Ecctrl Floating Capsule Character Controller

Pmndrs/ecctrl is a simple web based character controller build on react-three-fiber and react-three-rapier. It provides a playground demo where you can experience the following features:

Seamless movement over small obstacles
Enhanced control with floating force incorporating spring and damping forces
Rigidbody character functionality for interaction with the game environment
Customizable ground friction for tailored control
Realistic simulation with applied mass on supporting surfaces
Smooth integration with moving and rotating platforms

New Features

(2024-6-24) FixedCamera Mode:

The “FixedCamera” mode automatically rotates the camera as the character turns (similar to the controls in Coastal World). You can activate it with the following code:

<Ecctrl mode="FixedCamera">

screenshot

Check out the featurelog.md for details on previous updates and features.

Project Link

Live Demo: Floating Capsule Character Controller

Local Setup

Download Node.js. Run this followed commands:

# Install dependencies (only the first time)
npm install

# Run the local server at localhost:5173
npm run dev

# Build for production in the example/exampleDist/ directory
vite build -c vercelVite.config.js

How To Use

Basic Controls (CodeSandbox Demo)

npm install ecctrl

import Ecctrl, { EcctrlAnimation } from "ecctrl";

To get started, set up your keyboard map using KeyboardControls. Then, wrap your character model within <Ecctrl>:

/**
 * Keyboard control preset
 */
const keyboardMap = [
  { name: "forward", keys: ["ArrowUp", "KeyW"] },
  { name: "backward", keys: ["ArrowDown", "KeyS"] },
  { name: "leftward", keys: ["ArrowLeft", "KeyA"] },
  { name: "rightward", keys: ["ArrowRight", "KeyD"] },
  { name: "jump", keys: ["Space"] },
  { name: "run", keys: ["Shift"] },
  // Optional animation key map
  { name: "action1", keys: ["1"] },
  { name: "action2", keys: ["2"] },
  { name: "action3", keys: ["3"] },
  { name: "action4", keys: ["KeyF"] },
];

return (
  <>
    ...
    <Physics debug={physics} timeStep="vary">
      {/* Keyboard preset */}
      <KeyboardControls map={keyboardMap}>
        {/* Character Control */}
        <Ecctrl>
          {/* Replace your model here */}
          <CharacterModel />
        </Ecctrl>
      </KeyboardControls>
      ...
    </Physics>
  </>
);

Here are all the default properties you can play with for <Ecctrl>:

