Cinemachine - Crazy jitter

So I have an issue that has been introduced in 2.4.0+ (and I have confirmed that it is not a problem in 2.3.4).
When I have a VCam Trigger (VCam2) within a VCam Trigger (VCam1) that goes back to the first VCam1 there is a noticable jump/jitter.
Here is a video showing that going into VCam2 is no problem, going out and back to VCam1 it jumps:

And the faster the movement the bigger the jump. I have Smart Update enabled and tried all the types.
The cameras have the same priority and the latest enabled is then active (like I would expect). So when VCam2 gets disabled it should jump back to VCam1 smoothly, but this is not the case.

It is working in 2.3.4 so I have reverted.

Does anyone know what the issue could be?

 

Hello.
I am having trouble because small jitter cannot be eliminated by operating the rigidbody charactor using cinemachine.
Thanks to this forum, I learned that lateupdate and interpolate can remove large jitter.
but, small jitter is generated by the rotation of the character using Look At, and this cannot be solved.
It works fine by removing the rigidbody, but my game requires a rigidbody, so I hope to somehow solve this problem.
Is there a solution?

Code (CSharp):

1. using System.Collections;
2. using System.Collections.Generic;
3. using UnityEngine;
4. using Rewired;
5.  
6. public class LookAtDirection : MonoBehaviour
7. {
8.     public int PlayerID;
9.     public string moveXname;
10.     public string moveYname;
11.     public GameObject owner;
12.     public enum AxisPlane
13.     {
14.         XZ,
15.         XY,
16.         YZ
17.     }
18.     float horizontalAxis;
19.     float verticalAxis;
20.     public float multiplier = 1.0f;
21.     AxisPlane mapToPlane;
22.     public GameObject relativeTo;
23.     float storeMagnitude;
24.  
25.     Vector3 targetDirection;
26.     float minMagnitude;
27.     Vector3 upVector;
28.     public bool keepVertical = true;
29.     public float speed;
30.     public bool fixedupmode;
31.  
32.     public float AnimationDamptime = 0.2f;
33.  
34.     GameObject previousGo;
35.     Quaternion lastRotation;
36.     Quaternion desiredRotation;
37.  
38.     //Rigidbody m_Rigidbody;
39.     Animator m_Animator;
40.  
41.     protected Player Player
42.     {
43.         get
44.         {
45.             return ReInput.players.Players[PlayerID];
46.         }
47.     }
48.  
49.  
50.     // Start is called before the first frame update
51.     void Start()
52.     {
53.         m_Animator = owner.GetComponent<Animator>();
54.  
55.     }
56.  
57.     void FixedUpdate()
58.     {
59.         if (fixedupmode)
60.         {
61.             SmoothLookAtDirection();
62.         }
63.     }
64.  
65.     // Update is called once per frame
66.     void Update()
67.     {
68.         GetInput();
69.         MoveCharactor();
70.  
71.         if(!fixedupmode)
72.         {
73.             SmoothLookAtDirection();
74.         }
75.     }
76.     void GetInput()
77.     {
78.         horizontalAxis = Player.GetAxis(moveXname);
79.         verticalAxis = Player.GetAxis(moveYname);
80.  
81.         var forward = new Vector3();
82.         var right = new Vector3();
83.  
84.         if (relativeTo == null)
85.         {
86.             switch (mapToPlane)
87.             {
88.                 case AxisPlane.XZ:
89.                     forward = Vector3.forward;
90.                     right = Vector3.right;
91.                     break;
92.  
93.                 case AxisPlane.XY:
94.                     forward = Vector3.up;
95.                     right = Vector3.right;
96.                     break;
97.  
98.                 case AxisPlane.YZ:
99.                     forward = Vector3.up;
100.                     right = Vector3.forward;
101.                     break;
102.             }
103.         }
104.         else
105.         {
106.             var transform = relativeTo.transform;
107.  
108.             switch (mapToPlane)
109.             {
110.                 case AxisPlane.XZ:
111.                     forward = transform.TransformDirection(Vector3.forward);
112.                     forward.y = 0;
113.                     forward = forward.normalized;
114.                     right = new Vector3(forward.z, 0, -forward.x);
115.                     break;
116.                 case AxisPlane.XY:
117.                 case AxisPlane.YZ:
118.                     // NOTE: in relative mode XY ans YZ are the same!
119.                     forward = Vector3.up;
120.                     forward.z = 0;
121.                     forward = forward.normalized;
122.                     right = transform.TransformDirection(Vector3.right);
123.                     break;
124.             }
125.         }
126.  
127.         var h = horizontalAxis;
128.         var v = verticalAxis;
129.  
130.         var direction = h * right + v * forward;
131.         direction *= multiplier;
132.  
133.         targetDirection = direction;
134.         storeMagnitude = direction.magnitude;
135.     }
136.  
137.     void MoveCharactor()
138.     {
139.             //  m_Animator.SetFloat("inputX", targetDirection.x, AnimationDamptime, 0f);
140.             m_Animator.SetFloat("inputY",storeMagnitude, AnimationDamptime, Time.deltaTime); //set Animator Float
141.     }
142.  
143.     void SmoothLookAtDirection()
144.     {
145.         if (previousGo != owner)
146.         {
147.             lastRotation = owner.transform.rotation;
148.             desiredRotation = lastRotation;
149.             previousGo = owner;
150.         }
151.  
152.         var diff = targetDirection;
153.  
154.         if (keepVertical)
155.         {
156.             diff.y = 0;
157.         }
158.  
159.         var reachedTarget = false;
160.         if (diff.sqrMagnitude > minMagnitude)
161.         {
162.             desiredRotation = Quaternion.LookRotation(diff, Vector3.up);
163.         }
164.         else
165.         {
166.             reachedTarget = true;
167.         }
168.         lastRotation = Quaternion.Slerp(lastRotation, desiredRotation, speed * Time.deltaTime);
169.         owner.transform.rotation = lastRotation;
170.  
171.     }
172.  
173.  
174. }
175.  

