Why does my Cinemachine Impulse shake feel like an earthquake?

The CinemachineImpulseListener's Amplitude Gain defaults to 1, which passes the source amplitude through. Combined with a strong Impulse Source amplitude (often 1+), the camera shakes hard. Drop listener gain to 0.3-0.5 for typical effects.

How does distance falloff work?

On the Impulse Source set Distance Range. Sources past Range receive zero amplitude; sources between contribute proportionally. The listener's Use 2D Distance flag uses XY distance instead of full 3D.

How do I make some impulses not shake some cameras?

Impulse Channel mask. Each source emits on a channel; each listener has a mask of channels it listens on. Cinematic cameras can listen on a different channel from gameplay cameras to keep impacts from breaking film grammar.

Fix: Unity Cinemachine Impulse Shake Too Strong

Quick answer: Drop the CinemachineImpulseListener Amplitude Gain to ~0.3, set the Impulse Source Distance Range so far events don’t shake the camera, and use Impulse Channels to keep cinematic cameras quiet during gameplay impacts.

Tap a button, the camera leaves the screen. Cinemachine Impulse’s defaults compound: source amplitude 1, listener gain 1, raw shake curve. The result is a 7-on-the-Richter shake from a footstep.

The Symptom

Camera shake fires off correctly but the magnitude is way more than intended. Or the same impulse shakes some cameras and not others when you wanted the opposite. Or the rumble bleeds into a cinematic capture.

What Causes This

Cinemachine Impulse has three configurable points:

Impulse Source — emits the shake at an amplitude/duration.
Distance falloff — reduces amplitude based on listener distance.
Impulse Listener — on a vcam, multiplies received amplitude by Gain.

Defaults to all 1.0 means a unit-amplitude source produces a unit-amplitude shake at the listener. That’s the upper bound of what most games want; tune down.

The Fix

Step 1: Listener Amplitude Gain. Select the CinemachineCamera. Find CinemachineImpulseListener — if absent, add it. Drop Amplitude Gain to 0.3 (subtle) or 0.5 (medium).

CinemachineImpulseListener:
  Channel Mask:    Default
  Amplitude Gain:  0.3
  Frequency Gain:  1.0
  Use 2D Distance: true     // for top-down or 2D

Step 2: Source distance falloff.

CinemachineImpulseSource:
  Default Velocity: (0, 0, -1)
  Impulse Type:     Uniform
  Channel:          Default
  Amplitude:        1.0
  Frequency:        0.2
  Distance Range:   5 – 30
  Falloff Curve:    Smooth

Inside 5m: full amplitude. Past 30m: zero. Between: smooth falloff. An explosion at the edge of view doesn’t rock the camera.

Step 3: Channels for filtering. If your cinematic camera should not respond to gameplay impacts:

Sources from gameplay events: Channel = Gameplay (a custom channel).
Cinematic cameras: ChannelMask excludes Gameplay.
Cinematic-only impacts (slo-mo punch): Channel = Cinematic, only cinematic cameras listen.

Trigger Source from Code

public class Punch : MonoBehaviour
{
    public CinemachineImpulseSource src;

    public void DoPunch()
    {
        src.GenerateImpulseWithVelocity(new Vector3(0, -1, 0) * 2f);
    }
}

The 2f multiplier lets you scale per-event without changing the asset defaults.

Verifying

Trigger the impulse in PIE. The shake should be felt but not cinematic. If it’s still over-the-top, lower listener gain. If you can’t feel it at all from a distance, raise Distance Range max.

“Listener gain trims. Distance falloff localizes. Channels separate gameplay from cinematic. Shake feels right.”

Related Issues

For Cinemachine blends, see Cinemachine blend. For LookAt jumps, see LookAt jumps.

Listener gain. Distance range. Channels. Shake feels right.