How do I make a spring arm follow a velocity not a rotation

[Buzzcore]

When my vehicle is on the ground the spring arm should act normally (inherit x,y,z with a slight lag).

When in the air I would like the spring arm to follow the vehicle’s velocity, as in the air my vehicle can be spinning on all axis.

The best example I have of this is Rocket League:

I have tried everything within the spring arm settings for this but I can’t get it working. Hope someone can help!

[Everynone]

Have a look at this approach, it’s based on the advanced vehicle template:

• we check if all wheels are in the air
• if they are, we check how fast the car is spinning
• if it’s spinning fast enough, we switch the spring arm’s rotation from Relative (default) to Absolute
• in absolute, the rotation is not affected by the parent’s rotation
• when springarm rotation is absolute, the rotation follows velocity
• when springarm rotation is relative (car is on the ground), it follows the parent
• and you get to set the angle

You will, most likely, need to check another state - when the car is flipped on the roof. The template tracks that variable already and it’s called LowFriction - it’s used to modify physical material properties but can also be used to control camera behaviour.

[Buzzcore]

Not only did you show how it’s done but you also helped me understand how it works. I managed to implement it and its working exactly how I want it to!

[Everynone]

Looks wicked! Where this is going, we don’t need wheels

[KarimZouak]

Hi, I’m trying to follow the above for my own repurpose but am getting lost, can anybody offer advice?

I’m trying to have a marble followed by a camera. I have a SpringArm and Camera attached, and it’s working great. (I’ve disabled Inherit Pitch/Yaw/Roll because otherwise we rotate with the springarm and nausea ensues.)

What I want to do is for the springarm to rotate around the ball to show where it is going. At the moment, it maintains the absolute world direction. Ideally, it would be a smooth follow-behind.

The below does alter the rotation of the camera, but it is jittery and intense, hard to see exactly what is happening. Any advice is greatly appreciated, thank you!

[Everynone]

I’m trying to have a marble followed
by a camera.

I’d probably just have a springarm with Absolute Rotation follow Velocity (no Z):

Add a small lag value to rotation perhaps.

[Everynone]

but it is jittery and intense, hard to
see exactly what is happening

This is probably jittery due to the ball’s rolling and twisting the Right Vector.

[KarimZouak]

Thank you so much! This has got me on the right path, good enough for now. Have a great week.