[UE5] Building a Third-Person Camera with Spring Arm: Follow, Wall Avoidance, and Over-the-Shoulder

The character in the Third Person template turns its camera smoothly as you move the mouse, and the camera never goes inside a wall when you get close to one. But if you build your own character by simply adding a single Camera component to a Pawn, the camera stays stuck to the head and happily passes through walls.

The difference comes from the Spring Arm Component. Instead of attaching the camera directly to the character, you attach it to the end of a pole that can extend and retract. This article covers what each Spring Arm parameter controls, how wall clipping is prevented, and the three flags that separate "which way the body faces" from "which way the camera faces."

What You'll Learn

• Spring Arm is an extendable pole, and the camera hangs off its end
• The difference between Target Arm Length / Socket Offset / Target Offset
• How Do Collision Test prevents wall clipping, and why it sometimes doesn't
• The three flags that own rotation, which confuse every beginner
• Hands-on: build a camera that pulls in over the shoulder, and keep it out of walls in a narrow corridor

---

Spring Arm Is an Extendable Pole

Open the Components tab of BP_ThirdPersonCharacter and you'll find the camera hanging like this.

CapsuleComponent (the body)
├─ Mesh (the visuals)
└─ CameraBoom (Spring Arm Component)
   └─ FollowCamera (Camera Component)

CameraBoom is the pole, and FollowCamera is the camera attached to its end. Their roles are cleanly split.

Component	What it handles
Spring Arm	Where to put the camera. Distance, offsets, rotation, obstacle avoidance
Camera	How to shoot from there. Field of View, depth of field

Nearly every adjustment to camera position happens on the Spring Arm side. If you find yourself wanting to move the camera's position on the Camera component, you've usually overlooked a Spring Arm setting.

The name "Spring" comes from the fact that this pole isn't rigid, it stretches and shrinks depending on the situation. It shortens when something is in the way, and it catches up slightly late when the character moves suddenly. Those two behaviors are the heart of Spring Arm.

---

Three Offsets That Decide Position

The Spring Arm details panel has three position-related settings lined up. The names are similar enough to get mixed up, but they act in completely different places.

Setting	Default	Where it acts	When to use it
Target Arm Length	300.0	The pole's length itself	How far back you sit. Pull in or push out
Socket Offset	(0, 0, 0)	Shifts the camera end. Rotates with the pole	Over-the-shoulder. Shifting sideways
Target Offset	(0, 0, 0)	Shifts the pivot end. Stays in world space, doesn't rotate	Raising the look-at point. Looking above the head

In the Third Person template, Target Arm Length is set to 400.0, pulled back a bit from the class default of 300.

The difference between the two offsets comes down to whether they rotate along with the camera.

• Socket Offset rotates with the camera. Put 60 into Y and the camera stays "above the character's right shoulder" whether you turn right or left. That's over-the-shoulder
• Target Offset does not rotate. Put 50 into Z and the camera always looks 50cm higher, regardless of which way it faces

If you want a slightly top-down look, raise Target Offset's Z. If you want a TPS-style over-the-shoulder look, use Socket Offset's Y. Remember it that way and you won't get lost.

Do Collision Test Prevents Wall Clipping

Do Collision Test is on by default. This single checkbox solves the most annoying problem in third-person cameras.

The mechanism is simple. Every frame, the Spring Arm sweeps a sphere from the pivot toward the camera position. If it hits something along the way, the arm only extends up to that point.

Setting	Default	Meaning
Do Collision Test	On	Whether to check for obstacles at all
Probe Size	12.0	Radius of the sweeping sphere. Larger stops further from the wall
Probe Channel	Camera	Which channel the test runs on

The easy thing to miss here is Probe Channel. The test uses the Camera channel, not regular collision, so if the wall's Collision Preset doesn't Block Camera, the camera passes right through. BlockAll and BlockAllDynamic are fine, but check any custom presets you're using (→ Collision Profile article).

The reverse case is also useful: some things should let the camera through. Grass in the foreground, fences, transparent barriers. Set Camera alone to Ignore in those actors' Collision Presets, and they'll still block the player while the camera ignores them.

Raising Probe Size makes the camera stop well before the wall. If you're seeing through thin walls to the other side, try bumping this from 12 up to around 20 first.

---

The Three Flags That Own Rotation

This is the biggest stumbling block in third-person cameras. UE has separate settings for rotating the character's body and rotating the camera, and they're spread across three different places.

Flag	Where it lives	What it rotates
Use Pawn Control Rotation	Spring Arm	Aligns the camera with the controller's direction (mouse)
Use Controller Rotation Yaw	Pawn (Character details panel)	Aligns the body with the controller's direction
Orient Rotation to Movement	Character Movement	Turns the body toward the direction of travel

The bottom two both rotate the body. Turn both on and they fight each other, making the character jitter or refuse to face the direction of travel. Always turn on exactly one of them.

That leaves two practical combinations.

