Unreal Engine 4.26 Documentation

Unreal Engine 4.27 Documentation

Unreal Engine 5.0 Documentation

Unreal Engine 5.1 Documentation

Unreal Engine 5.2 Documentation

Unreal Engine 5.3 Documentation

> Making Interactive Experiences > Gameplay Framework > Camera > Using Cameras

Light Theme

Dark Theme

Using Cameras

A How To Guide for Finding Actors in your Scenes in Unreal Engine.

On this page

Creating and Placing a Camera Actor
Creating And Placing a Camera Actor
Camera Actor Details Panel Overview
Implementation Guides

Choose your implementation method:

Blueprints

C++

This Tutorial series covers working with and placing Cameras in Unreal Engine. A Camera can be used by itself and placed directly into a level or it can be a part of a Blueprint (for instance, to provide a perspective for the player when flying a plane, driving a car, or controlling a character).

Creating and Placing a Camera Actor

In the Editor, navigate to Window > Place Actors > All Classes, then place a Camera by dragging a Camera Actor into your level.
You can use the Search Bar to find the Camera Actor directly, or You can right-click in the Level Viewport and use the context menu by selecting Place Actor then selecting the Camera Actor.
When you select your Camera in the Level, in the Viewport, a picture-in-picture window appears, representing the viewing angle of the Camera. The upper-middle portion of the picture-in-picture window displays the Camera name. In its lower-left corner, there is a pin icon, which provides the option to "pin" the window (keep it on screen when clicking off the Camera) is represented by a pin icon in the lower left corner of the window.
Select a Camera to populate the Details panel with settings that pertain to the Camera.

This Tutorial series covers working with and placing Cameras (ACameraActor) with C++ in Unreal Engine. A Camera can be used by itself and placed directly into a Level or it can be a part of a Blueprint (for instance, to provide a perspective for the player when flying a plane, driving a car, or controlling a character).

Creating And Placing a Camera Actor

Create a Camera with the C++ Class Wizard. Launch the wizard, enable the box to Show All Classes, and, in the Search bar, type CameraActor to select and create your new Camera Actor class.
In the Sources panel, navigate back to your C++ classes folder and create a Blueprint class of your Camera Actor.
When you select your Camera in the Level, in the Viewport, a picture-in-picture window appears, representing the viewing angle of the Camera. The upper-middle portion of the picture-in-picture window displays the Camera name. In its lower-left corner, there is a pin icon, which provides the option to "pin" the window(keep it on screen when clicking off the Camera) is represented by a pin icon in the lower-left corner of the window.
Select a Camera to populate the Details panel with settings that pertain to the Camera.

Camera Actor Details Panel Overview

The following table is an overview of each section in the Details panel for a Camera Actor.


Property	Description
Transform	This category represents the location of the Camera in the world.
Camera Settings	This category you to modify the type of projection used by the Camera, field of view, aspect ratio, and post process blending.
Auto Player Activation	Specifies which Player Controller, if any, should automatically use this Camera when the controller is active.
Film	In this category, you can apply film effects such as Tint, Saturation, or Contrast. See also Film.
Scene Color	Used to apply effects to the Camera. See also Scene Color.
Bloom	Simulates the effects the eye perceives when viewing bright objects. See also Bloom.
Light Propagation Volume	Used to achieve Global Illumination (GI) in real-time. See also Light Propogation Volumes.
Ambient Cubemap	Lights the scene from a provided image. See also Ambient Cubemap.
Auto Exposure	This simulates the human eye adjusting to bright/dark areas. See also Auto Exposure.
Lens Flares	Simulates the scattering of light when viewing bright objects through imperfections found in camera lenses. See also Lens Flares.
Ambient Occlusion	Approximates the attenuation of light due to occlusion. See also Ambient Occlusion.
Global Illumination	Affects the indirect lighting contribution coming from Lightmass in order to alter a scene's brightness, color, or tint. See also Global Illumination.
Depth Of Field	Applies a blur effect to a scene based on distance in front or behind a focal point. See also Depth Of Field.
Motion Blur	Generates a Motion Blur effect that blurs objects based on its motion. See also Motion Blur.
Misc	Applies Blendables (screen overlays), sets Anti-Aliasing methods or Screen Percentage options for the Camera. See also Blendables, Screen Percentage, or AA Method.
Screen Space Reflections	Alters the appearance of objects on the surface of Materials. Enabled by default. See also Screen Space Reflection.
Activation	Determines whether or not the Camera is automatically enabled.
Tags	Provides you with Tags to place on the Actor.
Actor	Displays information pertaining to the Camera Actor itself.
Blueprint	Allows you to turn the Actor into a Blueprint or add Events to the Level Blueprint for the Actor.

For information on using Cameras for cinematic purposes, refer to Cinematics and Sequencer overview page. Additionally, the In-Camera VFX Production Test provides an excellent resource for a sample cutscene and how it was constructed.

Now that you have an understanding of how to place a Camera Actor in your level, the examples below provide some ways in which you can use the Camera, including how to use a Camera as a viewpoint for a player, how to use a Camera Component as part of an Actor class, how to use a Spring Arm Component with a Camera Component (typically used for creating Third Person perspectives), and how to switch between Cameras during gameplay.

Implementation Guides

Switching Between Multiple Fixed Camera Perspectives

A how-to page on modifying existing scripting logic from the Using Static Cameras page to blend between multiple Camera Actors viewpoints in the level.

Working with Camera Components

How to add a Camera Component to a Character class and use it as a camera for any Actor in a level.

Using a Static Camera

A how-to guide for using a static camera to blend between player viewpoints.

Help shape the future of Unreal Engine documentation! Tell us how we're doing so we can serve you better.

Take our survey

Cancel