Develop Reference

Using MoveRotation in Unity 3D to turn player towards a certain angle

I've been told that Rigidbody.MoveRotation is the best way in Unity 3D to rotate the player between fixed positions while still detecting hits. However, while I can move smoothly from fixed position to position with:
if (Vector3.Distance(player.position, targetPos) > 0.0455f) //FIXES JITTER
{
var direction = targetPos - rb.transform.position;
rb.MovePosition(transform.position + direction.normalized * playerSpeed * Time.fixedDeltaTime);
}
I can't find out how to rotate smoothly between fixed positions. I can rotate to the angle I want instantly using Rigidbody.MoveRotation(Vector3 target);, but I can't seem to find a way to do the above as a rotation.
Note: Vector3.Distance is the only thing stopping jitter. Has anyone got any ideas?

First of all MoveRotation doesn't take a Vector3 but rather a Quaternion.
Then in general your jitter might come from overshooting - you might be moving further than the distance between your player and target actually is.
You can avoid that bit by using Vector3.MoveTowards which prevents any overshooting of the target position like e.g.
Rigidbody rb;
float playerSpeed;
Vector3 targetPos;
// in general ONLY g through the Rigidbody as soon as dealing wit Physics
// do NOT go through transform at all
var currentPosition = rb.position;
// This moves with linear speed towards the target WITHOUT overshooting
// Note: It is recommended to always use "Time.deltaTime". It is correct also during "FixedUpdate"
var newPosition = Vector3.MoveTowards(currentPosition, targetPos, playerSpeed * Time.deltaTime);
rb.MovePosition(newPosition);
// [optionally]
// Note: Vector3 == Vector3 uses approximation with a precision of 1e-5
if(rb.position == targetPos)
{
Debug.Log("Arrived at target!");
}
Then you can simply apply this same concept also to rotation by going through the equivalent Quaternion.RotateTowards basically just the same approach
Rigidbody rb;
float anglePerSecond;
Quaternion targetRotation;
var currentRotation = rb.rotation;
var newRotation = Quaternion.RotateTowards(currentRotation, targetRotation, anglePerSecond * Time.deltaTime);
rb.MoveRotation(newRotation);
// [optionally]
// tests whether dot product is close to 1
if(rb.rotation == targetRotation)
{
Debug.Log("Arrived at rotation!");
}

You can go one step further and use a tweeting library to tween between rotations.
DOTween
With that you can call it like this:
rigidbody.DoRotate(target, 1f) to rotate to target in 1 second.
Or even add callbacks.
rigidbody.DoRotate(target, 1f).OnComplete(//any method or lambda you want)
If at some point you want to cancel the tween yuou can save it on a variable and then call tween.Kill();

So, you want to animate the rotation value over time until it reaches a certain value.
Inside the Update method, you can use the Lerp method to keep rotating the object to a point, but you will never really reach this point if you use Lerp. It will keep rotating forever (always closer to the point).
You can use the following:
private bool rotating = true;
public void Update()
{
if (rotating)
{
Vector3 to = new Vector3(20, 20, 20);
if (Vector3.Distance(transform.eulerAngles, to) > 0.01f)
{
transform.eulerAngles = Vector3.Lerp(transform.rotation.eulerAngles, to, Time.deltaTime);
}
else
{
transform.eulerAngles = to;
rotating = false;
}
}
}
So, if the distance between the current object angle and the desired angle is greater than 0.01f, it jumps right to the desired position and stop executing the Lerp method.

My player character won't stop snapping to the original Y axis using Unity's character controller

I have a really frustrating problem with what I think is Unity's character controller component. Whenever I move my player, my character is moving to it's original Y axis value when moving. The character doesn't fall from that Y position until I stop pressing a movement key. I used a tutorial from Brackey's for the momement, I'm not even sure if it is the code itself since I deleted it and used a different system and had the same result. Either way, here's the code:
private void FixedUpdate()
{
//Movement control. Explanation found here: https://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/Input.GetAxis.html
//Grabs player input
float axisH = Input.GetAxisRaw("Horizontal");
float axisV = Input.GetAxisRaw("Vertical");
//Direction of player (linked to camera)
Vector3 direction = new Vector3(axisH, 0f, axisV).normalized;
float turnSmoothTime = 0.1f;
float turnSmoothVelocity = 0;
if (direction.magnitude >= 0.1f)
{
float targetAngle = Mathf.Atan2(direction.x, direction.z) * Mathf.Rad2Deg + cam.eulerAngles.y;
float angle = Mathf.SmoothDampAngle(transform.eulerAngles.y, targetAngle, ref turnSmoothVelocity, turnSmoothTime);
playerTransform.rotation = Quaternion.Euler(0f, angle, 0f);
// playerTransform.position += new Vector3(axisH, 0, axisV).normalized * speed; //Moves player based on movement
Vector3 moveDirection = Quaternion.Euler(0f, targetAngle, 0f) * Vector3.forward;
characterController.Move(moveDirection.normalized * speed);
}
}
As for the values of my character controller component, see below:
I've attempted to change all these values to various configurations with no luck. I can't find any posts on this forum or others solving my issue, those who have posed similar questions found resolutions eslewhere.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
EDIT: I realised the character is not moving up a set amount, but instead what the Y value is originally set to in Unity.