Pattern A: The Body Faces Where It Moves (Action Games)

Flag	Value
Spring Arm: Use Pawn Control Rotation	On
Pawn: Use Controller Rotation Yaw	Off
CMC: Orient Rotation to Movement	On

This is the Third Person template's default. Spinning the camera with the mouse leaves the character facing forward, and pressing W starts a run in the camera's direction with the body turning to match. It's the standard setup for action games and action RPGs.

How fast the body turns is set by the Z (Yaw) of CMC's Rotation Rate. The template uses 500.0.

Pattern B: The Body Always Faces the Camera (TPS)

Flag	Value
Spring Arm: Use Pawn Control Rotation	On
Pawn: Use Controller Rotation Yaw	On
CMC: Orient Rotation to Movement	Off

Turn the camera and the body turns with it. Sideways input makes the character strafe while facing forward. This is what you want for a gun-toting TPS, or melee combat with a lock-on.

When you switch to Pattern B, your animation setup also needs strafe and backpedal motions. Directional movement animations are handled with Blend Spaces (→ Anim BP article).

Note: Use Pawn Control Rotation on Spring Arm is off in the class defaults. The template's CameraBoom has it switched on. If you add a Spring Arm to a Pawn yourself, the mouse won't rotate the camera until you turn this on.

Softening the Follow with Camera Lag

By default, the Spring Arm follows the character without a single frame of delay. That's accurate, but the motion looks stiff.

Setting	Default	Effect
Enable Camera Lag	Off	Delays position tracking
Camera Lag Speed	10.0	How fast it catches up. Lower is more relaxed
Enable Camera Rotation Lag	Off	Delays rotation tracking
Camera Rotation Lag Speed	10.0	Same as above
Camera Lag Max Distance	0.0	Cap on how far behind it can fall. 0 is unlimited

Turn on Enable Camera Lag and drop Camera Lag Speed to 5.0, and the camera falls slightly behind as you start running, then eases in when you stop. It's only a few frames of delay, but it changes how good the motion feels.

This Lag Speed works the same way as Interp Speed on Blueprint's VInterp To / RInterp To: higher closes in faster, and it decelerates as it approaches. If you want to build the same following yourself, see Rotation and Interpolation Basics.

That said, too much rotation lag makes people motion sick. A gap between mouse movement and what's on screen registers far more sharply than a gap in position. The safe move is to turn on position lag only and leave rotation alone.

For fast-moving characters, putting around 100 into Camera Lag Max Distance keeps the delay from growing without bound.

---

Hands-On: A Camera That Pulls In Over the Shoulder

Raising a gun in a TPS, locking onto an enemy in an action RPG, stepping into a narrow hallway in a horror game. The genres differ, but the motion is the same: pull in, and go over the shoulder. Here we'll build a camera that moves over the shoulder while a button is held, and confirm it doesn't clip into walls in a narrow corridor.

The Finished Result

Pressing a key pulls the camera in over 0.25 seconds and shifts it above the character's right shoulder. Releasing returns it. In that state, entering a narrow corridor still keeps the camera out of the walls.

Setup

Open Content/ThirdPerson/Blueprints/BP_ThirdPersonCharacter in the Third Person template. Selecting CameraBoom in the Components tab shows this starting state.

Parameter	Initial value
Target Arm Length	400.0
Socket Offset	(0, 0, 0)
Do Collision Test	On
Probe Size	12.0
Use Pawn Control Rotation	On

In the level, build a corridor about 150cm wide. Stretching a floor Cube into a long strip and standing Cubes on both sides as walls is enough. Leave the walls' Collision Preset at the default BlockAll.

Add these variables to the Blueprint.

Variable	Type	Default	Purpose
DefaultArmLength	Float	400.0	Arm length in normal view
AimArmLength	Float	180.0	Arm length when over the shoulder
DefaultSocketOffset	Vector	(0, 0, 0)	Offset in normal view
AimSocketOffset	Vector	(0, 55, 30)	Offset over the shoulder (55 right, 30 up)

For input, create IA_Aim (Value Type: Digital / Bool) and bind it to the right mouse button in IMC_Default (→ Enhanced Input article).

Step 1: Create the Timeline

Right-click in the Event Graph, choose Add Timeline..., and name it AimBlend. Double-click to open it and set it up as follows.

Setting	Value
Track	Add one Float Track named Alpha
Keys	Value 0.0 at time 0.0, value 1.0 at time 0.25
Length	0.25

That gives you "a number that moves from 0 to 1 over 0.25 seconds." You'll use that value to blend between the normal and over-the-shoulder values.

Step 2: Build the Nodes

Event: EnhancedInputAction IA_Aim
  ├ [Started]   → AimBlend (Timeline) Play from Start pin
  └ [Completed] → AimBlend (Timeline) Reverse pin

AimBlend (Timeline)
  └ [Update] ─┬→ Set Target Arm Length
              │    Target: Camera Boom
              │    Target Arm Length ← Lerp (Float)
              │        A: DefaultArmLength (400.0)
              │        B: AimArmLength (180.0)
              │        Alpha: AimBlend's Alpha output
              │
              └→ Set Socket Offset
                   Target: Camera Boom
                   Socket Offset ← Lerp (Vector)
                       A: DefaultSocketOffset (0, 0, 0)
                       B: AimSocketOffset (0, 55, 30)
                       Alpha: AimBlend's Alpha output

To get Set Target Arm Length and Set Socket Offset, drag CameraBoom from the Components tab into the Event Graph and search from the pin you drag off it.

