Third Person Template

When you create a new project, Unreal Engine gives you a list of templates you can choose from. These templates contain some ready-to-use assets, such as level geometry, a character you can control, and simple character animations. Many tutorials use one of these templates as a starting point.

In a third-person game, by default, the player sees the game world from a camera that's located at a fixed distance behind and slightly above their character. In Unreal Engine, you can control camera distance and position, and adjust it as needed.

The Third Person template in Unreal Engine 5 contains the following elements:

• A playable third-person character that can move and jump.

• Additional meshes for the character.

• A level with basic geometry (ramps, platforms).

• Physics-enabled cubes that react when the player collides with them.

The template also comes with redesigned mannequins.

Creating a Third Person Project

Launching Unreal Engine opens the Project Browser window, where you can choose to open an existing Unreal Engine project or create a new one.

To create a third-person project, select the Games category on the left, and then select the Third Person template.

Variants

The next set of options in creating your project are located in the Variants dropdown menu. Variants give you a way to build select gameplay styles faster. The Third Person template offers three specialized variants: Combat, Platforming, and Side Scroller.

For a deeper dive into the features of these variants, see Variants in Games Templates.

Combat Variant

The Combat variant delivers combat mechanics, enemy targeting, and a built-in health management system to efficiently build action-oriented games.

Platforming Variant

The Platforming variant delivers advanced jumping, climbing, and dynamic movement mechanics with precise control.

Side Scroller Variant

The Side Scroller variant adapts the third-person perspective to a side-scrolling format, with pre-configured camera and movement systems.

There are several additional settings you can configure for your Third Person project. For an overview of these, refer to the Creating a New Project page.

After following these steps, you now have a basic level with a third-person character you can control.

Template Contents

The Third Person template contains all of the basic elements of a simple third-person experience. You can use it as a starting point for a traditional role-playing game (RPG), third-person shooter, or any other kind of application. The following section details the main template elements and where to find them in the Content Browser.

Third-Person Character

Assets for the player character are located in the Content/Characters folder. By default, the Third Person template starts with the feminine Unreal Engine 5 mannequin. This folder contains additional Skeletal Meshes for the player character, both in the style of Unreal Engine 5 and the legacy Unreal Engine mannequin.

Female Mannequin: Quinn (default)	Male Mannequin: Manny

Unreal Engine mannequins also come with configurable Level of Detail (LOD) settings. LODs help optimize your application for different platforms.

For example, applications targeting mobile platforms (Android, iOS) should use less detailed character models. This helps improve the application's performance on these platforms. The Data Asset that controls mannequin LODs is located in the Content/Characters/Mannequins/Meshes folder.  

Animations

Animations for Unreal Engine mannequins are located in the Content/Characters/Mannequins/Animations folder. There are two sets of animations specific to the two mannequins.

The Animation Blueprints make full use of the new IK Rig system in Unreal Engine. Unlike legacy animations, the IK Rig can be used to dynamically modify pose-based solver parameters. An example of this can be seen in the screenshots below: the position of Quinn's feet adjusts dynamically to match the kind of terrain she is standing on.

To see how this was implemented, have a look at the CR_Mannequin_BasicFootIK rig in the Content/Mannequins/Rigs folder.

Also in the Rigs folder, the CR_Mannequin_Body Control Rig asset can be used to easily pose and animate the mannequin directly in the editor. To learn more about how to pose and animate with Control Rig, refer to the Control Rig documentation.

Level

The assets that make up level geometry (static meshes, materials, and textures) are located in the Content/LevelPrototyping folder.

Improving Your Project

Now that you have a playable level, you can start to import content and adjust things to make your game more interesting and unique.

Character

You can change your character's appearance by changing its Static Mesh. As an example, let's change the default mannequin mesh. To do this, follow these steps:

1. In the Content Browser, go to Content/ThirdPerson/Blueprints, then double-click the BP_ThirdPersonCharacter Blueprint to open it in the Blueprint Editor.

   

2. In the Blueprint Editor, in the Components panel, click the Mesh(CharacterMesh) Component to select it.

   

3. With the Mesh(CharacterMesh) Component selected, find the Details panel on the right side of the Blueprint Editor. Then, in the Mesh section, click the drop-down next to the Skeletal Mesh parameter and select SKM_Manny from the list.

   

4. Still in the Details panel, in the Animation section, set the following options:

   1. Animation Mode: Use Animation Blueprint

   2. Anim Class: ABP_Manny

      

   3. Compile and Save the Blueprint.

      

   4. Click the Viewport tab to confirm that the mesh has updated.

      

Your character can already run and jump, but you can also add other types of character movement, like walking or crouching. For a detailed tutorial, see Setting Up Character Movement.

Level

Your level already has some simple geometry, like stairs and platforms. The easiest way to add more content inside is to drag-and-drop it from the Content Browser.

If you chose to include starter content when you created your project, you should already have some things you can drag-and-drop into your level.

For an introductory tutorial on level design, see Level Design Tutorial.

What's Next?

Now that you've gone through the basics of creating a third-person experience, here are some other things you can try:

• In-depth tutorials:

  • Retarget animations to a MetaHuman

  • Import and configure a different FBX model for your player character

• Download premade characters from Fab

• Populate your level with free content and props from Quixel Bridge. You can build a variety of indoor and outdoor environments, and new content is added regularly.

• Add some fancy visual effects to your game, like motion blur or vignette, by using post-processing effects.

• Refine how your skeletal meshes are rendered, or learn to update your 3D imported data through a Datasmith tutorial.

• Add AI characters using Behavior Trees. You can set them up to chase, flee, help, or harm the player.