Can you give some videos of the problem ? also the you can try adding rigidbody to the gameobject that character controller is on. The character controllers Move function can act strange , i recommend trying Move(your own values) to actually understand how character controller move its objects. Also try to change the Y axis with bruteforce , add some debugs in your code to understand where and how the Y value is changing.
https://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/CharacterController.Move.html
also Simple Move may be better ;
https://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/CharacterController.SimpleMove.html

How to rotate an object along all 3 axes with finger swipe?

I'm working on a simple AR Vuforia application. How can I implement the rotation of an object along all three axes with one finger swipe?
The code I'm currently using has one bug: the rotation of the object depends on its local axes. For example, if I look at the object from the front, everything works as it should, but if I look at the object from the back side, the finger swipe upwards makes it rotate downwards and vice versa.
Here is this script:
public float rotSpeed = 30f;
void OnMouseDrag()
{
float rotX = Input.GetAxis("Mouse X")*rotSpeed*Mathf.Deg2Rad;
float rotY = Input.GetAxis("Mouse Y")*rotSpeed*Mathf.Deg2Rad;
transform.Rotate(Vector3.up, -rotX);
transform.Rotate(Vector3.right, -rotY);
}
This is not what I need, how can I rotate the object according to the finger swipe direction regardless of the angle from which I look at it?
Update
A simple non-AR example, which may help you understand what I need is an iOS game "Space Frontier 2". After a successful launch of the rocket, it lands on the planet and you can rotate the planet with your finger swipe.
Here is the video demo: https://youtu.be/OiNPP1WNIAI

This works nice regardless of your object's rotation, and regardless of your camera position relative to the object:
public float rotSpeed = 30f;
void OnMouseDrag()
{
float rotX = Input.GetAxis("Mouse X") * rotSpeed;
float rotY = Input.GetAxis("Mouse Y") * rotSpeed;
Camera camera = Camera.main;
Vector3 right = Vector3.Cross(camera.transform.up, transform.position - camera.transform.position);
Vector3 up = Vector3.Cross(transform.position - camera.transform.position, right);
transform.rotation = Quaternion.AngleAxis(-rotX, up) * transform.rotation;
transform.rotation = Quaternion.AngleAxis(rotY, right) * transform.rotation;
}
Make sure your camera has the "MainCamera" tag, or assign the camera externally if necessary.

I do not have the exact code with me right now.
But if you did not update your point of view coordinates, this should be the expected result.
Consider a real ball with 2 colors, blue and red, separated vertically.
When you are in front of it, seeing only the blue side, stroking it up will make the blue side go up and the red side appear from the bottom.
Now move behind it, seeing only the red side, and stroke it up again.
The blue face will go down and appear from the bottom.
Unity applies physics to virtual objects the same way we interact with real objects.
So you need to consider your camera position with the object orientation when you apply movements to it.
You need to apply a transformation matrix to your movement based on your camera location related to the object origin orientation.
I hope this is clear enough to put you on tracks to fix it.

I think you have to somehow clamp the rotation to have the desired behaviour. I wrote a script recently to do just that. I did a little modification though.
public float rotSpeed = 30f;
float ClampAngle(float _angle, float _min, float _max)
{
if (_angle < 0f) _angle = 360 + _angle;
if (_angle > 180f) Mathf.Max(_angle, 360 + _min);
return Mathf.Min(_angle, _max);
}
USAGE:
void RotateGameObject()
{
float h = Input.GetTouch(0).deltaPosition.x * Time.deltaTime * rotSpeed*Mathf.Deg2Rad;
float v = Input.GetTouch(0).deltaPosition.y * Time.deltaTime * rotSpeed*Mathf.Deg2Rad;
Vector3 rot = transform.rotation.eulerAngles + new Vector3(-v, h, 0f);
//Change the y & z values to match your expected behaviour.
rot.x = ClampAngle(rot.x, -5f, 20f);
//Clamp rotation on the y-axis
rot.y = ClampAngle(rot.y, -20f, 20f);
transform.eulerAngles = rot;
}
See if that works and of course, try to play with the values.

