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What are cameras in the Unity Shooter Games 

While building Unity Shooter games, a Unity game development company creates scenes by arranging and moving objects in a three-dimensional space. However, this three-dimensional orientation cannot be portrayed, as it is, on computer screens, since those are two-dimensional. Thus, different views are needed to be captured and flattened. “Cameras,” in the context of Unity games, help accomplish this. You can hire shooter game developers to create a new shooting game mania for millions of fans out there.

In the Unity platform, a camera is an object that describes a view in a game scene. The placement of this object determines the point of view. Using the “Camera component,” the size and shape of the region that falls within the view can be decided. According to these set parameters, the camera “captures” a scene and displays it on the screen. When the camera object moves and rotates, the view on the screen also moves and rotates accordingly.

Although Unity supports several camera views, there are several factors to be considered when using these cameras. These factors are determined by the game, the gameplay, a particular scene, or gesture. Some of the factors that play an important role in camera determination and performance are as follows.

Lighting

Lighting effects in Unity work by simulating the behaviour of light in the real world. For more realistic results, detailed models of light behaviour are used, while for stylized results, simplified models are used.

Direct and indirect lighting

Unity has provisions for both direct and indirect lighting. Direct light is the one that is emitted from a source, hits a surface a single time, and is then reflected directly into a sensor (for example, the camera, in the gaming world, or the eye, in the real world). Indirect light can be defined as the light that, after emitting from a source, reflects from multiple objections and eventually falls on a sensor. This includes the light that hits surfaces several times and the skylight. Since unity provides provisions for both, realistic lighting results can be achieved by using Unity.

Real-time and baked lighting

Sometimes, lighting parameters need to be calculated at runtime. This is called real-time lighting. Unity enables adjusting lighting at runtime, which makes for a great development and playing experience.

Baked lighting is the lighting that has been predetermined by Unity by performing lighting calculations in advance. After performing the calculations, the results are saved as lighting data, which is then applied at runtime.

Unity allows using both real-time and baked lighting, or the combination of the two (called mixed lighting) depending upon the gameplay requirements.

Global Illumination

Global illumination is a combination of techniques that use both direct and indirect lighting to provide realistic lighting results. Unity allows two global illumination systems, which facilitate combining direct and indirect lighting. These are the Baked Global Illumination system and the Realtime Global Illumination system.

The Baked Global Illumination system comprises lightmapping, Light Probes, and Reflection Probes. The Realtime Global Illumination system comprises Realtime Global Illumination using Enlighten, and provides additional functionality to Light Probes.

Projections: perspective and orthogonal

Two very popular camera projections used in games are perspective and orthographic views.

Perspective Projection

In the real world, as objects move farther, they look smaller from the point of view. This is known as the perspective effect. There is a “sense of depth” included. This effect is observed not only in case of cameras, but the human eye too. This perspective effect is extensively used in computer graphics to create scenes as realistic as possible. Unity has provisions for including perspective camera renderings in games and graphical videos you might create on its platforms.

Field of View

In other words, the camera angle becomes significant when you choose the perspective view. It is measured in degrees and signifies how much of the current view would you like to include in the shot. The degree here becomes important because we are talking about perspective view and not orthogonal. Thus, how much of the scene to cover becomes important.

Orthogonal Projection

On the other hand, sometimes one may not require a perspective effect. That is, sometimes you might need to display some information or map for which a real-world, perspective camera effect may not be required. It may not be required to diminish the objects on display with distance. This is known as orthogonal projection. Unity provides an option for this too.

Thus, with Unity you can use both perspective and orthographic camera renderings, for developing your shooter game, as and how the storyline of the game might dictate.

Size

Since what the camera “sees” and shows remains static, the size of the visible region has to be determined by the developer. In orthogonal projection, the size becomes important. Because size determines how much of a region can be viewed and not the camera angle.

Clipping planes

Clipping planes are two imaginary planes that are perpendicular to the camera’s forward direction. There are two clipping planes, the near clipping plane and the far clipping plane. The region beyond these planes is not “viewed,” hence the word clipping. The near clipping plane is close to the camera and behind it lies the region that is too close for the camera to “see”. Similarly, the far clipping plane is farthest to the camera and defines the limit beyond which the camera cannot “see”.

The visible region

In both modes, perspective and orthographic, the distance to which cameras can “see” from their current position is limited. Two planes, the far clipping plane and the near clipping plane, determine the viewable region. These planes are perpendicular to the camera’s forward direction. They are called clipping planes because regions beyond these planes are excluded from rendering. The viewable range is the region lying between the two planes.

