ScarEyeCam

What it feels like

Before any technical detail, here is what each preset delivers. ScarEyeCam is not a list of features. It is a feeling.

Before and after

Who this is for

• FPS developers who want realistic, weighted camera feel without months of engineering.
• Horror creators who want player discomfort, tension and psychological dread baked into the camera.
• Indie devs who want AAA-level camera quality without complex setup or C++ knowledge.
• Marketplace asset creators who want a professional camera base to ship with their game templates.
• Prototypers who want instant physical camera feel: add component, pick preset, press Play.

Plugin installation

ScarEyeCam is distributed as an engine plugin through the Fab Marketplace. It installs directly into your Unreal Engine version and is available across all projects that use that engine version.

Step 1: purchase and install from Fab

1. 01Open the Epic Games Launcher and navigate to the Fab Marketplace, or visit fab.com directly.
2. 02Find ScarEyeCam by searching for "ScarEyeCam" in the marketplace search bar, and open the product page.
3. 03Click Install to Engine and select the Unreal Engine version you want (5.2 through 5.7). The plugin downloads and installs automatically.

Step 2: enable the plugin in your project

1. 01Open your game project in Unreal Editor using the engine version you installed the plugin to.
2. 02Go to Edit > Plugins to open the Plugins browser window.
3. 03Search for "ScarEyeCam". It appears under the Camera category.
4. 04Click the Enable checkbox.
5. 05Restart the editor when prompted. This is required for the plugin module to load.

After restart, ScarEyeCam is fully installed. The ScarEyeCam Component now appears in the Add Component menu of any Character Blueprint. No C++ code required, no project settings to change, and no Build.cs modifications needed.

Verifying installation

1. 01Open any Character Blueprint.
2. 02Click Add Component.
3. 03Search for "ScarEyeCam". If ScarEyeCam Component appears in the list, installation is complete.

Adding ScarEyeCam to your character

Once the plugin is installed and enabled, adding the camera system to your game takes under one minute: add the ScarEyeCam Component to your Character Blueprint, select a preset in the Details panel, and press Play. No Blueprint wiring, no timelines, no C++ code.

Detailed walkthrough

1. 01Open your Character Blueprint. This is the Blueprint that inherits from ACharacter, for example BP_FirstPersonCharacter in the first-person template.
2. 02Click + Add in the Components panel. Search for "ScarEyeCam Component" and add it. It appears under your root component.
3. 03Select the ScarEyeCam component. The Details panel shows all ScarEyeCam properties organised by category.
4. 04Under ScarEyeCam > Presets, set Camera Preset to your desired feel: Realistic, Cinematic, Horror, Arcade or Tactical.
5. 05Under ScarEyeCam > Mode, check either Enable Shooter Mode or Enable Horror Mode. Modes are mutually exclusive.
6. 06Compile, Save, and press Play. Walk, sprint, jump and turn. The camera responds with physical weight immediately.

First time user quick start

Add component. Set preset to Realistic. Enable Shooter Mode. Compile. Press Play. You now have a fully responsive FPS camera with physical weight, sprint reactions, landing impacts, strafe tilt and recoil support. Customise from there.

Camera presets

Presets are one-click camera personalities that adjust six global pipeline controls simultaneously. Select one in the Details panel under ScarEyeCam > Presets, or call ApplyPreset() from any Blueprint at runtime.

Sensitivity profiles

Control how player input translates to camera movement. Independent of presets. Editable under ScarEyeCam > Sensitivity in the Details panel.

Built-in profiles: Low (0.6 / 0.4 / 0), Balanced (1.0 / 0.6 / 0) and High (1.8 / 0.8 / 0.3). Retrieve them with GetDefaultSensitivityProfile("High").

Mode system (Shooter and Horror)

Two exclusive modes. Enabling one automatically disables the other. Toggle in the Details panel or call SetShooterMode() / SetHorrorMode() at runtime.

Shooter mode

Aggressive, clean, heavy impact. All horror systems are hard-gated off in code, not just via settings.

• Sprint reactions: camera punches forward on sprint entry, lurches on stop, with roll sway during sprint.
• Fire reactions: recoil kick with barrel-weight drop. Each shot feels heavy.
• Strafe tilt: camera rolls during lateral movement.
• ADS: FOV narrows, sway reduces, rotation tightens for precision.

Horror mode

Unstable, psychological, alive. The player never feels fully in control.

• Heartbeat: physical camera pulse at panic-driven BPM with FOV micro-pulse.
• Glitch: five types, being RotationJump, Jitter, MicroFreeze, PositionOffset and FreezeFrame.
• Post-process: vignette, chromatic aberration, desaturation, motion blur and exposure flicker.
• Panic: builds while moving, decays when still. Drives all horror systems.
• Horror triggers: nine types via TriggerHorrorEvent(), being Jumpscare, Whisper, Hallucination, Darkness, ChaseStart, ChaseEnd, EntityNearby, EnvironmentShift and Custom.

