transform position * speed

Hello,

I have a GameObject that I would like to move on the X Axis.

For exemple,

I want it to move once (and not teleport but move rather slowly) to X -300
Then move back to X -700

Currently I am using this:

Code (CSharp):

1. transform.position += Vector3.right * speed * Time.deltaTime;

then

Code (CSharp):

1. transform.position += Vector3.left* (speed/2) * Time.deltaTime;

But the position it moves to is always slightly different while I want it to be precise.

Or maybe I can add another game object of 1 pixel at the place I want it stop and move my first game object until it collide ?

Thank you

 

You could use

Code (csharp):

1. transform.position = Vector3.MoveToward(transform.position, new Vector3(-300f, 0f, 0f), speed * Time.deltaTime);

 

it says 'Vector3' does not contain a definition for 'MoveToward". I am looking for information on google to have it work

 

@baazul
There's a missing "s" in the method name. It actually is Vector3.MoveTowards.

 

When the object shall fly back and forth between two points Vector3.Lerp should do the job. https://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/Vector3.Lerp.html
Just calculate how long it shall take and change the t parameter accordingly between 0 and 1. So when it starts at point A have it 0 and then increase it each update until it reaches 1 when it shall arrive there. Then decrease it to go back to the start.

 

I'll have a look at your suggestion exiguous thank you.

So now it is working, here my function:

Code (CSharp):

1.     public void TransformPlayerPositionIn()
2.     {
3.         transform.position = Vector3.MoveTowards(transform.position, new Vector3(-300f, 165f, 0f), speed * Time.deltaTime);
4.     }

However the GameObject only move slightly then stop after a fraction of a second it does not reach it's goal. Am I supposed to add something else for it to keep going to the right direction or maybe something else in my code is stopping it ?

 

You need to call it each frame.

 

Also, if I put it in void update, it keeps going but it moves to the top left instead of moving only on the X axis only ^^

It's starting position is:

Anchors "middle center" Pos X -700, Pos Y 165, Pos Z 0

And I am using this currently:

Code (CSharp):

1. transform.position = Vector3.MoveTowards(transform.position, new Vector3(-300f, 165f, 0f), speed * Time.deltaTime);

 

When I call it only 1 frame, the end position is:

Pos X -727.1769
Pos Y 180.0452
Pos Z -18.2428

While it would make sense to me to be something like:

Pos X -673.1769
Pos Y 165
Pos Z 0

What am I missing ?

 

If you explicitly only want to move it in one dimension, there's a version of MoveTowards for floats:

Code (csharp):

1. Vector3 pos = transform.position;
2. pos.x = Mathf.MoveTowards(pos.x, -300f, speed * Time.deltaTime);
3. transform.position = pos.x;

 

Thank you,

Now I have this inside the void update for testing purpose:

Code (CSharp):

1.     void Update()
2.     {
3.         Vector3 pos = transform.position;
4.         pos.x = Mathf.MoveTowards(pos.x, -300f, speed * Time.deltaTime);
5.         transform.position = pos.x;
6.     }

and on the last "pos.x" it says: cannot implicitly convert type 'float' to 'UnityEngine.Vector3'

 

Sorry, my mistake. remove the ".x" from that line.

 

Thank you, so now it is indeed moving on only the X axis. However, it is moving to the wrong direction. It is still in my void update and It goes from:

Pos X -700

to

Pos X -31243.53

 

Where are you getting that number?
If it's in the inspector (and -300 is the number you want as seen in the inspector), that's transform.localPosition, instead of transform.position.

 

yes it was within the inspector and now it works! Thank you

One last thing, I did not change the speed but it's moving way slower since I am using transform.localPosition. Any idea why ?

 

I assume the parent object is scaled. In local coordinates, the scale makes a difference.

 

Yes it is, seems a bit weird to me by the way. The parent object is the Canvas and it is scaled to 0.00925925. Should I worry about it ?

And another thing if I may.

I did not find a way to call something every frame outside of the void update. My last attempt was something like this within an IEnumerator

transform.position += Vector3.right * speed * Time.deltaTime;
yield return new WaitForSeconds(0.01f);
transform.position += Vector3.right * speed * Time.deltaTime;
yield return new WaitForSeconds(0.01f);
transform.position += Vector3.right * speed * Time.deltaTime;
yield return new WaitForSeconds(0.01f);
transform.position += Vector3.right * speed * Time.deltaTime;
yield return new WaitForSeconds(0.01f);
transform.position += Vector3.right * speed * Time.deltaTime;
yield return new WaitForSeconds(0.01f);

It works but... Is this a good practice or...?

 

Yeah, that's a bad practice. besides being inconvenient to code, it will move an inconsistent distance. (If the fps is higher, Time.deltaTime will be smaller, but you're running it a fixed number of times. If using Time.deltaTime, it should be something that's happening every frame.) So two things you need to learn:
1) loops;
2) "yield return null" yields for one frame
So combine these:

Code (csharp):

1. Vector3 pos = transform.localPosition;
2. while (pos.x != -300f) {
3. pos.x = Matf.MoveTowards(pos.x, -300f, speed * Time.deltaTime);
4. transform.localPosition = pos;
5. yield return null;
6. }

(Sidenote: Normally, using == or != to compare two floats is a bad idea; this is a specific situation where it's not a problem)

 

works perfectly now and it will help me to improve other part of my code, thank you