react-three-third-person

Third person controls for driving a character model inside a @react-three/fiber app driven by @react-three/cannon physics.

Dependencies

react v16.14.0 or higher
@react-three/fiber v7.0.26 or higher
@react-three/drei v8.7.3 or higher
@react-three/cannon v6.3.0 or higher

Installation

npm install react-three-third-person

Usage

import ThirdPersonCharacterControls from "react-three-third-person";
import { useGLTF } from "@react-three/drei";

const PATH = "https://yourhost.com/animations";

const animationPaths = {
  idle: `${PATH}/idle.glb`,
  walk: `${PATH}/walk.glb`,
  run: `${PATH}/run.glb`,
  jump: `${PATH}/jump.glb`,
  landing: `${PATH}/landing.glb`,
  inAir: `${PATH}/falling_idle.glb`,
  backpedal: `${PATH}/backpedal.glb`,
  turnLeft: `${PATH}/turn_left.glb`,
  turnRight: `${PATH}/turn_right.glb`,
  strafeLeft: `${PATH}/strafe_left.glb`,
  strafeRight: `${PATH}/strafe_right.glb`,
};

function ThirdPersonCharacter() {
  const characterObj = useGLTF(`${PATH}/your_model.glb`);
  const characterProps = {
    scale: 1.75,
    velocity: 8,
    radius: 0.5,
  };

  return (
    <ThirdPersonCharacterControls
      cameraOptions={{
        yOffset: 1.6,
        minDistance: 0.6,
        maxDistance: 7,
        collisionFilterMask: 2,
      }}
      characterObj={characterObj}
      characterProps={characterProps}
      animationPaths={animationPaths}
    />
  );
}

Configuration

Prop	Type	Default	Description
cameraOptions	object	{}	configuration object for control's camera options
characterProps	object	{}	configuration object for character
characterObj	THREE.Object3D	undefined	three.js object for character model
animationPaths	object	{}	object for animation clip configuration
onLoad	function	() => {}	called when animation clips are done loading

cameraOptions

Prop	Type	Default	Description
yOffset	float	1.6	amount of y added to the camera following the character model
minDistance	float	0.6	maximum zoom in capability of camera
maxDistance	float	7	maximum zoom out capability of camera
collisionFilterMask	integer	2	the cannon.js group given to "world" objects for collision detection
cameraCollisionOn	boolean	off	if turned on, will use colllisionFilterMask to add collision to the camera (experimental and unoptimized)

characterProps

Prop	Type	Default	Description
scale	float	1	amount to scale the character model
radius	float	0.3	value used for creating character capsule collider
velocity	float	4	speed at which character moves

characterObj

you can use any model here compatible with the mixamo rig. For best results, use a model sized to the default mixamo character.

animationPaths

this prop expects an object with key/value pairs pointing to a complete set of animations to use on your character model. Refer to the object below for the full list of animations needed, all of which are available as free animations on mixamo.

{
  idle: 'idle.glb',
  walk: 'walk.glb',
  run: 'run.glb',
  jump: 'jump.glb',
  landing: 'landing.glb',
  inAir: 'falling_idle.glb',
  backpedal: 'backpedal.glb',
  turnLeft: 'turn_left.glb',
  turnRight: 'turn_right.glb',
  strafeLeft: 'strafe_left.glb',
  strafeRight: 'strafe_right.glb',
}

Example App Usage

import React from "react";
import ReactDOM from "react-dom/client";
import { Canvas, useThree } from "@react-three/fiber";
import { Physics, useBox } from "@react-three/cannon";
import manny from "manny";
import ThirdPersonCharacterControls from "react-three-third-person";

const BASE_ANIMATIONS_PATH =
  "https://mannys-game.s3.amazonaws.com/third-person/animations";

const animationPaths = {
  idle: `${BASE_ANIMATIONS_PATH}/idle.glb`,
  walk: `${BASE_ANIMATIONS_PATH}/walk.glb`,
  run: `${BASE_ANIMATIONS_PATH}/run.glb`,
  jump: `${BASE_ANIMATIONS_PATH}/jump.glb`,
  landing: `${BASE_ANIMATIONS_PATH}/landing.glb`,
  inAir: `${BASE_ANIMATIONS_PATH}/falling_idle.glb`,
  backpedal: `${BASE_ANIMATIONS_PATH}/backpedal.glb`,
  turnLeft: `${BASE_ANIMATIONS_PATH}/turn_left.glb`,
  turnRight: `${BASE_ANIMATIONS_PATH}/turn_right.glb`,
  strafeLeft: `${BASE_ANIMATIONS_PATH}/strafe_left.glb`,
  strafeRight: `${BASE_ANIMATIONS_PATH}/strafe_right.glb`,
};

function ThirdPersonCharacter() {
  const mannyObj = manny();

  return (
    <ThirdPersonCharacterControls
      cameraOptions={{
        yOffset: 1.6,
        minDistance: 0.6,
        maxDistance: 7,
        collisionFilterMask: 2,
      }}
      characterObj={mannyObj}
      animationPaths={animationPaths}
    />
  );
}

function Lighting() {
  return (
    <>
      <hemisphereLight
        skyColor={0xffffff}
        groundColor={0x444444}
        position={[0, 0, 0]}
      />
      <directionalLight
        color={0xffffff}
        intensity={0.25}
        castShadow
        position={[0, 200, 100]}
      />
    </>
  );
}

function Floor() {
  const [ref] = useBox(() => ({
    type: "Static",
    args: [25, 0.2, 25],
    mass: 0,
    material: {
      friction: 0,
      name: "floor",
    },
    collisionFilterGroup: 2,
  }));
  return (
    <group>
      <mesh ref={ref}>
        <boxGeometry name="floor-box" />
        <meshPhongMaterial opacity={0} transparent />
      </mesh>
      <gridHelper args={[25, 25]} />
    </group>
  );
}

function Wall({ args, ...props }) {
  const [ref] = useBox(() => ({
    type: "Static",
    args,
    mass: 0,
    material: {
      friction: 0.3,
      name: "wall",
    },
    collisionFilterGroup: 2,
    ...props,
  }));
  return (
    <mesh receiveShadow ref={ref} {...props}>
      <boxGeometry args={args} />
      <meshPhongMaterial color="white" opacity={0.8} transparent />
    </mesh>
  );
}

function App() {
  return (
    <div style={{ height: "100vh", width: "100%" }}>
      <Canvas
        flat
        camera={{
          fov: 75,
          near: 0.1,
          far: 3800,
          position: [0, 11, 11],
        }}
      >
        <Physics gravity={[0, -35, 0]}>
          <ThirdPersonCharacter />
          <Wall args={[25, 3, 0.2]} position={[0, 1.4, -12.6]} />
          <Wall args={[25, 3, 0.2]} position={[0, 1.4, 12.6]} />
          <Wall
            args={[25, 3, 0.2]}
            rotation={[0, -Math.PI / 2, 0]}
            position={[12.6, 1.4, 0]}
          />
          <Wall
            args={[25, 3, 0.2]}
            rotation={[0, -Math.PI / 2, 0]}
            position={[-12.6, 1.4, 0]}
          />
          <Floor />
        </Physics>
        <Lighting />
      </Canvas>
    </div>
  );
}

const root = ReactDOM.createRoot(document.getElementById("root"));
root.render(
  <React.StrictMode>
    <App />
  </React.StrictMode>
);

Running Locally

npm run dev

Go to localhost:3000 to see the local test application.

gbozo/react-three-third-person