Gyroscope with compass help needed

I need to have a game object point north AND I want to combine this with gyro.attitude input. I have tried, unsuccessfully, to do this in one step. That is, I couldn't make any gyro script, which I found on the net, work with the additional requirement of always pointing north. Trust me, I have tried every script I could find on the subject. I deduced that it's impossible and probably was stupid to think it could be done; at least not this way (i.e. all-in-one). I guess you could say I surmised that you can't do two things at once. Then I thought possibly I could get the same effect by breaking-up the duties. That is, a game object that always points north via the Y axis. Great, got that done like this:
_parentDummyRotationObject.transform.rotation = Quaternion.Slerp(_parentDummyRotationObject.transform.rotation, Quaternion.Euler(0, 360 - Input.compass.trueHeading, 0), Time.deltaTime * 5f);
And with the game object pointing north on the Y, I wanted to add the second game-object, a camera in this case, with rotation using gyro input on the X and Z axis. The reason I have to eliminate the Y axes on the camera is because I get double rotation. With two things rotating at once (i.e. camera and game-object), a 180 degree rotation yielded 360 in the scene. Remember I need the game object to always point north (IRL) based on the device compass. If my device is pointing towards the East, then my game-object would be rotated 90 degrees in the unity scene as it points (rotation) towards the north.
I have read a lot about gyro camera controllers and one thing I see mentioned a lot is you shouldn't try to do this (limit it) on just 1 or 2 axis, when using Quaternions it's impossible when you don't know what you're doing, which I clearly do not.
I have tried all 3 solutions from this solved question: Unity - Gyroscope - Rotation Around One Axis Only and each has failed to rotate my camera on 1 axis to satisfy my rotational needs. Figured I'd try getting 1 axis working before muddying the waters with the 2nd axis. BTW, my requirements are simply that the camera should only rotate on 1 axis (in any orientation) based on the X axis of my device. If I could solve for X, then I thought it'd be great to get Z gyro input to control the camera as well. So far I cannot get the camera controlled on just 1 axis (X). Anyway, here are my findings...
The first solution, which used Input.gyro.rotationRateUnbiased, was totally inaccurate. That is, if I rotated my device around a few times and then put my phone/device down on my desk, the camera would be in a different rotation/location each time. There was no consistency. Here's my code for the first attempt/solution:
<code>
private void Update()
{
Vector3 previousEulerAngles = transform.eulerAngles;
Vector3 gyroInput = Input.gyro.rotationRateUnbiased;
Vector3 targetEulerAngles = previousEulerAngles + gyroInput * Time.deltaTime * Mathf.Rad2Deg;
targetEulerAngles.y = 0.0f;
targetEulerAngles.z = 0.0f;
transform.eulerAngles = targetEulerAngles;
}
</code>
The second solution was very consistent in that I could rotate my device around and then put it down on the desk and the unity camera always ended up in the same location/rotation/state so-to-speak. The problem I had was the camera would rotate on the one axis (X in this case), but it did so when I rotated my device on either the y or x axis. Either type of rotation/movement of my phone caused the unity camera to move on the X. I don't understand why the y rotation of my phone caused the camera to rotate on X. Here is my code for solution #2:
private void Start()
{
Input.gyro.enabled = true;
startEulerAngles = transform.eulerAngles;
startGyroAttitudeToEuler = Input.gyro.attitude.eulerAngles;
}
private void Update()
{
Vector3 deltaEulerAngles = Input.gyro.attitude.eulerAngles - startGyroAttitudeToEuler;
deltaEulerAngles.y = 0.0f;
deltaEulerAngles.z = 0.0f;
transform.eulerAngles = startEulerAngles - deltaEulerAngles;
}
The 3rd solution: I wasn't sure how to complete this last solution, so it never really worked. With the 2 axis zeroed-out, the camera just flipped from facing left to right and back, or top to bottom and back; depending on which axis were commented out. If none of the axis were commented-out (like the original solution) the camera would gyro around on all axis. Here's my code for attempt #3:
private void Start()
{
_upVec = Vector3.zero;
Input.gyro.enabled = true;
startEulerAngles = transform.eulerAngles;
}
private void Update()
{
Vector3 gyroEuler = Input.gyro.attitude.eulerAngles;
phoneDummy.transform.eulerAngles = new Vector3(-1.0f * gyroEuler.x, -1.0f * gyroEuler.y, gyroEuler.z);
_upVec = phoneDummy.transform.InverseTransformDirection(-1f * Vector3.forward);
_upVec.z = 0;
// _upVec.x = 0;
_upVec.y = 0;
transform.LookAt(_upVec);
// transform.eulerAngles = _upVec;
}
Originally I thought it was my skills, but after spending a month on this I'm beginning to think that this is impossible to do. But that just can't be. I know it's a lot to absorb, but it's such a simple concept.
Any ideas?
EDIT: Thought I'd add my hierarchy:
CameraRotator (parent with script) -> MainCamera (child)
CompassRotator (parent) -> Compass (child with script which rotates parent)