Unity Development with Logic Simplified

We at Logic Simplified understand the nuances of developing games on the Unity engine. The great news is, we enjoy the complexity! Our dedicated game designers and developers are experts at understanding the requirements of your game idea and turning it into reality. Whether you're looking to develop a first- or a third-person shooter game, our Unity game development services cover them all! Partner with us to see how we turn your dream game into reality!

Grand Theft Auto and The Last of Us are two great examples of that as they got extremely successful not just because of advanced game mechanics and creative stories, but also because of amazing cinematic cutscenes. What it implies for a Unity game development company is the significant importance of the camera to bring video games to life and make them intriguing. So, if we talk Unity action games, most 3D shooting game developers use Cinemachine, a great offering by Unity to make cutscenes and revolutionize in-game cameras like a Hollywood movie director.

How Cinemachine helps create Magic in Third Person Shooter Games

Third-person shooter games are like watching a film because unlike first-person shooter games, they show the protagonist from an "over the shoulder” camera or "behind the back" so the entire player body is visible from behind and you ‘follow’ the protagonist. So, game concept designers get more freedom in third-person games to create a more strongly characterized avatar. But yes, as shooter games are about shooting and it’s not easy to aim from a third-person camera, most third-person shooter games also offer a first-person view. Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath is a good example that allows players to shoot from a first-person perspective, whereas chase and do hand battles from a third-person perspective. If we talk about another example of a third-person shooter that was given a person-person perspective to improve the interface for aiming and shooting, then Halo: Combat Evolved is the one that currently comes into my mind.

Now, What is Cinemachine?

Cinemachine is a complete Unity package which empowers Unity game developers, designers, camera artists and cutscene creators to get precise controls for every camera in a gaming project. The beauty of Cinemachine lies in freeing the developer from the burdensome task of writing reams of codes to get the cameras to follow an object, follow a track, orbit an object, and much more. Cinemachine comes with no external dependencies which means you can easily install it as a plugin and start using it.

After installing Cinemachine, you will see a new Cinemachine menu as shown below.

But before you start creating a virtual camera or any other camera from the dropdown, you need to add Cinemachine to your main camera. Once Cinemachine-enabled, the camera starts using a new component: the Cinemachine Brain.

Cinemachine Brain: The central Cinemachine component

Cinemachine Brain is what Cinemachine uses to control the Unity Camera. This component is responsible for monitoring all the Virtual Cameras in the scene and takes the best shots. It does the camera positioning and configuration based on the instructions passed on by the virtual cameras. The brain installed on the Unity camera observes the instructions and takes action to ensure that the camera is in the right place at the right time.

Learn how to configure the Cinemachine Brain

A question that might be popping in your head - Do you need to replace your existing camera with Cinemachine? Well, the answer is No. Cinemachine is built to work alongside your existing camera system and you can easily switch between both systems. If you can’t resist using some camera tech,  you can continue using it but can also use Cinemachine for something else you deem fit. So yes, you can mix the two together as well.

Fundamental Behaviours of Cinemachine

Custom Blends

It means defining relationships between two cameras and comes handy for state-machine type setups. A wonderful way to create custom camera blend setups pr level.

Composer

Lets you configure the camera to enable automatic rotation to adjust framing so as to ensure that your subjects are always in the screen space, irrespective of the position. Composer paves the way for real-time procedural composition. 

Transposer

Transposer helps you attach the camera to any object and set up how you would want to follow any object. A wide range of options and behaviours lets the camera to follow the object under various conditions.

Free-look

Free-look cameras help manage 3rd-person action-adventure orbit cameras. You get a lot of controls for orbit speed, shape, recentering, damping and input type. Depending on game events, you can blend multiple Free-look cameras to get incredible control.  

Target Groups

Target Groups help track multiple objects and also adjust the weight and influence of each object in the group. You can track, compose and adjust Field of View (FOV) and even how the camera is positioned based on the activities of multiple subjects.

Advanced Control and Powerful Features

Split Screen and Picture-in-Picture

As the name suggests, you can easily configure multiple Cinemachine Brains to enable picture-in-picture, split-screen or quad split screen. You can also switch from single to split screen.

Follow Zoom

Even in the event of changing positions of characters, the on-screen size of the subject is always right. The camera will automatically zoom-in and zoom out to ensure the desired size. This helps create great interactive dialogue scenes.

