Unity is using a Cartesian coordinate system, which means that vector coordinates are expressed using two or three attributes. They are generally expressed in two or three dimensions and their coordinates are broken down for each direction or axis of the coordinate system (i.e., along the x, y, and z axes). They can be used to specify object’s positions, velocities, accelerations, or forces applied to these. Vectors, in addition to their magnitude, also have a direction. The advantage of using a vector is that not only can you specify a value for a particular attribute of an object, but also a direction, which is very important when we deal with two-dimensional or three-dimensional games, that will more than likely include moving objects using vectors makes it possible to apply some transformations to these objects for their animation, and also to determine additional information such as speed, or acceleration.įor example, in physics, when we know the acceleration vector of an object, we can, based on integration and derivations, successively determine their speed and position overtime, which makes it possible to create a realistic simulation that mirrors their movement in real life (e.g., canon ball subject to gravity). Why would we be using a vector rather that single values. When we add the magnitude of the speed to its direction, we obtain the velocity, a vector representation that includes both information on the movement of an object: its speed and direction. So while having the magnitude is useful, knowing the direction is even more useful to determine where this object is going. For example, an object could be going a 2 meters per second towards the positive or negative x-axis. If you were, let’s say, observing a moving object, determining the value of the speed would be great using a float (for example 2 meters per second) however, this quantity, often referred as a magnitude, would not provide any information on the direction of the object (where we it is going). So far, even if you are not used to vectors, you may already have used variables such as float, int, or boolean to define a quantity. In this case, the z-axis will be pointing towards us. We know that if two objects have the same x and y coordinates, they will then be at the same position.īased on the diagram above we can also see that the orientation for the positive z-axis will be different if we use the right hand (opposite direction). When we deal with two-dimensional or three-dimensional objects, for example (e.g., UI or 2D canvas), we use the coordinates x, and y. In Unity, we use a Cartesian coordinate system (named after the French philosopher Descartes), which gives a set of coordinates to an object along (arbitrarily-defined) )axes. For this purpose, a coordinate system is used to provide each object with unique attributes that make it possible to locate them. In Unity, because objects are displayed in either 2D or 3D, we need a system to be able to locate them easily and unambiguously. Checking if the player is in the field of view using dot products.Performing operations on vectors (theory + Unity).Table of Contents (If you would prefer to skip to the section you are interested in): This is the case in games such as half-Life where NPCs start to shoot at the player when s/he enters their Field of View (FOV). Adding sensory detection to your NPC always adds some realism to your game as the NPC behave as if they were actually seeing (and reacting to) the player. Assign a field of view to an NPC and detect when a player is entering it (this is better than just using Raycast).More importantly, you will understand how these relate to your game development as we will see how they can help to do the following: Apply some simple mathematical operations involving vectors and understand how they are used in games.Understand how they can be used in Unity in both the scene view and through coding.Understand basic mathematical concepts such as scalars and vectors.If you ever wondered, for instance, how NPCs can detect you in half-life, and how wind can be simulated, after completing this tutorial you will be able to:

If these names sound exotic to you or have given you a headache in the past, not to worry, they will be explained in depth and clearly in relation to Unity so that you gain a clear understanding of their application in the context of game development with Unity. Throughout your learning with Unity, and although you may not initially like algebra, you will find it very useful to understand some basic concepts linked to vectors, matrices, and operations that can be performed between them. Introduction to Linear Algebra and Unity: Part 1

Unity perpendicular vector 2d