I'd do this in the following way:
Camara with default 0, 0, 0 rotation
Screenshot
Object placed at the center of the default position of the camera.
Script for the Camera:
using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using UnityEngine;
public class NewBehaviourScript : MonoBehaviour
{
Camera m_MainCamera;
// Start is called before the first frame update
void Start()
{
// Disable the sleep timeout during gameplay.
// You can re-enable the timeout when menu screens are displayed as necessary.
Screen.sleepTimeout = SleepTimeout.NeverSleep;
// Enable the gyroscope.
if (SystemInfo.supportsGyroscope)
{
Input.gyro.enabled = true;
}
m_MainCamera = Camera.main;
m_MainCamera.enabled = true;
}
// Update is called once per frame
void Update()
{
if (m_MainCamera.enabled)
{
// First - Grab the Gyro's orientation.
Quaternion tAttitude = Input.gyro.attitude;
// The Device uses a 'left-hand' orientation, we need to transform it to 'right-hand'
Quaternion tGyro = new Quaternion(tAttitude.x, tAttitude.y, -tAttitude.z, -tAttitude.w);
// the gyro attitude is tilted towards the floor and upside-down reletive to what we want in unity.
// First Rotate the orientation up 90deg on the X Axis, then 180Deg on the Z to flip it right-side up.
Quaternion tRotation = Quaternion.Euler(-90f, 0, 0) * tGyro;
tRotation = Quaternion.Euler(0, 0, 180f) * tRotation;
// You can now apply this rotation to any unity camera!
m_MainCamera.transform.localRotation = tRotation;
}
}
}
With this script my Object always face SOUTH no matter what.
If you want the object to face NORTH you just have to turn the view 180º on the Y axis as a last rotation:
Quaternion tRotation = Quaternion.Euler(-90f, 0, 0) * tGyro;
tRotation = Quaternion.Euler(0, 0, 180f) * tRotation;
//Face NORTH:
tRotation = Quaternion.Euler(0,180f, 0) * tRotation;
Hope this might help ;)

Vector3.Lerp with code in Unity

I'm making a basic 2D space shooter game in unity. I have the movements working fine and the camera follows the player. I've been scratching my head over how to give the camera a slight delay from the player moving to the camera moving to catch up to it without it teleporting. I was told to use a Vector3.Lerp and tried a few things from stackoverflow answers but none seemed to work with the way my code is set up. Any suggestions?
(myTarget is linked to the player)
public class cameraFollower : MonoBehaviour {
public Transform myTarget;
void Update () {
if(myTarget != null){
Vector3 targPos = myTarget.position;
targPos.z = transform.position.z;
transform.position = targPos;
}
}
}

If you linear interpolate (Lerp) you risk that Time.deltaTime * speed > 1 in which case the camera will start to extrapolate. That is, instead of following it will get in front if your target.
An alternative is to use pow in your linear interpolation.
float speed = 2.5f;
float smooth = 1.0f - Mathf.Pow(0.5f, Time.deltaTime * speed);
transform.position = Vector3.Lerp(transform.position, targetPos, smooth);
Mathf.Pow(0.5, time) means that after 1/speed second, half of the distance to the target point will be travelled.

The idea with Lerping camera movement is to gradually and smoothly have the camera make its way to the target position.
The further away the camera is, the bigger the distance it will travel per frame, but the closer the camera is, the distance per frame becomes smaller, making the camera ease into its target position.
As an example, try replacing your transform.position = targPos; line with:
float speed = 2.5f; // Set speed to whatever you'd like
transform.position = Vector3.Lerp(transform.position, targPos, Time.deltaTime * speed);