Post-processing Stack Integration

Unity Cinemachine provides the ability to create custom looks or each camera and blend between them. Post-processing profiles support is there and those settings can be blended as well.

Clear Shot

Clear Shot picks the best camera when something gets between the character or subject to give the best shot. This is a brilliant feature for replays or cutscenes as it perfectly evaluates the shot in variable scenarios.

Impulse

Camera shakes add value to your videogame actions that players cherish. For example, camera shakes during explosions. Once you set up Impulse sources on objects, the camera responds on the basis of scale and distance. A six dimension shake is what you get to hand-craft or generate procedurally. 

Mixer

This feature gives you ultimate control by allowing you to customize your shots. You can mix up to eight virtual cameras to create the perfect shot under varying conditions.   

Collider

Collider helps avoid obstacles without having you required to write any code. There are multiple ways you can prevent your camera from getting tangled in your gaming world. 

Confiner

You get to define limits with Collider so that your camera doesn’t leave specific volumes or areas. So, you can define the internal boundaries for your cameras 

Priority

With the Priority feature, the most desired camera comes into action in large state-machine setups.

Unity Timeline and Cinemachine lets game app developers experiment and build a dynamics camera for 3rd person shooter games. With the Timeline feature, you can add your shots right there in one place. If things change, the Cinemachine camera knows the shot you wanted and more procedurally moves to recompose to keep the shot. Timeline allows you to mix and match and experiment with your shots by adding different camera tracks. And the best part is that it takes rapid prototyping to the next level because you no longer need to rework all of your cameras when making animation changes. Besides, developers can refine the cameras even when they move close to completing their shooter games, whether a first-person shooter or a third-person shooter using Unity.

So, are you also looking forward to creating the next Gears of War 4 or Tom Clancy’s The Division or Tomb raider? Yes! That’s wonderful!  Don’t worry about technology challenges, as that’s exactly what Logic Simplified, a Dehradun-based game development company, exists for on this planet. By offering Unity game development services, Logic Simplified helps gaming businesses of all sizes to bring the best into their videogames. You can also hire 3D shooter game creators from us to convert your shooting game idea a reality. Our game designers, developers, 3D modellers, concept artists and animation artists are passionate about gaming and know what solutions will suit your game requirements. We know what it takes to bring the magic of Cinemachine in a third-person shooter game to create highly immersive experiences. Remember, it’s not only about storyline, but how you show your story too which makes a difference in today’s modern games.

For any query related to a third-person shooter game development using Unity 3D Cinemachine, write to us at enquiry@logicsimplified.com, and we will get back to you shortly to get you started in a jiffy.

Or for the developer's sake, let's go by Lights, Camera, Action!

Don't go, "Eh! Really" on this traditional cue. Since, I don't intend to talk about cinematography but about the cinema of gaming - about the perspectives that are built by lights and cameras in the making of action video games, particularly shooter games. The category profoundly known to test the player's spatial awareness, reflexes, and speed in both single-player or connected multiplayer environments. Interestingly, with this in mind, we'll be talking about the emphasis that specific types of camera, their position, and the angle lays on the shooter games. Adding to it, the different perspectives used to give a life-like feel that enables the player to ignore the real-world surroundings and be engrossed in an experience that's immersive, engaging, entertaining, whatever word you like.

Cameras capture the virtual world of a player, and manipulating it along the lines is an ‘art’. Playing with the depth, the resizing, and positioning of the camera's view on the screen is what a developer must understand to the core in order to create multiple views in a game world.

How we view a game vs. how we play it

As I see it, while on a game, close attention to particulars is not something an average player pays heed to, but a professional surely does. Therefore, picking the best-suited view becomes indispensable. As a result of which there is outright focus on the details to give the player an immersive gaming experience. And, this factor hinges around several variables.

When on the battlefield, a player would want to be able to control their movements and view. However, that lack of control, along with the frequent repositioning of the camera, can be infuriating for the player. So, I believe a player should be able to view every angle, irrespective of what the game thinks. The player should have control.

With that said, let's begin with understanding what Projection is. When one displays a three-dimensional object on a 2-D plane, that's Projection for you. A technique that profoundly impacts a game's look, feel, and mechanics. So, how about we delve into its types.

