How can I have a raycast ignore a layer completely?

Question

I got to the point to know how layers work and how to implement them into my code but how can I completely ignore all the objects that are on that layer? and how can I use that correctly in my code without creating any errors or null references?

Answer 1

This one should be reasonably easy to answer :)

Hitting a certain layer leads to the usage of a LayerMask. Normally, you'll only be hitting that / those layers. To invert a LayerMask, add a cute "~" (squiggly) in front of it.

Here's some example code. Nero Fires Everything once you click your left mousebutton and then tells you what he hit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Io0OQ2zPS4

The code:

     public LayerMask IgnoreMe;
     private Ray ray;
     private RaycastHit hit;
 
     void Update()
     {
         if (Input.GetMouseButtonDown(0))
             NeroFiresEverything();
     }
 
     public void NeroFiresEverything()
     {
         // Basic example ray
         ray = Camera.main.ScreenPointToRay(Input.mousePosition);
 
         if (Physics.Raycast(ray, out hit, 1000f, ~IgnoreMe))
         {
             Debug.Log("Get Rekt " + hit.collider.name);
         }
     }

You can define what layer(s) to Ignore in the Inspector in a supercool dropdown box. Hope that helps, if anything was unclear let me know, otherwise, please accept the answer :)

Answer 2

Answer by ginryu · Nov 05, 2021 at 01:41 PM

I found an important thing about layermasking, layermasking seems to fail on even number layers. the time this happenes is when I bitshift int layerMask = gameObject.layer << gameObject.layer; then I use layerMask = ~layerMask; and use that in the layerMask slot of the raycast function, when tested, I found that the ray would ignore all odd numbered layers 1,3,5,7,9, etc. but the layermask would fail on even layers 2,4,6,8,10 etc

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How can I have a raycast ignore a layer completely?

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