest to use LateUpdate() instead of Update(). I did t$$anonymous$$s, but the problem remains. Some other people suggest to use FixedUpdate(). I tried that too, and it worked, but I'm afraid using FixedUpdate() is only $$anonymous$$ding the problem without actually fixing it.

I saw in the scene view that the car itself was shaky, not the camera. Also when I drive, everyt$$anonymous$$ng around me (objects, shadows, etc) are moving (relatively to the camera) smoothly. It's only the followed ve$$anonymous$$cle itself that is shaky (relatively to the camera only). I tried using a simple sphere instead of a complete car instead to make sure the complexity of the car model wasn't causing t$$anonymous$$s, but I had the same problem. So I'm not sure about what is wrong.

Here is my code :

 using UnityEngine;
 
 public class RaceCameraController : MonoBehaviour
 {
     /// <summary>
     /// Ve$$anonymous$$cle to look at.
     /// </summary>
     [Tooltip("Ve$$anonymous$$cle to look at.")]
     public GameObject car;
 
     /// <summary>
     /// X rotation angle of the camera, relatively to the ve$$anonymous$$cle.
     /// </summary>
     [Tooltip("X rotation angle of the camera, relatively to the ve$$anonymous$$cle.")]
     public float lookXAngle;
 
     /// <summary>
     /// Position the camera tries to reach progressively, relatively to the ve$$anonymous$$cle.
     /// </summary>
     [Tooltip("Position the camera tries to reach progressively, relatively to the ve$$anonymous$$cle.")]
     public Vector3 carRelativeTargetPosition;
 
     /// <summary>
     /// Duration, in seconds, it would take the camera to reach its target position if the ve$$anonymous$$cle
     /// immediately stopped.
     /// </summary>
     [Tooltip("Duration, in seconds, it would take the camera to reach its target position if the ve$$anonymous$$cle immediately stopped.")]
     public float repositioningDuration;
 
     void LateUpdate()
     {
         Vector3 targetPosition = car.transform.TransformPoint(carRelativeTargetPosition);
         Quaternion targetRotation = car.transform.rotation * Quaternion.Euler(lookXAngle, 0f, 0f);
         float progress = Mathf.Min(Time.deltaTime / repositioningDuration, 1.0f);
         transform.position = Vector3.Lerp(gameObject.transform.position, targetPosition, progress);
         transform.rotation = Quaternion.SlerpUnclamped(transform.rotation, targetRotation, progress);
     }
 }

Do you have any idea about what could be wrong ? Thanks.

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avatar image toddisarockstar · May 29, 2017 at 06:07 AM 0
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two things you could try. On the car's rigidbody. Try changing the interpolate setting. also try to use a character controller if you allready have not.

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Answer by Namey5 · May 30, 2017 at 06:13 AM

FixedUpdate isn't $$anonymous$$ding the problem, it is the actual (documented) fix. Physics in Unity runs in a different time frame to the normal Update call. Unity's alternative to make adjustments line up with physics calculations is to use FixedUpdate, that is its purpose.

https://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/MonoBehaviour.FixedUpdate.html

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avatar image D43DB33F · May 30, 2017 at 07:43 AM 0
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Thanks for your help ! I used LateUpdate in the first place because the documentation says that :

For example a follow camera should always be implemented in LateUpdate because it tracks objects that might have moved inside Update.

(here : https://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/MonoBehaviour.LateUpdate.html)

So for what reason exactly is FixedUpdate the right solution ? Thanks.

avatar image Namey5 D43DB33F · May 30, 2017 at 07:57 AM 0
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If you want more detail about it, basically it's down to the way the physics engine is updated. In Unity, to save resources this isn't done every Update (every frame), instead it's done every Fixed Update (hence the name). The Fixed Update is controllable for accuracy reasons, meaning you can change how frequently it is called, and therefore how smooth physics objects are updated. It also means that a drop in frame rate will not alter the movement of a physics object, as the time between each Fixed Update is always the same, but the time between each Update may change.

There is a fairly simple explanation in the video in this tutorial.

https://unity3d.com/learn/tutorials/topics/scripting/update-and-fixedupdate

avatar image D43DB33F Namey5 · May 30, 2017 at 09:52 PM 0
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Thanks, but I still don't understand the reason of this unsmoothness. FixedUpdate is likely to be called more often than Update, fine, but this doesn't tell me why the camera looks so unsmooth. I'm running the game with 80 FPS, that's more than my screen can display, so I should not be able to see the steps of the camera movements. Is there anything wrong with my calculations ?

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