// Default properties for Ecctrl
EcctrlProps: {
  children, // ReactNode
  debug: false, // Enable debug mode (require leva package)
  capsuleHalfHeight: 0.35, // Half-height of the character capsule
  capsuleRadius: 0.3, // Radius of the character capsule
  floatHeight: 0.3, // Height of the character when floating
  characterInitDir: 0, // Character initial facing direction (in rad)
  followLight: false, // Enable follow light mode (name your light "followLight" before turn this on)
  disableControl: false, // Disable the ecctrl control feature
  disableFollowCam: false, // Disable follow camera feature
  disableFollowCamPos: { x: 0, y: 0, z: -5 }, // Camera position when the follow camera feature is disabled
  disableFollowCamTarget: { x: 0, y: 0, z: 0 }, // Camera lookAt target when the follow camera feature is disabled
  // Follow camera setups
  camInitDis: -5, // Initial camera distance
  camMaxDis: -7, // Maximum camera distance
  camMinDis: -0.7, // Minimum camera distance
  camUpLimit: 1.5, // Camera upward limit (in rad)
  camLowLimit: -1.3, // Camera loward limit (in rad)
  camInitDir: { x: 0, y: 0 }, // Camera initial rotation direction (in rad)
  camTargetPos: { x: 0, y: 0, z: 0 }, // Camera target position
  camMoveSpeed: 1, // Camera moving speed multiplier
  camZoomSpeed: 1, // Camera zooming speed multiplier
  camCollision: true, // Camera collision active/deactive
  camCollisionOffset: 0.7, // Camera collision offset
  camCollisionSpeedMult: 4, // Camera collision lerping speed multiplier
  fixedCamRotMult: 1, // Camera rotate speed multiplier (FixedCamera mode)
  camListenerTarget: "domElement", // Camera listener target ("domElement" | "document")
   // Follow light setups
  followLightPos: { x: 20, y: 30, z: 10 }, // Follow light position
  // Base control setups
  maxVelLimit: 2.5, // Maximum velocity limit
  turnVelMultiplier: 0.2, // Turn velocity multiplier
  turnSpeed: 15, // Turn speed
  sprintMult: 2, // Sprint speed multiplier
  jumpVel: 4, // Jump velocity
  jumpForceToGroundMult: 5, // Jump force to ground object multiplier
  slopJumpMult: 0.25, // Slope jump affect multiplier
  sprintJumpMult: 1.2, // Sprint jump multiplier
  airDragMultiplier: 0.2, // Air drag multiplier
  dragDampingC: 0.15, // Drag damping coefficient
  accDeltaTime: 8, // Acceleration delta time
  rejectVelMult: 4, // Reject velocity multiplier
  moveImpulsePointY: 0.5, // Move impulse point Y offset
  camFollowMult: 11, // Camera follow target speed multiplier
  camLerpMult: 25, // Camera lerp to position speed multiplier
  fallingGravityScale: 2.5, // Character is falling, apply higher gravity
  fallingMaxVel: -20, // Limit character max falling velocity
  wakeUpDelay: 200, // Wake up character delay time after window visibility change to visible (in ms)
  // Floating Ray setups
  rayOriginOffest: { x: 0, y: -capsuleHalfHeight, z: 0 }, // Ray origin offset
  rayHitForgiveness: 0.1, // Ray hit forgiveness
  rayLength: capsuleRadius + 2, // Ray length
  rayDir: { x: 0, y: -1, z: 0 }, // Ray direction
  floatingDis: capsuleRadius + floatHeight, // Floating distance
  springK: 1.2, // Spring constant
  dampingC: 0.08, // Damping coefficient
  // Slope Ray setups
  showSlopeRayOrigin: false, // Show slope ray origin
  slopeMaxAngle: 1, // in rad, the max walkable slope angle
  slopeRayOriginOffest: capsuleRadius - 0.03, // Slope ray origin offset
  slopeRayLength: capsuleRadius + 3, // Slope ray length
  slopeRayDir: { x: 0, y: -1, z: 0 }, // Slope ray direction
  slopeUpExtraForce: 0.1, // Slope up extra force
  slopeDownExtraForce: 0.2, // Slope down extra force
  // AutoBalance Force setups
  autoBalance: true, // Enable auto-balance
  autoBalanceSpringK: 0.3, // Auto-balance spring constant
  autoBalanceDampingC: 0.03, // Auto-balance damping coefficient
  autoBalanceSpringOnY: 0.5, // Auto-balance spring on Y-axis
  autoBalanceDampingOnY: 0.015, // Auto-balance damping on Y-axis
  // Animation temporary setups
  animated: false, // Enable animation
  // Mode setups
  mode: null, // Activate different ecctrl modes ("CameraBasedMovement" | "FixedCamera" | "PointToMove")
  // Customizable controller key setups
  controllerKeys: { forward: 12, backward: 13, leftward: 14, rightward: 15, jump: 2, action1: 11, action2: 3, action3: 1, action4: 0 },
  // Point-to-move setups
  bodySensorSize: [capsuleHalfHeight / 2, capsuleRadius], // cylinder body sensor [halfHeight, radius]
  bodySensorPosition: { x: 0, y: 0, z: capsuleRadius / 2 },
  // Other rigibody props from parent
  // Rigidbody props can be used here,
  // such as position, friction, gravityScale, etc.
  ...props
}

// Simply change the value by doing this
<Ecctrl maxVelLimit={5} jumpVel={4} position={[0,10,0]}>
  <CharacterModel />
</Ecctrl>

Apply Character Animations (CodeSandbox Demo)

If you want to apply character animations, prepare the character url and customize the animationSet with your own animation names. Change the Ecctrl property animated to true and wrap your character model inside <EcctrlAnimation> tag:

// Prepare character model url
const characterURL = "./ReplaceWithYourCharacterURL";

// Prepare and rename your character animations here
// Note: idle, walk, run, jump, jumpIdle, jumpLand and fall names are essential
// Missing any of these names might result in an error: "cannot read properties of undifined (reading 'reset')"
const animationSet = {
  idle: "Idle",
  walk: "Walk",
  run: "Run",
  jump: "Jump_Start",
  jumpIdle: "Jump_Idle",
  jumpLand: "Jump_Land",
  fall: "Climbing", // This is for falling from high sky
  // Currently support four additional animations
  action1: "Wave",
  action2: "Dance",
  action3: "Cheer",
  action4: "Attack(1h)", // This is special action which can be trigger while walking or running
};

return (
  <>
    ...
    <Physics debug={physics} timeStep="vary">
      {/* Keyboard preset */}
      <KeyboardControls map={keyboardMap}>
        {/* Character Control */}
        <Ecctrl animated>
          {/* Character Animations */}
          <EcctrlAnimation
            characterURL={characterURL} // Must have property
            animationSet={animationSet} // Must have property
          >
            {/* Replace your model here */}
            <CharacterModel />
          </EcctrlAnimation>
        </Ecctrl>
      </KeyboardControls>
      ...
    </Physics>
  </>
);

(Advanced) Add and Personalize Additional Animations

For advanced animation setups, download all files and follow these steps:

In CharacterModel.jsx, expand the animationSet with additional animations:

// Rename your character animations here
const animationSet = {
  idle: "Idle",
  walk: "Walk",
  run: "Run",
  jump: "Jump_Start",
  jumpIdle: "Jump_Idle",
  jumpLand: "Jump_Land",
  fall: "Climbing",
  action1: "Wave",
  action2: "Dance",
  action3: "Cheer",
  action4: "Attack(1h)", // This is special action whic

CharacterControl

Install / Use

README