First Person Camera

First person mouse look camera with sensitivity, vertical clamp, and cursor lock. Plug into any FPS or exploration game.

Unity 2022.3+ · 2.4 KB · FirstPersonCamera.cs

How to Use

Create your Player object with a child Camera

Attach FirstPersonCamera to the Camera

Adjust mouse sensitivity and vertical clamp angles

Cursor locks automatically on Start

Press Escape to toggle cursor lock

Pair with 3D Player Controller for complete FPS movement

Features

Smooth mouse look with SmoothDamp for configurable input smoothing
Vertical angle clamping to prevent over-rotation
Automatic cursor lock on start with Escape toggle
Separate horizontal (player body) and vertical (camera) rotation
AddRecoil method for weapon kickback integration
Pauses rotation when cursor is unlocked for menu interaction

When to Use This

Essential for any first-person game — FPS shooters, horror games, walking simulators, and exploration titles. Use this when you need standard mouse-look controls on a camera that is a child of the player object. The AddRecoil method makes it especially suited for FPS games with weapon systems.

Common Mistakes

The camera must be a child of the player GameObject — the script uses transform.parent to find the player body for horizontal rotation. If the camera is not parented correctly, horizontal rotation won't work. Setting smoothing too low makes the camera feel sluggish, while too high makes it jittery. The minVerticalAngle and maxVerticalAngle are in degrees, not radians.

Source Code

  
 FirstPersonCamera.cs
C# 
using UnityEngine;

/// <summary>
/// First person mouse look camera. Attach to the Camera (child of player).
/// Handles horizontal rotation on the player body and vertical rotation on the camera.
/// </summary>
public class FirstPersonCamera : MonoBehaviour
{
    [Header("Sensitivity")]
    [SerializeField] private float mouseSensitivity = 2f;
    [SerializeField] private float smoothing = 1.5f;

    [Header("Vertical Clamp")]
    [SerializeField] private float minVerticalAngle = -90f;
    [SerializeField] private float maxVerticalAngle = 90f;

    [Header("Cursor")]
    [SerializeField] private bool lockCursorOnStart = true;

    private Transform playerBody;
    private float xRotation;
    private float yRotation;
    private Vector2 currentMouseDelta;
    private Vector2 currentMouseDeltaVelocity;

    private void Awake()
    {
        playerBody = transform.parent;
    }

    private void Start()
    {
        if (lockCursorOnStart)
        {
            Cursor.lockState = CursorLockMode.Locked;
            Cursor.visible = false;
        }
    }

    private void Update()
    {
        if (Input.GetKeyDown(KeyCode.Escape))
        {
            bool locked = Cursor.lockState == CursorLockMode.Locked;
            Cursor.lockState = locked ? CursorLockMode.None : CursorLockMode.Locked;
            Cursor.visible = locked;
        }

        if (Cursor.lockState != CursorLockMode.Locked) return;

        Vector2 targetMouseDelta = new Vector2(
            Input.GetAxisRaw("Mouse X"),
            Input.GetAxisRaw("Mouse Y")
        );

        currentMouseDelta = Vector2.SmoothDamp(
            currentMouseDelta, targetMouseDelta,
            ref currentMouseDeltaVelocity, 1f / smoothing
        );

        xRotation -= currentMouseDelta.y * mouseSensitivity;
        xRotation = Mathf.Clamp(xRotation, minVerticalAngle, maxVerticalAngle);

        yRotation += currentMouseDelta.x * mouseSensitivity;

        transform.localRotation = Quaternion.Euler(xRotation, 0f, 0f);

        if (playerBody != null)
            playerBody.rotation = Quaternion.Euler(0f, yRotation, 0f);
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Add recoil to the camera (e.g., from weapon fire).
    /// </summary>
    public void AddRecoil(float vertical, float horizontal)
    {
        xRotation -= vertical;
        yRotation += horizontal;
    }
}
 80 lines

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