How to Move Characters In Unity 3D | Character Controllers Explained

Learn the fundamentals of moving Characters in Unity3d with an introduction to character controllers!
This beginner-friendly tutorial is a thorough break down covering how we can move characters in Unity3d and explains the various options Unity has to offer: the built-in component, rigidbodies and custom character controllers!
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Interested in learning more about animating characters in Unity? Check out my growing series of tutorials:
✅ • Unity's Animation System
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►TIMESTAMPS:
Intro: 0:00
Project setup: 0:36
What is a character controller: 0:57
Built-In Explained: 1:37
BreakDown the Built-In: 1:59
Built-In Overview: 2:27
Rigidbodies Explained: 3:05
Rigidbody Class: 3:37
Kinematic Explained: 4:00
Kinematic vs Dynamic: 4:15
Character Controller Comparison: 5:14
Character Comparison Trend: 7:00
Flexible But Time Consuming: 7:32
Examples Games For Each: 8:05
Assets Are Here to Help: 8:43
Next Time: 9:15
Thanks for watching! 💛

[@codeFriendlyART]

9 mins that covers so much information in such quality, concise style and great pace. Amazingly well done, I do totally agree that these are the most important Character Controllers differences in order to gain a fairly solid understanding of which one to chose and why. This video will help answer soo many of the repetitive basic questions about which Character Controller to choose from, being asked at our Unity FB group. Sharing this one right now ;) !! Great work man, keep it up!! Can hardly wait for the further series break down!

[@mohammedelnaiem3989]

This may be selfish of us, but please continue making these videos. They are literally some of the best on youtube. And they demistify game development in ways others can't. You are a natural educator and with time this channel will grow.

[@melekRebai]

I'm not exaggerating when i say you have the best unity learning videos. Never seen someone that goes into the details and explain differences between things like you do. All the unity options are overwhelming for someone just getting started.

[@davidmoon3776]

This is excellent stuff - your blend of conceptual explanation with the practical stuff is some of the best I’ve seen in online tutorials. My only complaint is that now I’ve watched all the videos in this series so far! Keep up the great work!

[@gregsmw]

i genuinly love your videos the level of detail that you cover while remaining completly coherent and clear to understand for someone who has no experience is just so wonderfull every other "tutorial" type video i have seen either covers only the most basic stuff without really giving any understanding, or essentially assumes the person watching can just understand everything without any introduction

[@Ransonikuo]

Amazing content, thank you. Really appreciate all the in-game examples of the important topics covered in the video. Helps draw a great correlation between what I know and what I'm learning. Learning a ton, thank you.

[@diligencehumility6971]

Even with my around 10 years of Unity-spear-time-experience, this video is informative and exactly on point. 10 minutes well invested for anyone looking to make a character move

[@trufinrares]

The amount of work you seemed to have put in editing this video is astonishing! Really well explained, you helped me a lot!

[@iHeartGameDev]

Thank you Rares! 😊 appreciate the kindness! -Nicky

[@sthaenyonie5461]

This are some of the most if not the amazing explanations i have seen keep up the good work man.

[@HyagoPinheiro]

I'm always going back to this video every time I need to remember the main differences between a Rigidbody and Character Controller and witch is the best option for me at moment. I just love this video. Thank you!

[@DashingduoGaming]

Once again, you nailed it. The way you talk and inform of the most essentials and basics makes me a better developer. Been sitting for days just to figure out most of the stuff you put in here in 9 min, and im more aware of stuff now then before your video. Keep the good work going!

[@patrikolsson2737]

Truly excellent tutorials. I am new to Unity and yours are by far the best I have come across so far. Easy to understand, good examples and explanations of all relevant parameters. If I had to stay with only one channel, it would be yours so keep publishing!

[@hanhminh2378]

man, you are the best unity teacher I have found on youtube so far, your video is very lively and clearly, thank you so much!

[@krooqs]

What a baller video. I'm working on this very problem right now and having an understanding of all the options is so helpful. I'm always pleasantly surprised by the quality, detail and completeness of the explanations in your videos. The visual really supported your explanations as well. Thanks!

[@sonisinha8912]

The best presentation and tutorial i have ever seen , this tutorial series helpod me a lot. Thank u sir.

[@Alzexza]

Hey NickyB, would love to have a start from scratch step-by-step guide, similar to the Blender donut tutorial. It seems like you have the right teaching, technique and the intellect to make something like that really fly!