 

Thanks for the reply, I was able to delete the jitter with fixedupdate, but since the movement in the movie scene is built with normal update, the jitter will be included when switching to the camera for the movie.
Isn't it possible to unify cameras with "LateUpdate" using rigidbody "interpolate"?

 

I understood how interpolate works.
I decided to rework the movie scene.
Thank you for your prompt reply.

 

Let me ask you another question
I compared FreeLookCamera of LateUpdate with FreeLookCamera of FixedUpdate.
When you move the camera, "LateUpDate" looks smoother.
FixedUpDate seems to have a little afterimage.
This is a very slight difference.
Can this be fixed?

 

I am sorry to trouble you, but I appreciate your cooperation.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1CNf5GJKRuJK3wW-Ed9R2NfU4W0nFkYoz

 

It looked the same when build.
The afterimage appears strongly not in the character but in the background.
When you move the camera with fixedupdate, the background looks a little jerky and appears to be moving.
This feels stronger when using Joystick than with a mouse, but it is a level that can be confirmed with a mouse.
If you look at fixedupdate alone, you may not be bothered, but if you look at the smooth background movement of lateupdate, you will feel a strong discomfort.
Attach the video, please play at 1080: 60fps

 

This phenomenon has been found to occur even with 2D cameras
Even if you do not move the mouse, afterimages occur when you move the character.
Changing the Unity version to 2019.3.9 did not improve.
Updated to the latest graphic board driver, but did not improve.
I tried it on a gaming laptop that I own, but the same symptoms appeared.
I played the build package on a low-spec notebook PC without a graphic board, but the same symptoms appeared.
Attach the build package.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1alMrn8_U1LegU20Xw0A_SNqojWIOKvp1

 

All damping was turned off, but nothing changed.
Yes, the background movement is uneven.

 

It was found that when AxisControl, AccelTime and DecelTime of freelookcamera were set to 0, abnormal movement occurred at the time of FixedUpdate.

 

FixedTimeStep was set to 0.0167 because it was fixed at 60fps. I tried returning it to the default of 0.02fps, but no big change was seen.
My favorite was input value gain, but I also feel that it is not moving smoothly unless it is in LateUpdate environment. Unless AccelTime was raised to about 0.8, severe shaking occurred.
At present, it seems difficult to completely solve the problem, so I would like to proceed with development as it is.
Thank you very much.

 

When fixedtime steps is set to 0.01666667
The discomfort of the background has almost completely disappeared
Thank you.

 

Hello, I am as well having trouble with jitter. I have read through all of the previous replies, however, my setup is quite unusual and I am looking for advice whether it is even possible to remove the jitter.

We are trying to create 2D stylized animations which are recorded using a green screen and stylized using EbSynth. In order to authentically replicate the walking animations, I have extracted the motion tracking data from Blender and applied them as distance during each frame update (each frame has a distance traveled value). I have an internal buffer which applies the collected distance sum to the transform of my player character every FixedUpdate call. I am not modifying the transform from anywhere else. Unfortunately, that causes noticeable jittering.