Started fires once the instant you press the button, and Completed fires once the instant you release. Just wiring them to the Timeline's Play from Start and Reverse means that releasing mid-blend smoothly returns from wherever it was.

Note that Tick isn't involved. A Timeline only runs while it's playing, and stops when it's done (→ Designing without Tick).

Step 3: Verify in the Narrow Corridor

Hit Play and check three things.

• Holding right-click pulls the camera in over 0.25 seconds, putting the character on the left side of the screen. Releasing returns it over the same duration
• Entering the 150cm corridor makes the camera pull in automatically, with nothing visible through the wall
• Exiting the corridor extends the camera naturally back out to 400

If you want to confirm with numbers, run Camera Boom → Get Target Arm Length into a Print String. Inside the corridor it should read lower than 400.

When it doesn't work, narrow it down by symptom.

• Camera goes into walls → The wall's Collision Preset doesn't Block Camera (suspect NoCollision or a custom preset)
• Do Collision Test is on but it still clips → The wall is too thin. Raise Probe Size from 12 to 20
• Camera snaps in instantly → You wired the Timeline's Finished instead of Update
• It doesn't return on release → You wired Completed to Stop instead of Reverse
• No over-the-shoulder, just a vertical shift → You put the value in Socket Offset's Z instead of Y (Y is left/right)

Two things to take away.

• Build the "pull in" with the pole's length: Shorten Target Arm Length instead of moving the camera itself. That way Do Collision Test keeps working, so wall detection stays alive even in the pulled-in state. Move the camera directly and you lose all of that
• Over-the-shoulder lives in Socket Offset's Y: Socket Offset rotates with the pole, so it holds "above the right shoulder" no matter which way you point the camera. Do it with Target Offset instead and the relationship breaks the moment you turn

Once you're fighting with a pulled-in camera, the next thing is the impact of a landed hit. How to build that sense of impact with hitstop and camera shake is in Hitstop, Camera Shake, and Knockback, and shifting the whole screen's color is covered in the Post Process Volume article.

---

Switching to First Person

First person is easiest to think about not as throwing away the Spring Arm, but as setting its length to 0 and moving it to head height.

Task	Setting
1. Shrink the pole	Set the Spring Arm's Target Arm Length to 0.0
2. Raise to eye level	Set the Spring Arm's Location Z to around 60 (capsule center to head)
3. Align body to camera	Turn on the Pawn's Use Controller Rotation Yaw, and turn off CMC's Orient Rotation to Movement
4. Hide your own body	Turn on Owner No See in the Mesh details panel

Skip step 4 and your own neck, chest, and the inside of your eyelids will fill the view. Owner No See only hides the mesh from the owning player, so in multiplayer other players still see it normally.

If you want to show just the arms, add a second Skeletal Mesh Component for an arms-only model and set that one to Only Owner See.

Bonus: Good to Know for Later

When you want a camera feed on UI or a mesh. For minimaps, security monitors, and rear-view mirrors — showing what a camera sees somewhere else — you use Scene Capture Component 2D rather than a Camera (→ Minimaps and Security Cameras with Render Targets).

• Switch cameras with Set View Target with Blend: To cut to a security camera or a cutscene view, use the Player Controller's Set View Target with Blend. Specifying a Blend Time transitions smoothly over that duration
• Inherit Pitch / Yaw / Roll: These three Spring Arm checkboxes control how much of the parent's (the character's) rotation gets inherited. All are on by default, but controller rotation takes priority when Use Pawn Control Rotation is on
• Field of view lives on the Camera: To change the sense of perspective, use Field of View (default 90.0). Widening it slightly while sprinting adds a strong sense of speed
• Spring Arm + Camera is a model of component design: Because the "pole" and the "camera" are separate, you can port both as a set to another Pawn. That way of thinking leads into component reuse
• If the camera jitters, suspect a rotation conflict: First check whether Use Controller Rotation Yaw and Orient Rotation to Movement are both turned on

Summary

• Spring Arm is an extendable pole. Position tweaks belong on the Spring Arm, not the Camera
• Target Arm Length sets how far back you sit, Socket Offset gives over-the-shoulder, Target Offset moves the look-at point
• Do Collision Test runs on the Camera channel. If the wall's preset doesn't block it, the camera passes through
• Two flags rotate the body, and Use Controller Rotation Yaw and Orient Rotation to Movement must never both be on
• Build the pull-in effect by shortening the pole. Moving the camera directly kills wall detection

In the game you're building now, is the player steering by the character's back or by the camera's direction? Answer that, and the answer for the three flags follows.