What did I do here...(vector3/transform/position question)

I was trying to move my camera around using:

Code (CSharp):

1. public Transform theCamera;  // main camera
2. private Transform theCameraStore; // variable storing the original position of the main camera, to return to later
3. public Transform charSwitchHolder; // destination of the y axis (x and z to remain unchanged)
4. private Vector3 camTargetPosition; // for Lerping to

So on the way out,

Code (CSharp):

1. camTargetPosition = new Vector3(theCamera.position.x, charSwitchHolder.position.y+.3f, theCamera.position.y);

...sets the target, and:

Code (CSharp):

1.  
2. //update
3. theCamera.position = Vector3.Lerp(theCamera.position, camTargetPosition, cameraSpeed * Time.deltaTime);

...runs in update to constantly check the camera position and move accordingly. (The above all works fine.)

Then I wanted to move it back again. I used theCameraStore to record the camera's original position:

Code (CSharp):

1.  
2. // Start
3. theCameraStore = theCamera; // to store the camera's position

...and changed the target as follows:

Code (CSharp):

1.       camTargetPosition = new Vector3(theCameraStore.position.x, theCameraStore.position.y, theCameraStore.position.z);

All looks perfectly logical, right? Well, nothing happened.

An hour of trying to work out why not later, I changed:

Code (CSharp):

1. private Transform theCameraStore; // variable storing the original position of the main camera, to return to later
2.  
3. // to
4.  
5. private Vector3 theCameraStore; // variable storing the original position of the main camera, to return to later

and

Code (CSharp):

1. //in start
2. theCameraStore = theCamera;
3.  
4. // to
5.  
6. theCameraStore = new Vector3(theCamera.position.x, theCamera.position.y, theCamera.position.z);

and called it with

Code (CSharp):

1.  camTargetPosition = new Vector3(theCameraStore.x, theCameraStore.y, theCameraStore.z);

...and this worked exactly as I wanted it to.

But wow, my mind is blown with all this transform/vector3/position stuff.

I think I get that theCameraStore is a single point (so a Vector3), but I don't get why the original Transform didn't achieve the same goal?

So tell me, please...

Why doesn't what I did first work? Moreover, what did I actually tell it to do first time out?

 

It would be a lot easier to follow if you just posted the script all together instead of breaking it up with your commentary. But...

Code (CSharp):

1. camTargetPosition = new Vector3(theCamera.position.x, charSwitchHolder.position.y+.3f, theCamera.position.y);

Did you really mean to set theCamera.position.y as camTargetPosition.z?

Well that isn't what you did though. You stored a reference to the transform component, not the value of the theCamera.position vector3. theCameraStore.position will always equal theCamera.position since these are both just references to the exact same transform component.