Help aiming a tank barrel (locked y look rotation) to target, turret movement is fine though

Hey guys, so I'm working on an RTS style game. no problems getting the turret to turn when I click or when a target enters the radius (For the turret head rotation I am using a Quaternion.Look rotation which works like a charm. What i'm having a tough Time doing now is getting the barrel to track the target only on the vertical axis.

So far what I've tried.
Making the same function like I have for rotation (typed this by memory but you get the idea)

Code (CSharp):

1. var turrTgtQuatRot = new Quaternion (turrent.transform.position - target.transform.position, turrent.transform.up);
2.     var turrFinQuatRot = (0,turrTgtQuatRot.y,0,turrTgtQuatRot.w);
3.     turret.transform.rotation = Quaternion.LookRotation(turrFinQuatRot, turrTgtQuatRot, TurretTurnSpeed * Time.deltatime;
4.  

So when I tried to inverse this (As the turret only rotates around 'horizontal' but it ends up spazzing out and 'twisting' despite finishing the rotation (X axis read keeps changing ? infinitely) So ive found a work around which is using Euler angles and then locking the other two values but then the barrel stays in one position and no longer rotates with the head. Need some help understanding how I can lock a LookRotation only to the Y. I am thinking once I get back ill try a Slerp style solution. I also suspect the anchor point might be a problem as X makes it move up and down vs changing Y rotation.

*For me Quaternion.LookAt() is fine but it goes RIGHT for the target (Works perfectly but too fast. Wonder if there is a way I can look at store that value and then interpolate to it from the current destination.*

Any help would be appreciated as to the best way to do a rotation and then a secondary locked rotation.

also making the use of this thread to ask a more technical question, id like the barrel to track (vertically) the target when it comes closer to the target vs just going for it right away. Im sure I can do this with a CoRoutine delay as I know the speed of the initial turret time to target lock but wanted to ask if there was a way I can say if you are X > minimum target activation range don't start vertically tracking. Just wanted to making the tracking look fancy

Thanks guys!!!

Quaternions are hard but im getting there X_X

 

Think of how you can combine LookAt and RotateTowards.

https://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/Quaternion.RotateTowards.html

 

just make a temporary target position to use that has same y position as the turret.

var targetPosition = new Vecter3 (target.transform.position.x, turrent.transform.position.y, target.transform.position.z);
var turrTgtQuatRot = new Quaternion (turrent.transform.position - targetPosition, turrent.transform.up);

 

this is something I really didn't think about, huh ok I will give this a go later tonight

 

hello! thanks for the help. Ive been doing this already I wanted it to combine it with another sub Rotate Towards as right now they are stacking and its not working hence the thread but I will try what @Phoenix_0101 has said think that might be the way go

 

with this script you can rotate the turret base and the turret separately (turret base horizontally, turret vertically). You can also set different distances for the turret base and turret to start tracking.
If the minimum distance is not met, the base and turret will turn back to resting positions.

Code (CSharp):

1. using UnityEngine;
2.  
3. public class MyScript : MonoBehaviour
4. {
5.     public Transform turret;
6.     public Transform turretBase;
7.     public float minBaseTrackDistance;
8.     public float minTurretTrackDistance;
9.     public Transform target;
10.  
11.     Vector3 turretBaseRestPos = Vector3.zero;
12.     Vector3 turretRestPos = Vector3.zero;
13.  
14.     float turretBaseSpeed = 1f;
15.     float turretSpeed = 2f;
16.  
17.     void Update()
18.     {
19.         if (target)
20.         {
21.             if (Vector3.Distance(turretBase.position, target.position) < minBaseTrackDistance)
22.             {
23.                 Quaternion baseRot = Quaternion.LookRotation(target.position - turretBase.position);
24.                 baseRot = new Quaternion(0f, baseRot.y, 0f, baseRot.w);
25.                 turretBase.rotation = Quaternion.Slerp(turretBase.rotation, baseRot, Time.deltaTime * turretBaseSpeed);
26.             }
27.             else
28.             {
29.                 TurnBaseToRestPos();
30.             }
31.  
32.             if (Vector3.Distance(turret.position, target.position) < minTurretTrackDistance)
33.             {
34.                 Quaternion turretRot = Quaternion.LookRotation(target.localPosition - turret.localPosition);
35.                 turretRot = new Quaternion(turretRot.x, 0f, 0f, turretRot.w);
36.                 turret.localRotation = Quaternion.Slerp(turret.localRotation, turretRot, Time.deltaTime * turretSpeed);
37.             }
38.             else
39.             {
40.                 TurnTurretToRestPos();
41.             }
42.         }
43.     }
44.  
45.     void TurnBaseToRestPos()
46.     {
47.         Quaternion lookRot = Quaternion.LookRotation(turretBaseRestPos);
48.         turretBase.rotation = Quaternion.Slerp(turretBase.rotation, lookRot, Time.deltaTime * turretBaseSpeed);
49.     }
50.  
51.     void TurnTurretToRestPos()
52.     {
53.         Quaternion lookRot = Quaternion.LookRotation(turretRestPos);
54.         lookRot = new Quaternion(lookRot.x, 0f, 0f, lookRot.w);
55.         turret.localRotation = Quaternion.Slerp(turret.localRotation, lookRot, Time.deltaTime * turretBaseSpeed);
56.     }
57. }
58.