As was discussed earlier, when damping is set to 0, the character stays perfectly still, but the background jitters. When damping is a non-zero value, the background is fine, but the character jitters. I have tried changing the Update method settings, tried moving the rigidbody instead of the transform, all sorts of rigidbody settings, none of it stopped the jitter though. Could the jittering be caused by the fact that the transform is not moved every FixedUpdate call during the animation? That happens when the frame rate of the animation is lower than the update rate of the FixedUpdate (the buffer gets incremented after each frame and added to transform in FixedUpdate). When I view the character using the scene window, it doesn't seem to jitter almost at all. Should I move the character in a different way, or is the way I am doing it completely wrong? Many thanks!

 

Thank you for the reply, you were right, that was the root of the issue. I guess I was just naively hoping there would be some other solution. I have managed to somewhat fix the issue with a simple interpolation algorithm, which divides the distance into smaller roughly equal chunks which are applied every fixedupdate calls so that the character is animated smoothly.

 

I need to set my character animator update mode as "Animate Physics" but CM camera shakes too much.

 

What exactly does adding CINEMACHINE_EXPERIMENTAL_DAMPING do? I was having severe jitter issues, trying a multitude of things to solve them, and adding that was among the more beneficial (although still not perfect, but I'm finding the minor stutters here and there much more acceptable and I think I can continue using CM in this project). I'm also on the alpha branch, and enjoying the delta time stability benefits that came in I think 2020.2.0a9.

 

I'm posting this for future generation!
Cinemachine uses more than a single script. Look up your camera object, CinemachineBrain script, update method. Try FixedUpdate or LateUpdate. Feels like SmartUpdate isn't so smart. I had the jitter issue with Cinemachine and curiously it was solving itself when I "hit" the camera at Top or Bottom Rig a few times, then it stop jittering. Setting to FixedUpdate solved it from start (for now?)

 

So, if I just set CinemachineBrain to fixedUpdate and it stopped being jittery it would because I changed my movement code between the time I clicked the dropdown and clicked to Fixed? I don't type that fast, plus, it wouldn't explain why "smashing" the camera against top and bottom limit of Y Axis would make it stop being jittery.

Anyway, just saying changing Update Method of CinemachineBrain might help some people.

 

I tried to look and the only thing I do in update is poll Input System, then move in FixedUpdate. Anyway I've moved on to a custom build camera controller so I can't really test or anything. Thanks, I'll try to be more careful to that detail in the future.

 

Hello, @Gregoryl I dont know if anybody is gonna reply, but I have been experiencing some jittering too, but it only jitters when I rotate the camera, not on movement, I have set up an fps scene, and my input system is touch controls for mobile, so to get cameras rotation I used an extension for the virtual camera. I get my lookInput values on Update. and I have tried calling rotate function on Update, Fixed Update, it doesnt work.

my character mesh animated with statemachine and it is childed to my Player Transform. and my Virtual Camera follow transform which I have childed to the head transform of my character mesh.

I tried setting interpolation on and off. Setting animation physics. It didnt work. Im certainly doing something wrong but I dont know what, I hope somebody can help. Thanks in Advance

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using UnityEngine;
using Cinemachine;

public class CinemachinePOVExtension : CinemachineExtension
{
TouchAim aim;
Vector3 startingRotation;

[SerializeField] float horizontalSpeed = 10f;
[SerializeField] float verticalSpeed = 10f;
[SerializeField] float clampAngle = 80f;
public Quaternion rotation;

protected override void Awake()
{
aim = TouchAim.instance;
base.Awake();

}
protected override void PostPipelineStageCallback(CinemachineVirtualCameraBase vcam, CinemachineCore.Stage stage, ref CameraState state, float delta)
{
if (vcam.Follow)
{
if (stage == CinemachineCore.Stage.Aim)
{
if (startingRotation == null) startingRotation = transform.localRotation.eulerAngles;
Vector2 deltaInput = aim.lookInput;

startingRotation.x += deltaInput.x * horizontalSpeed * Time.deltaTime;


state.RawOrientation = Quaternion.Euler(transform.localRotation.eulerAngles.y, startingRotation.x, 0);
rotation = state.RawOrientation;
}
}
}
}
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

then I use this value to rotate my player on my player script.

I uploaded the camera values too


for the the jitter be visible I moved the target transform behind the player.

