Third-person view

Third person view as seen from the front of the player

Third person view as seen from the back of the player

Third person view allows the player to view the nearby environment from an "outside" perspective.

Usage

Different perspectives can be toggled by pressing F5 (or fn + F5 on other keyboards) or C. Pressing it once displays the back of the player, and pressing it again displays the front. Pressing it once more reverts to first-person view.

In Bedrock Edition, it can be changed in the settings; this is the only way to switch the camera when using touch to play games.

In China Bedrock Edition, it can be changed in HUD.

When in third-person view, the player can be viewed from an angle of 0 degrees (Y axis) when the mouse is leveled with the ground, up to an angle of 90 degrees when looking straight down toward the player, from [tba] blocks away from the player.

In Java Edition, if the player suffocates while in this mode, the camera automatically switches back to the first-person view.

A third person front view can also be seen while the survival inventory is open; the player, in this case, always faces the cursor.

History

Java Edition Indev
20100218					Added third-person mode. Pressing F5 now switches the view to third person view.
Java Edition Infdev
20100227-1					The player is no longer visible when the third person mode is shown.
20100316					The player is now visible again when the third person mode is shown.
20100413					F5 now toggles rain (a reimplemented feature from Classic), causing water particles to now surround the player while in third person.
Java Edition Alpha
v1.0.3					The player's body no longer slowly rotates to face forward while in third person view.
v1.0.5					F5 no longer toggles rain, so water particles no longer surround the player while in third person.
v1.0.6					Items can now be seen being held in third person mode. However, the items are larger than the usual.
v1.0.11					When in third person view, the player is off center by one block to the left, giving an "over-the-shoulder" appearance.
					Because mobs looked at the camera and not the player's head, in third person view they looked at the wrong location.
v1.0.15					The arm swinging animation of the player in third person view has now been added.
v1.0.17					The player is now centered when in third person view.
v1.2.0		?			Holding F1 while in third person view now causes the front of the player to be shown.
Java Edition Beta
1.3					The front of the player is no longer shown by holding F1 while in third person view.
Java Edition
1.0.0		Beta 1.9 Prerelease 2			Pressing F5 twice now switches the camera to the front of the player, while it now takes a third press of F5 to switch back into first person view.
		Beta 1.9 Prerelease 5			The debugging view manipulation, known in the code as the "deadmau5 camera", was accidentally enabled.
					This feature causes the keys Y, H, U, O, I, K, J, L, N, and M to change the camera position in a variety of ways, and pressing F9 freezes the view. Pressing two functionally connected keys at the same time reverts the view back to normal, except pressing U + O.
					This feature was added only for deadmau5.
		Beta 1.9 Prerelease 6			The deadmau5 camera was removed.
1.2.1		12w08a			The deadmau5 camera was accidentally added again.
					The sides of the player's head may now be shown when rotating the view using the deadmau5 camera.
		1.2			The deadmau5 camera was removed again.
?					Being inside of a block no longer reverts the player's view to first person.
1.7.2		13w36a			The camera switching key, default set to F5, can now be rebound.
1.14		19w11a			No longer blocked by most non solid blocks like grass.
1.16		20w12a			No longer obstructed by glass and other such blocks.
					However, it is still obstructed by fences, slime blocks, honey blocks and ice.
Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.1.2					Added an option for third person view.
v0.12.1		build 6			Added the front third person view.
Bedrock Edition
1.2.1					The crosshair no longer appears in third person view.

Issues

Issues relating to "Third-person view" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Trivia

• In Bedrock Edition, the third-person view allows the player to reach further than in first-person, and behind them when using touch controls.

Gallery

Shoulder camera in Alpha.

References

Gameplay 

View at: Template:Gameplay/content [edit]