[@WhiteGemDev]

Every single video of you is on fleek! Very looking forward to new projects of yours.

[@akashjaiswar9437]

All the types are compared in such a manner it is very helpful and clear. The videos also have a very simple but nice and calm atmosphere. All I can say is thank you for the videos.

[@BillieEatsFun]

Wow this was one of the most pleasent explanation video I have seen in a while. Also nice that you added timestamps to your video. :)

[@iHeartGameDev]

Thank you for watching! Glad you enjoyed 😊

[@victor1102]

Your flow of presentation is world class! Super appreciated!

[@iHeartGameDev]

Awesome! Thanks again!

[@martinkandrik]

Found this today, as I`m back to learning basics of Unity. Such small tutorial, with such huge amount of information. Just wow. Great work and a big thank you. Easy like and subscribe decision was made here.

[@arvinrohani3225]

this is one of the best channels for learning right now. so much information

[@Souneed]

Hey nicky ! again another awesome video keep it up man can't wait for the next one, it's so educational and i can't get enough of your videos and the much appreciated effort you put in each one.

[@ASFilmStudios]

Quality stepped up a lot great job my friend

[@IrfanAli-so5hh]

Excellent! This video tells almost all the differences between each character controller in a understandable way. Great Work Nicky!

[@IrfanAli-so5hh]

@@iHeartGameDev It seems like u remember me. Will u remember me even after you get famous?

[@IrfanAli-so5hh]

@@iHeartGameDev ❤

[@mesolagic]

Awesome video my friend, thank you for adding in those examples and comparisons! I'm thinking of picking up tat Kinematic Character Controller asset that was shown at 8:44. Been hearing a lot of great things about it!

[@18ury18]

Damn i stumbled upon your channel and this video and the following series talk about things i've been wondering lateley for a new project I want to start. This looks great! Keep it up!

[@micosair]

This guy should be playing in a Italian mafia movie as the young protagonist.

[@sataStrike]

Plot twist: he already was that in real life and now he's reformed into a KZbin game dev channel host.

[@krenstx2502]

You sir have made good breakdowns and proper guideline, I thank thee for better understanding with the character controller

[@AetherXIV]

I'm going to watch every video you put out in this series. Can't wait for more!

[@AetherXIV]

@@iHeartGameDev it still needs polish but here is what I made using your tutorials simmer.io/@Odin/4-player-dodgeball

[@zacksimusomega9335]

I recently discovered this gem of a channel and can't thank you enough for your awesome work Can't wait to see you cover more combat-related animation workflow in the future Cause I can't help but wonder how professionals handle RPG style combat

[@NunSuperior]

Excellent explanation! (I worked on the character controller for Manifold Garden)

[@Ryan-ww7un]

I'm so glad I stumbled on your channel! Concise, clear answers.

[@Ryan-ww7un]

@@iHeartGameDev Looking forward to seeing this series grow ^_^

[@victorgarces3379]

Love the explanation, I've been struggling trying to understand why the gravity and collisions did not work with the Character Controller and was even trying to add a Rigidbody to it. Now I understand why it was not going to work. Thanks!

[@hyjalonfire]

I followed this whole tutorial series. A++++ man thank you so much. this was incredible. you are a godsend

[@yuvalozeri3142]

We found Brackeys successor... A pleasant voice to listen to, not complicated, not trying to sell us courses... (I'm not talking about sponsors, you need to get money somehow) THANK YOU!

[@franciscopena7859]

24 hours searching for this explanation, thank you!

[@momozaki4453]

You are gonna be the next Brackeys :) GREAT JOB!!

[@nehvaleem]

Exactly my thoughts! The positive attitude that emanates from your videos is really tremendous

[@subzeronitro4686]

Recently I decided to play around with Unity for fun and I came across this problem as well. For me, I found the rigid body and built in character controllers to introduce more problems than they solved and so I went down the path of creating an entirely custom solution with any extra features or parameters that I may want. Though time consuming, it has been very fun to make as well as rewarding. If you have plenty of time on your hands and do not mind learning or dealing with some math, go for it.

