Question Telling the time in seconds since the player started falling

I am trying to calculate fall damage for the player character in my game I found this formula and implemented it as such:

Code (CSharp):

1. fallDamage = (Mathf.Pow(t, 2.0f) / 2.0f) * 5.0f;

Where 't' is the time in seconds since the player started falling. The "fallDamage" variable is set to 0 when the player is grounded, and set to this formula while the player is falling (using the statement if (!characterController.isGrounded) inside FixedUpdate()).
The issue is, I don't know how to find 't'! I know how to determine if a certain amount of time has passed, but I can't figure out how to measure the amount of time itself.
Can someone please help me measure the time in seconds since the player has stopped being grounded during the time when the player is not grounded?

 

You need to keep a variable that you can update on every frame, accumulating the little fragments of time that pass.

Code (CSharp):

1. public float timeFalling;
2. public float maxSafeFallingTime = 1f;
3.  
4. public Update()
5. {
6.      bool WeAreFalling = FigureOutIfWeAreFalling();
7.  
8.      if (WeAreFalling)
9.      {
10.          fallingTime += Time.deltaTime;
11.      }
12.      else
13.      {
14.          if (fallingTime > maxSafeFallingTime)
15.              DealFallDamage(fallingTime);
16.          fallingTime = 0f;
17.      }
18.  
19.      // do whatever else you want
20.  
21. }

You might also decide to calculate the fall distance by accumulating altitude changes, and change the criteria to a maxSafeFallDistance instead.

 

In my code, the fallingTime increase occurs in FixedUpdate() (so it changes at a fixed rate). Should I use Time.fixedDeltaTime instead of Time.deltaTime in this case?

 

Code (CSharp):

1.         if (controller.isGrounded)
2.         {
3.             if (fallTime>0)
4.                 fallDamage = (Mathf.Pow(fallTime, 2.0f) / 2.0f) * 5.0f;
5.             fallTime=0;
6.         }
7.         else if (controller.velocity.y<-5) // reached a "falling" velocity?
8.             fallTime+=Time.deltaTime;
9.         else
10.             fallTime=0;

 

I'm just glancing over this post, so I'm only really replying to this one comment, but I'm pretty sure Time.deltaTime and Time.fixedDeltaTime are the same value when accessed from within a FixedUpdate(). Confirm for yourself to be sure.

 

A simpler method?:

Code (CSharp):

1.         if (controller.isGrounded && controller.velocity.y<-8)
2.             DoDamage(controller.velocity.magnitude);