Time a ball is thrown in the air?

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Hi,
if we know the angle, and the distance, or the force to add to the rigidbody, (no matter if it is a normal addForce or with an acceleration), is it possible to calculate the time the ball will be thrown in the air?

I plan to have a character ready to catch the ball, so i would need to set a meeting point between his position, and the time the ball will be thrown in the air, so that they arrive at the same time at the destination point. Do you have any tips to achieve this?

Thanks

Answer 1

Best Answer

Answer by Pauls · Nov 23, 2012 at 12:04 AM

Ok, i got by with something like that, to find a middle point, and check if the receiver needs to go further or just wait for the ball :

     bestY = transformR.position.y;
     if (oldY < bestY) oldY = bestY;
     else if (oldY > bestY && !vectorAlreadyFound){
         vectorAlreadyFound = true;
         vectorMiddlePoint = transformR.position;
         distWithMiddlePoint = (vectorMiddlePoint - startingPoint).magnitude;
         if (character behind this limit)
     }

Then, i don't calculate the time, but as Steve suggested, i can make the receiver follow the ball until it reaches the ground.

Thanks for your answers, it helped me a lot!

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Steve Steven · Nov 23, 2012 at 02:34 PM 0

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It was a pleasure, good luck!

Answer 2

Answer by Meltdown · Nov 21, 2012 at 06:39 PM

You can get the balls direction vector and use that to set a target point based on the magnitude of the balls velocity.

Of course you'll need to take into account whether the ball is going up into the air, or coming down, based on this you can determine how near the ball is to reaching it's target.

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Pauls · Nov 21, 2012 at 09:03 PM 0

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@GregQuinn Thanks, so the receiver has the same direction vector as the ball, and then how can we deter$$anonymous$$e the distance of the target point, if the ball is going to come down at 100m away from the starting point, or 200m ? in other words, when to decide if the receiver has to go further and continue running, or at the other hand if he has to stop and wait for the ball?

Meltdown · Nov 21, 2012 at 09:12 PM 0

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Is the receiver and the thrower the same person? If the thrower is the receiver, then yes, he can just follow the XZ position of the ball.

If the receiver is another agent, the receiver needs to move to a target in the direction of the balls movement vector.

You'll need to slow up/speed down the receiver's speed for arriving at the target point based on the balls height and its velocity and based on whether the ball is going up or co$$anonymous$$g down. Obviously if the ball is co$$anonymous$$g down, and the receiver is far away still, he'll need to run very fast to get into place. But if the ball is still on an upward flight path, he will perhaps have more time to arrive and can slow down.

Think of a human catching a ball, as they near position to catch, they will slow down and stabilise, getting ready for the catch, if they are far away from the landing point of the ball, they will be running faster to get there. This is the effect you should try and achieve.

Pauls · Nov 21, 2012 at 09:51 PM 0

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@$$anonymous$$eltdown thanks $$anonymous$$eltdown, yes this is what i did not really understand : how to find the target point, based on the direction vector? The receiver is indeed another agent, for now i have the angle and the distance between the thrower and the second character, but i am not sure how much "force" i should give to the ball to arrive near the receiver, and how to detect the target point, in order to tell the receiver to speed up or slow down?

Meltdown · Nov 23, 2012 at 06:38 AM 0

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You don't adjust the 'force' of the ball to arrive neat the target receiver, the receiver adapts to the ball, not the ball to the receiver. when did you see a ball chance its flight mid air to land in a receiver's hands? :)

Pauls · Nov 23, 2012 at 03:30 PM 0

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@$$anonymous$$eltdown yup, thanks, issue solved ;)

Time a ball is thrown in the air?

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