Decrease distance between 2 objects

Question

How can I decrease the distance of 2 objects? Only one of the objects has to be moved, the other one kepps its position.

If this helps: The object which moves always looks at the not-moving object.

Maybe I can simply change the X and Z coords. But I've no idea how..

Answer 1

Best Answer

Answer by Screenhog · Feb 07, 2013 at 07:43 PM

For moving a fixed distance, there's also Vector3.MoveTowards. While it has some drawbacks compared to Lerp (wanting to smooth the animations based on a curve, for instance), I find it to be the simplest way to move one object at a constant rate towards a second point.

Add comment · Share

Answer 2

Answer by robertbu · Feb 07, 2013 at 12:00 PM

if Pos1 and pos2 are Vector3's representing the position of the two objects. You can use Lerp():

 Pos2 = Vector3.Lerp(Pos1, Pos2, 0.75);

This will move Pos2 1/4 closer to Pos1. You can also do the calculation yourself (untested):

 Pos2 = Pos1 + (Pos2 - Pos1) * .75;

Add comment · Show 8 · Share

SoBiT · Feb 07, 2013 at 12:02 PM 0

Share

I'll try this. Feedback comes soon

SoBiT · Feb 07, 2013 at 12:07 PM 0

Share

This worked fine. Can I also move it a fixed distance? The function will not be called only once and then the moving distance is at the beginning maybe 500 and the last time only 30.

robertbu · Feb 07, 2013 at 12:18 PM 3

Share

You can move them a fixed distance by calculating the fraction. You can get the distance between two points are apart by:

 distApart = (pos2 - pos1).magnitude;

If you want to move pos2 by a fixed distance (delta) you can do:

 fraction = (distApart + delta) / distapart;
 Pos2 = Pos1 + (Pos2 - Pos1) * fraction;

Negative deltas move the objects closer together.

the_Whizzkid robertbu · Feb 01, 2021 at 12:55 PM 0

Share

Thank you Very $$anonymous$$uch for sharing this 8 years ago. Was searching for hours for a way to do this. Works.

SoBiT · Feb 07, 2013 at 12:48 PM 0

Share

Thanks, this worked.

Screenhog · Feb 07, 2013 at 05:20 PM 1

Share

For moving a fixed distance, there's also Vector3.$$anonymous$$oveTowards.

Show more comments

Answer 3

Answer by Zarenityx · Feb 07, 2013 at 12:04 PM

When you are using Transform.LookAt, it will always point the positive Z axis. If you don't want to worry about collisions, just use Transform.Translate. Try this if you don't want it jittering when it gets really close, or if you want it stopping within a radius.

 var target : Transform;
 var speed : float;
 var radius : float;
 function Update(){
 transform.LookAt(target.position);
 if(Vector3.Distance(transform.position,target.position)>radius){
    transform.Translate(0,0,speed);
 }
 }

Add comment · Show 1 · Share

SoBiT · Feb 07, 2013 at 12:10 PM 0

Share

What does Translate exactly do? There is a speed? I don't need a smooth following. It can also teleport to the new position, this doesn't matter :)

Decrease distance between 2 objects

3 Replies

Your answer

Follow this Question

Related Questions