Orthographic Projection

This kind lacks perspective, depth, and a consistent relationship between its axes, like in 2-D or isometric games. Therefore, the characters and objects don't reduce in size when they move closer to the horizon. The reason being, there is no real horizon in this view. Moreover, in a side-view Orthographic projection, you view a scene as seen through the player's eyes. You get a top-down perspective on placing the camera at some height while positioning it down, and when you move the camera over the player's head, it gives you a bird's eye view.

Perspective Projection

Painstakingly, this projection works on the principle of focal point, with the camera's angle and position holding no credibility in the process. Just like the human eye, the camera renders objects in a way that makes them look smaller as their distance from the viewer increases (perspective stays intact). To give you more information on this, let's first walk you through the different modes in gaming.

The involved creativity in shooter game development provides the developer with confident choices of either creating 2D (flat images drawn on the screen with the camera having no perspective) and 3D content separately or of using them together in the same project. And, then comes an exception to both, where a 3D game simulates a 2D view into 2.5D. Oh! Yes, don't raise your eyebrows. There's 2.5D as well, also known as 3/4 view, where 2D games use 3D geometry for the environment and characters.

Now that you understand the fundamentals of the subject, let's cut to the chase and give you the tour of the other various perspectives that exist in the world of shooter games, the First-person view, and the Third-person view.

First-person view in Unity 3D

"Your monitor is your eyes. Your mouse, your rifle.”

The First-person view in Unity shooter games is easier to understand than you think. The crux of the matter here is "the camera is the player and vice-versa." This category of games centers around action-packed gun-slinging segments.

FPS games, with a solid history of 48 years now, was formally introduced by ID software in 1992 with Wolfenstein 3D and the genre was popularized by Doom in 1993, which at its release, sold a million copies worldwide. The classic 1st person shooter games, like Bungie's Destiny 2, Respawn Entertainment's Titanfall 2, Sledgehammer Games' Call of Duty: World War II - to name a few, have been a breathtaking action-packed adventure that revolutionized the gaming experience for the 21st-century generation. Popularly known for its interactive environmental storytelling.

Gradually, the emerging technology and the rise in virtual reality, has let the genre pursue unmatched realism by creating competitive, intense, and incredibly exciting shooting games for the players.

Third-person view in Unity 3D

The 3rd person shooter games give you a complete view of the avatar in the game, and its area surrounding. Thus, the developer needs to pack a punch while working on the appearance and animation of the characters. Unlike the other in-games, this genre provides a tangible character that the player can relate to. Another good thing about this is the interactiveness which is created between the character, the objects around, and the player. This game gives the avatar the ability to perform different maneuvers as demanded by the role play - like using various weapons, a range of hand-to-hand combat, driving, navigating on foot, etc.

Primarily developed as desktop versions, few shooter games like Warframe, Fortnite have stunning graphics, impressive presentation, and gameplay, making the game addictive for the adrenaline-packed shooters.

Best of both worlds

Then there are games that utilize both perspectives (FPS and TPS) with varying levels of success.

I think the perspective matters on the viewpoint of the player as both the views individually do better in certain circumstances. Third-person perspective games give you the spatial awareness needed and the less jarring movements for better experience while in the first-person perspective games, you are closer to the screen and the reticle assists you with the shot.

From the 2018 Fortnite to it’s more realistic looking cousin, PUBG - the battle royales have been giving the much needed hunt-or-be-hunted environment that most gamers crave for. Plus, the added wow-factor that comes with both.

Over the shoulder in Unity 3D

Popularized by Capcom's Resident Evil 4 in 2003 and later by Gears of war in 2006. Since then, this concept became a standard for action-oriented games. In this viewpoint, as its name suggests, the camera is placed to the left or right of the controlled character's shoulder. It shows the world from a perspective behind and above the character's shoulders, usually not showing further down than the hips.

Regardless of what the future holds, it turns out that the virtual camera system has hooked more and more players with unimaginable immersive gaming. In my view, it is the subtle art of the developers to put the perspectives into action that has offered gamers a more accurate sense of gravity, lighting, sound, and collisions in a game.

“God is in the details”, as I quote the phrase, I intend to lay emphasis on how attention to the details - a selection of camera, camera angle of view, camera field on view, perspective, and minor to major choices like these make a significant difference in how the game looks and feels. By clapping eyes on these particulars, the elements of gaming are made better today.

Understanding the purpose and sense of the segment, Logic Simplified is a Unity game development company has a team of proficient game designers and developers that uses features like navigation, lighting, physics, networking & shaders, etc. to bring your game idea to reality.