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Question How to create a tube / snake render in unity

Discussion in 'Scripting' started by kentudezeno, Jan 10, 2023.

  1. kentudezeno

    kentudezeno

    Joined:
    Sep 1, 2021
    Posts:
    2
    I have created a empty game object and save the transform.location in the update function in a Vector3 List. Now i want to generate a tube / mesh from the locations in that list. I have tried the LineRender but that is only a 2D line (and glitchy) and i want more of a 3d snake / tube. I hope someone can point me at the right direction.
     
  2. Kurt-Dekker

    Kurt-Dekker

    Joined:
    Mar 16, 2013
    Posts:
    36,954
    One cheap way might be to make a series of spheres, overlapping them. You can make a sphere in code with:

    Code (csharp):
    1. GameObject sphere = GameObject.CreatePrimitive( PrimitiveType.Sphere);
    Or you could construct your own tunnel procedurally.

    You can see some more examples of procedural generation here:

    MakeGeo is presently hosted at these locations:

    https://bitbucket.org/kurtdekker/makegeo

    https://github.com/kurtdekker/makegeo

    https://gitlab.com/kurtdekker/makegeo

    https://sourceforge.net/p/makegeo
     
  3. kentudezeno

    kentudezeno

    Joined:
    Sep 1, 2021
    Posts:
    2
    I tried the overlapping sphere but i had the idea that i run into some performance issues.
     
  4. Kurt-Dekker

    Kurt-Dekker

    Joined:
    Mar 16, 2013
    Posts:
    36,954
    Interesting idea. It's a shame!

    I have done a LOT with a LOT of spheres over the years, because I simply don't have the idea of performance issues. :)

    DO NOT OPTIMIZE "JUST BECAUSE..." If you don't have a problem, DO NOT OPTIMIZE!

    If you DO have a problem, there is only ONE way to find out. Always start by using the profiler:

    Window -> Analysis -> Profiler

    Failure to use the profiler first means you're just guessing, making a mess of your code for no good reason.

    Not only that but performance on platform A will likely be completely different than platform B. Test on the platform(s) that you care about, and test to the extent that it is worth your effort, and no more.

    https://forum.unity.com/threads/is-...ng-square-roots-in-2021.1111063/#post-7148770

    Remember that optimized code is ALWAYS harder to work with and more brittle, making subsequent feature development difficult or impossible, or incurring massive technical debt on future development.

    Notes on optimizing UnityEngine.UI setups:

    https://forum.unity.com/threads/how...form-data-into-an-array.1134520/#post-7289413

    At a minimum you want to clearly understand what performance issues you are having:

    - running too slowly?
    - loading too slowly?
    - using too much runtime memory?
    - final bundle too large?
    - too much network traffic?
    - something else?

    If you are unable to engage the profiler, then your next solution is gross guessing changes, such as "reimport all textures as 32x32 tiny textures" or "replace some complex 3D objects with cubes/capsules" to try and figure out what is bogging you down.

    Each experiment you do may give you intel about what is causing the performance issue that you identified. More importantly let you eliminate candidates for optimization. For instance if you swap out your biggest textures with 32x32 stamps and you STILL have a problem, you may be able to eliminate textures as an issue and move onto something else.

    This sort of speculative optimization assumes you're properly using source control so it takes one click to revert to the way your project was before if there is no improvement, while carefully making notes about what you have tried and more importantly what results it has had.