Checking One Direction at a Time

I'm currently working on a top down character controller. I want the way the player animates when they face different directions. So if they face front they'll play the animation run forward or if they face left play the animation run forward. I want to do this to avoid the player looking like they're moon walking.

I have this code right now that finds which way the player is facing. However it reads two positions at the same time. So if I'm facing front it'll tell me I'm facing front and left.

Code (CSharp):

1.    public Transform Othertransform;
2.     // Update is called once per frame
3.     void Update()
4.     {
5.         if (Vector3.Dot(transform.right, Othertransform.position) > 0)
6.         {
7.             Debug.Log("Is right");
8.         }
9.  
10.         if (Vector3.Dot(transform.right, Othertransform.position) < 0)
11.         {
12.             Debug.Log("Is left");
13.         }
14.  
15.         if (Vector3.Dot(transform.forward, Othertransform.position) > 0)
16.         {
17.             Debug.Log("Is front");
18.         }
19.  
20.         if (Vector3.Dot(transform.right, Othertransform.position) < 0)
21.         {
22.             Debug.Log("Is back");
23.         }
24.     }

The Othertransform is just an object I have off the level to the North of the player. Does anyone know how to help me with this issue?

Thank you I really appreciate it!

 

Your current code is checking for the case when the two vectors are within 90 degrees of eachother. The dot product returns 0 at 90 degrees. You're actually looking for the case when the two vectors are within 45 degrees of eachother. You should use

Vector3.Angle

to find the angle, then test if it's 45 or larger. Your back is using

transform.right

which might be a bug. You can do something like the following:

Code (CSharp):

1. var angle = Vector3.SignedAngle(transform.forward, North.position, North.up); // unity uses LHR for positivity
2.  
3. if (angle >= 135f || angle < -135f); // facing South
4. else if (angle >= 45f); // facing East
5. else if (angle < -45f); // facing West
6. else; // facing North
7.  
8.  

Your code and this function also accounts for the height differences between the two vectors. If your player can look up and down, you might want to project their vector onto the xz plane of your compass.

 

Wow thanks so much! I really really really appreciate this. This problem has been stumping me all day and last night!