Master switches

• bEnableCameraSystem: global on/off. When false, the entire system is disabled.
• bEnableSmoothing: when false, spring smoothing is bypassed. Useful for A/B comparison.

All Blueprint callable functions

Call these from any Blueprint that has a reference to the ScarEyeCam component. Drag from the component pin in the Event Graph and search.

Presets and sensitivity

Mode control

Combat

Horror

Camera control

Lean

System toggles (15 functions)

Every subsystem is togglable at runtime. Springs reset cleanly when disabled.

SetHeadBobEnabled | SetBreathingEnabled | SetMicroMovementEnabled
SetLagEnabled | SetTiltEnabled | SetDynamicFOVEnabled | SetInertiaEnabled
SetAccelerationEnabled | SetProceduralShakeEnabled | SetBodycamEnabled
SetChaosEnabled | SetHeartbeatEnabled | SetGlitchEnabled
SetPostProcessEnabled | SetLeanEnabled

All 27 Blueprint events

These are BlueprintImplementableEvent functions. Override them in your Character Blueprint Event Graph to trigger sound, VFX, UI or gameplay logic. They fire automatically.

Impact and movement

Shooter

Horror

Mode and system

Blueprint workflow examples

Weapon fire with sound and barrel smoke

• On Fire input, call AddRecoil(3.5, 0.8) on your ScarEyeCam component.
• Override OnCameraRecoil in the Event Graph. Connect it to Play Sound 2D and wire Intensity to Volume Multiplier.
• Override OnFireReaction and spawn an emitter at the weapon muzzle for barrel smoke.

Horror jumpscare from a trigger volume

• In your Level Blueprint, on Overlap Begin, get the player ScarEyeCam component.
• Call TriggerHorrorEvent(Jumpscare, 1.0).
• In your Character Blueprint, override OnHorrorTrigger and branch on Type == Jumpscare.
• On True: play a scare sound and flash a white UMG widget overlay, fading out over 0.2s.

Sprint sounds with foot intensity

• Override OnSprintStart and start a looping heavy-breathing audio component.
• Override OnSprintFootstep, play a heavy boot impact, wire Intensity to Volume, and use bIsLeftFoot to alternate variations.
• Override OnSprintEnd and fade out the breathing loop over 1 second.

Dynamic horror music from panic level

• Override OnPanicThreshold and branch on PanicLevel.
• At 0.3 fade in a tension music layer, at 0.6 add distortion, at 0.9 go to full chase music.
• Override OnCameraIdle and fade all layers back to ambient over 5 seconds.

ADS UI (scope overlay)

• Override OnADSEnter. Set the crosshair widget to Hidden and enable the scope overlay widget.
• Override OnADSExit. Show the crosshair and disable the scope overlay.

Cutscene feel switch

• At cutscene start, call ApplyPreset(Cinematic). The camera becomes heavy and cinematic.
• At cutscene end, call ApplyPreset(Tactical) to return to gameplay feel.
• Override OnPresetApplied to crossfade the audio mix to match the new preset.

All editable properties

Main

Presets and mode

Pipeline

Motion and inertia

Impact

Shooter

ADS

Lean

Horror

Events config

Per-mode settings reference

Each mode has its own FScarModeParams struct visible under ScarEyeCam > Shooter / Horror. Values blend smoothly during mode transitions.

The full FScarModeParams struct contains 40 or more properties covering step motion, breathing, inertia, rotation, tilt, acceleration, shake, bodycam, chaos, focus drift, micro movement, heartbeat, glitch, post-process, lean, sprint and fire reaction.

Read-only state variables

Use Get nodes in Blueprint to read these for UI, animation, AI or gameplay logic. They update every frame.

Tuning cheatsheet

Use cases, limitations and performance

Where to use ScarEyeCam

• Bodycam shooters
• Tactical FPS
• Horror exploration
• Walking simulators and narrative adventures
• Story-driven cinematic projects
• Any first-person game that needs physical camera feel

Not designed for

• Static cameras or security camera systems
• RTS, top-down or isometric games
• Projects without a player-controlled first-person camera

Performance

ScarEyeCam runs entirely on the game thread with zero allocations per frame. All systems are spring-based math with no traces, no line checks and no collision queries. Subsystems toggled off consume zero CPU. Tested at 120+ FPS on mid-range hardware with all systems active.

Supported platforms

Win64, Mac, Linux, Android and iOS. The plugin uses only core engine APIs, with no platform-specific code, and compiles on all platforms supported by UE 5.2 through 5.7.