Orientation of Vector3.forward

Question

I want to use...

 Vector3.up;
 Vector3.left;
 Vecotr3.forward;
 ...

to translate my camera's position, but the camera could be facing any direction,

eg.

   (mycamera.directionOfView - defaultStartingDirectionOfView) == differnceFromDefault
   newDirection == differenceFromDefault * Vector3.up;
 then
   camera.transform.Translate(newDirection * (velocity), Space.World);

My maths is lacking a bit so I dont have the terminology to properly explain, so feel free to use big maths words I can google later.

Answer 1

Best Answer

Answer by tanoshimi · Dec 02, 2014 at 10:06 PM

 Vector3.forward
 Vector3.right 
 Vector3.up

are always directions relative to the "world". They are the same for every object, whichever way they are facing. (Note that there is no Vector3.left - that's just -Vector3.right).

If you want to know local directions relative to a particular object's current rotation, use the properties of that object's transform component:

 transform.forward
 transform.right 
 transform.up

Add comment · Show 3 · Share

thelackey3326 · Dec 03, 2014 at 04:12 AM 0

Share

There actually is a Vector3.left, as well as a down and a back.

ninjanoel · Dec 06, 2014 at 09:50 AM 0

Share

@thelackey3326 I think @tanoshimi is referring to the transform static vars and not the Vector3 static vars, they are not there in transform as i discovered, and I'd have been really confused if @tanoshimi hadn't of mentioned it.

thelackey3326 · Dec 06, 2014 at 07:44 PM 0

Share

I was just pointing out that the statement, "there is no Vector3.left" is not correct, even though the answer as a whole is correct. It's very important to have correct information on the Unity Answers site because people are more likely to accept statements found here as truth. Because of that, I think that it's important to note that transform.forward, .right, and .up aren't static vars. They are instance properties of Transform that affect only the instance referred to by transform.

Orientation of Vector3.forward

1 Reply

Your answer

Welcome to Unity Answers

Follow this Question

Related Questions