Checking the distance between an instantiated object and an existing object

Question

Hi there! In my game, if a person is struck by lightning, then they die. The lightning spawns wherever the user clicks, and I don't know how to check to see if the lighting bolt(which is instantiated) spawns near enough the person. The lightning bolt spawns at the x and z point of the click, and the y point has 100 added to it.

Here is my script to far (I know I misspelt the lightning variable):

 var lightingBolt : GameObject;
 var hit : RaycastHit;
 var person : GameObject;
 var distance = Vector3.Distance(lightingBolt.transform.position, person.transform.position);
 
 function Update () {
 if (Input.GetButtonDown ("Fire1")) {
 var ray = Camera.main.ScreenPointToRay (Input.mousePosition);
 if (Physics.Raycast (ray, hit)) {
 hit.point.y = hit.point.y + 100;
 Instantiate (lightingBolt, hit.point, transform.rotation);
 if(distance)
 {}
 }
 }
 }

Answer 1

Answer by oatsbarley · Jan 26, 2014 at 10:19 AM

Instantiate() returns the instantiated object, so you can get its transform and then use that to find the distance:

 var bolt = (GameObject)Instantiate(lightingBolt, 
     hit.point, transform.rotation);
 float distance = Vector3.Distance(bolt.transform.position, 
     person.transform.position);
 if (distance < 10f) {
     // do your thing
 }

Obviously change 10f to whatever distance you want to check for, but this should work otherwise.

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ashjack · Jan 27, 2014 at 05:08 PM 0

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Sorry for my late response, but would that code take into account that the lightning spawns y+100 above the person?

oatsbarley · Jan 28, 2014 at 08:20 AM 0

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You can adjust the lightning position when you do the distance calculation like so:

 float distance = Vector3.Distance(
     bolt.transform.position + Vector3.down * 100,
     person.transform.position);

ashjack · Jan 31, 2014 at 07:38 PM 0

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Again, sorry for responding much later after you replied. Your script executes the if statement no matter how far away I am to the person, and it is only supposed to be 1f

 var lightingBolt : GameObject;
 var hit : RaycastHit;
 var person : GameObject;
 var distance : float = Vector3.Distance(lightingBolt.transform.position + Vector3.down * 100, person.transform.position);
 
 function Update () {
 if (Input.GetButtonDown ("Fire1")) {
 var ray = Camera.main.ScreenPointToRay (Input.mousePosition);
 if (Physics.Raycast (ray, hit)) {
 hit.point.y = hit.point.y + 100;
 Instantiate (lightingBolt, hit.point, transform.rotation);
 
 
     if(distance > 1f)
     {
         person.SetActive(false);
     }
 }
 }
 }

Checking the distance between an instantiated object and an existing object

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