Third Person Controller React Three Fiber Tutorial

Overview

You’re working on your dream project. Your environment, props, and character are ready—but now comes the fun part.

How do you bring this immersive world to life with smooth, responsive character controls?

Welcome to 3D Snippets, where we break down 3D web development into easy-to-digest chunks. In today’s tutorial, I’ll show you how to create a versatile third-person controller that:

Lets your character walk, run, turn, and climb small obstacles like stairs or slopes.
Handles collisions and maintains smooth movement across different terrains.
Works seamlessly with keyboard, mouse, and touch controls for desktop, mobile, and tablet users.

Create a Third-Person Controller with React Three Fiber

Adding interactivity to a 3D environment is critical for creating immersive experiences. For example:

In games, users need smooth character movement to explore environments.

In simulations, responsive controls improve the realism of interactions.

However, designing a third-person controller from scratch is challenging. Issues like handling slopes, managing collisions, and ensuring smooth transitions between movement states can be daunting.

This tutorial provides a reusable solution for these problems, helping you integrate an efficient third-person controller into any React Three Fiber project.

Insights and Skills

By the end of this project, you'll learn:

Physics Integration
- Install and use @react-three/rapier for physics simulation.
- Add rigid bodies, debug colliders, and handle complex collision scenarios.
Building the Character Controller
- Create a reusable character controller with capsule colliders.
- Understand rotation, movement constraints, and manual rotation control.
Camera Setup
- Build a follow camera that dynamically adjusts its position and rotation.
Movement Logic
- Implement smooth keyboard and touch-based movement.
- Control rotation and speed variables for responsive interactions.
Visual Enhancements
- Synchronize character animation with movement speed.
- Rotate the avatar visually based on direction.
Cross-Platform Controls
- Add mouse and touch controls for a seamless experience on all devices.
Advanced Techniques
- Optimize physics for custom maps.
- Explore the ecctrl library for advanced character control features..

Tech Stack

React Three Fiber
Three.js
@react-three/rapier

Experience the project in action and explore the final implementation

Resources

#threejs #webdevelopment #reactthreefiber

Need help with this tutorial? Join our Discord community!