[@Hennejoe]

Killing it as always, Nicky!! Great video

[@manvirphotography9230]

I know, you've taught . It ans so much to so many people, you are helping us pursue our dreams! Love from Sweden

[@facundolopez3379]

Amazing tutorial! I can definitely see you being a big channel in the future

[@berkcan3475]

IDK how you do this but whenever I want to learn about something I see you made a video about them thank you so much xD

[@crispy6532]

Great videos! I've been in tune with this channel since the beginning, always waiting patiently for the next entry. I had not thought of character controllers in this way, even after writing one of my own for the touch screen. The controller I wrote uses the Quaternion class to rotate the player character object when the screen is touch + dragged. So when you create a vector in Screen Space, the corresponding rotation is applied to the character in World Space. I'd love to be able to combine your animated player character lessons with this kind of controller (or perhaps learn to do it differently using the new Input System), so I'm really looking forward to an entry on custom character controllers. BTW your videos are essential! Thank you!

[@crispy6532]

@@iHeartGameDev I'm right there with you! Keep up the great work. I would not be able get as far as I have without your videos. 🙏🏻

[@yoktherig]

I already built multiple character controller using all mentionned methods but I never used one of them for specific reason or understood which one to use. Thx a lot, now I won't mess around too much haha :) (thumbs up!)

[@thietduy]

I wish I watched this years ago, my life would be so much better at that time. Best controller quick tutorial ever!!!

[@iHeartGameDev]

Thank you!

[@rpamungkas13]

with this kind of quality this channel deserve more subscribers..

[@MattRaffel]

This is great summary and info on the different types of controllers. Here's something I am struggling to find: making a character controller for UMA. Everyone says "its the same" but my experience hasn't been the same and its still frustrating to figure out. The information here will help but I sure would love a video about it, if you can.

[@BigfootCodes]

Great video man. I started a channel a few months ago, and am nowhere near the quality of your videos, so a bit jealous there :D Keep the content comming. You gained a sub!

[@simoncodrington]

Great video mate. Always keen on finding new interesting tutorials. Subscribed :)

[@bourbonbobo]

Great video! saw your post on the Unity subreddit and I subscribed as soon as the video ended! As someone who's been developing a flexible character movement system based on the Built in Character Controller on and off for over a year and a half now I have to say the biggest issue with the Builtin is that I can't make assumptions about how it works because it often proves me wrong. It took until I started adding third person support a few months back to realise that for the most part the point touching the ground is not the base of the rendered capsule but the distance of what your skin width variable is set to below that. There is also some weirdness in how the upper collision flags seem to be set that I still haven't quite worked out. I really want to move to supporting some of the other solutions as options eventually though considering I want to provide a system that can basically do whatever I need in future games I make.

[@LiveOverflow]

excellent video! great channel. Keep up this quality :)

[@RumpledCode]

Your channel is really high quality. Kudos!

[@donmacsween2842]

Very nice work Nicky, looting forward to the next one !

[@unscriptedlogicgames]

Never thought i needed to see Jammo being slapped by a cube so aggressively. Thank you

[@iHeartGameDev]

No Jammos we’re harmed in the making of this video :)

[@neenaw]

I’ve always needed this 😭

[@Praveenkumar-gu7gq]

basics it's encouraging to learn a little bit more! Well done!

[@user-gj9qs9jo5h]

do more of this!! this is amazing

[@diggerfdf]

Don't need to ask if we want a deeper look at the features. You can do the base video and complement with a few other to analyze the features. You provide the best tutorials videos I've seen since the Brackeys demise! Follow the template you did on those Cinemachine videos and you will get an ever growing loyalty students/fan base!

[@anjureji2510]

I will be looking forward to the next video because these have really been helping me with doing my university project so thank-you for being a better teacher

[@hathead300]

Good stuff my friend. Great info, and perfect timing

[@Carambardoublenougat]

Man your channel is so awesome and helpful! Thank you thousands of time 😁

[@2ksp235]

Can't wait for the next video 😊

[@acez28]

Your channel is so awesome yet so underrated

[@iHeartGameDev]

Thanks so much Zed!

[@castlecodersltd]

I really enjoyed this. One thing to note is that the Character Controllers Capsule Collider is always vertical even if the character is spinning, etc

[@WolvenBolt]

Man you're such a hidden gem in the game dev community. I am curious though if you would consider doing a video at some point on player cameras? My game currently needs a 3rd person camera following him but it's acting weird

[@mickael450450]

I love your videos. Please do a breakdown about every component!’