 

Hi, I have been struggling to get rid of jittery sprites in my game. I've been pulling my hair out for past 4 weeks trying to fix this issue. So I cooked up a small show case project with my player that can only move left and right. I'm using a state machine to handle my player and only states that I included in this project is idle and move state. I'm also using cinemachine and pixel perfect camera and my jitter appears only when my player starts moving. I'd appreciate if you could take a look at it @Gregoryl

here is link to the project zip file: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qxWdmzwIZkBmukhy4x7aFuZgkVYEOB7E/view?usp=sharing

Also if you need any more info about anything let me know.

 

Thanks for taking a look at it. Just created the new post on URP forum (link: https://forum.unity.com/threads/spr...pixel-perfect-camera-and-cinemachine.1133005/), hopefully they manage to fix this problem

 

I Had same with sonic physics and fixed it by setting "Update Method" component to "FixedUpdate" instead of "Smart Update" , in the CinemachineBrain On Main Camera.

 

In my case it was bad parent: cinemachine camera was child of moving object
make sure virtual camera is under scene root

 

changing the cinemachine brain update method to late update (blending mode too) fixed the jitter for me.
I assume this happens for people who are using timeline for animations, and that unity uses an override for the animation to show. The "look at" may be fighting between those two targets (the idle they are in the BG, and the override they're playing in the scene). It stands to reason late update would be the way to go with this in mind. Worked for me!

 

Hey @Gregoryl I have an odd character jittering issue I've been trying to solve for days, it's not fully clear to me if it's a unity issue or Cinemachine issue. Oddly my problem only arises when the scene is reloaded and whilst steering my character.

My setup:

• I have a transposing camera that follows a rather simple character that uses a looping run animation to move them forward.
  
• I steer the character by applying a smooth "look at" towards a vector 3 hit point, which originates from a mouse click raycast.
  
• My character has a rigidbody with interpolate on.
  
• The rigidbody has all its rotations frozen so is to prevent the character from falling over
  
• It's Animator with update mode "normal".
  
• My camera brain update is "Smart Update" and the blend is "Late Update"
• I'm on Cinemachine 2.8.4 and on the standard render pipeline 2020.1.11

Issue:
When I launch my gameplay scene, either in a build or editor, everything is very smooth with no jitter anywhere. It's exactly how I want it... but if I exit the gameplay scene, load the mainmenu, then load back into the gameplay scene (Async loading), now my character jitters but only when I steer the character with the smooth look. It's weird because the first play session of the scene runs flawless, any subsequent scene loads will have character jitter. All of the settings I mentioned above are the same between loads. The only way I can stop the character jitter in subsequent loads is by removing the smooth look at, or used fixed update (but this results in a smooth character with a stuttering world)

Any thoughts on this or suggested areas I should look into?
Does cinemachine have issues with Async loading that might result in this?

 

I have a high 60+ fps in playthroughs and doesn't seem to be a performance related, evident when the character runs straight forward and everything is nice and smooth. Only when I reload the level and steer my character (smooth look towards a vector3) is when the jitter occurs.

Setting dampen to 0 seemed to make the camera stutter with the character, but it was hard to tell exactly.

One thing I just discovered is that all the jittering goes away if I have the Animator panel open or if I have Inspector open with an animation playing. With any one of those up, the jitter is gone, if they're closed, the jitter comes back. I guess that means it's not a cinemanchine issue.

 

Ah I figured it out! My physics timesteps didn't match with my time scale. The jitter was in both editor and build. So clearly this issue had nothing to do with Cinemachine. I know unity jitter is a hot topic, so luckily this exposes one more thing to check.

 

Thank you!

After troubleshooting the smooth path, dolly cart, and camera settings for like ever I came across this thread.

Turns out my jitter was being caused by my aim target being Transformed every frame. (On Rails Space Shooter Controller)

 

I read through this whole thread, but I don't see the issue I'm currently experiencing. I am getting camera jitter when moving from one camera to another (using a simple enable = true in the code). I don't think this has anything to do with animation, and each of the two cameras track the player smoothly. It's only when switching from one camera to the next that causes a brief jitter. There's no rotation at all.

Here's a clip of it occurring

Note the player triggers the camera switch when touching a polygon collider. The gizmo is turned on so you can see the collider boundaries half way through the clip.

 

They both look to be updated using fixed update. Here is a more informative video with the inspectors for both virtual cameras. The Brain inspector is shown at the end of the clip. It looks like imgur drops a bit of the resolution, so let me know if it's too difficult to see and I'll try a better resolution image.

Imgur

Quick edit to add: It looks as if the camera remains in the location it was disabled. When re-enabled, it is in that same location, but the player is already moving in the opposite direction. Lookahead smoothing put it so far ahead that when faced the other way, it's now so far behind. It still wouldn't explain why the "catch-up" period is jittery and not smooth though