[@scjohnson243]

I just found this channel and love the content so far, I have the most basic question ever! I assume thats a 3d scene, how did you make the "Floor" it looks like some sort of placeholder I have seen in multiple different videos - is it just a plane with a texture on it? or is it soemthing inside of unity I have not found yet?

[@ankush4484]

What a great video, helps A LOT in the beginning.

[@este_marco]

this is VERY clear. great video!!

[@xrqton]

Really awesome content. Thanks for your hard work to get this simple and concise. One question - do you plan to discuss some 2D topics or you only want to focus on 3D ?

[@navsimmer]

Great introductory video! Back in Blender Game Engine, you created a cube around the character as a parent of the armature (as far as I remember) and it would become the controller. Unity seems a bit more varied than that.

[@TheAguilacelestial]

Great video!! Excelent topic and top quality! Hope Unity sponsors you someday

[@nelsonthekinger]

You did a great job man! thanks!

[@cargorunner9960]

Really informative and great summary

[@alexjackson3767]

Thanks for another great vid :) keep it up man

[@JoePetrakovich]

Damn you're good! 👍 I just ran into this conundrum, wondering which one I should use. I'll start with a dynamic rigidbody for now. Thanks for the info!

[@anaibrahim4361]

really deserve the likes bro thanks a lot for the fancy presentation

[@hawkgamedev]

Amazing videos as always! while I agree that grabbing a controller from the store might save you time, I think it may hit you later when you really need to customize your controller, having your own stuff makes you a master over it and lets you refactor and set new features way faster, besides most controllers in the store are using the old input system, which in the long run will impact your portability to other platforms (heck, even the ability to use a gamepad in your pc), just some things to consider before you buy. My best advice to anyone learning, is to take the time to learn this stuff, it will be vital for you to change things in your games down the road, just simply follow this channel tutorial on controllers.

[@__dane__]

I was just about to look into the rigging package! I worked some on the unity open project and I know that project uses the rigging package. Excited to see how it can be implemented

[@__dane__]

@@iHeartGameDev for the rigging package I imagine that Jammo’s size might make it more difficult to visually demonstrate more complex interactions, but maybe it’ll be fine. Some interactions that you could demonstrate with Jammo would be actions like Link’s in Wind Waker. Such as picking up/pushing/pulling blocks, grabbing a ledge and the character pulling themselves up, and shimmying left and right while hanging from a ledge or while hugging a wall. Plus Link in Wind Waker is the same size as Jammo Edit: clarity

[@XadegamerOfficial]

Awesome 🤩 as always

[@ezekielgskeen8607]

Am a beginner, at this and came across your channel, Awesome information, will be watching Subbed!

[@matthewmathis62]

This is one of the coolest videos I've ever seen. It's sad it doesn't have more views, for the creator's sake.

[@yuvanagavaibhavginjupalli7828]

Great video as always!

[@deivid-01]

What a great video! Thanks a lot! Keep the great work up!

[@FioreFire]

If this channel was around back when I first tried Unity years ago, decided I hated it and went back to GameMaker, then I definitely would have learned to appreciate it sooner

[@samyam]

Hey, great video!

[@davidvarga2916]

Been coding for a while but I never new that there was a built in character controller :D

[@GamingPH]

Great video! please create more, so informative.

[@GamingPH]

@@iHeartGameDev do you also have plan covering "procedural animations" for bosses?

[@GamingPH]

@@iHeartGameDev awesome.. looking forward to it.. thank you again!

[@bubbles7601]

You do great work bro. Keep it up bro.❤❤

[@blankcanvas499]

Thank you so much nicky!!! This is really helpful.

[@mmediaculturel3738]

Yoo tnx dude, everytNice tutorialng works. I LIKE IT

[@RAF-im9hj]

Thank you for explaining!

[@jadenkhentagon3876]

it's finally ti. i'm ready to learn.

[@harishchandrachaudhary9029]

wow thank you so much. no joke it is now so much easier and u explained it really good.

[@robertgutierrez5614]

TNice tutorials guy's tutorial is more understanding than the others

[@OGbebois]

Thank you, it works perfect!

[@heartbrokensongs3938]

TNice tutorials man is so good at explanation ...since I have been watcNice tutorialng soft soft tutorials , tNice tutorials is my first ti to really understand it . I love soft

[@oniseicosmin3554]

Really nice and helpful... Thanks!

[@SafetyPartner]

Great video buddy!