RAYCASTING

PUBLISHED: 10/06/2023

CONTENTS

SECTIONS

• Introduction to Raycasting

  • Syntax & Parameters

    • Basic Parameters

    • Advanced Parameters

KEYWORDS

• Raycast --> a physics function that casts a ray into the scene from the point of origin, in a specified direction, of a length of maxDistance, against all colliders

• Origin --> A raycast parameter | Vector3 variable representing the starting point of the ray in world coordinates

• Direction --> A raycast parameter | Vector3 variable representing the direction of the raycast

• maxDistance --> A raycast parameter | a float variable representing the max distance the raycast should check for collisions

• Raycast Hit --> A raycast parameter | A struct that will contain information about the raycast collision within they variable hitInfo

• Layer Mask --> A raycast parameter | A struct that specifies which layers to use in a raycast

• queryTriggerInteraction --> a raycast parameter | an enumeration that specifics whether the raycast should hit triggers or not

• Ray --> a raycast parameter | a struct that holds 3 variables to define a raycast (Origin, Direction, maxDistance)

GAME BASED EXAMPLES

• Color Change via Mouse Click
• Color Change via Mouse Click with Multiple Objects
• Click to Instantiate
• Stop Falling Above Floor
• Click to Move

INTRODUCTION TO RAYCASTING

Raycast is a physics function that casts a ray into the scene from the point of origin, in a specified direction, of a length of maxDistance, against all colliders.

Raycasts returns a bool variable on whether or not the ray hit any colliders.

SYNTAX & PARAMETERS

physics.Raycast()

There are 16 different variations of the Raycast declaration, all containing the following parameters...

BASIC PARAMETERS

• Origin --> The starting point of the ray in world coordinates | VECTOR3

• Direction --> The direction of the ray | VECTOR3

• maxDistance --> The max distance the ray should check for collisions | Float

bool didHit = Physics.Raycast(transform.position, Vector3.forward, 10);

The above line of code creates a raycast that starts at the position of the attached gameobject and casts a ray 10 units forward. If the ray hits another collider, the bool value didHit is true, else false.

ADVANCED PARAMETERS

Click each parameter to learn more...

• RaycastHit <hitInfo> --> If true is returned, hitInfo will contain more information about where the closest collider was hit | Struct
• layerMask --> a Layer mask that is used to selectively ignore colliders when casting a ray | Struct
• queryTriggerInteraction --> Specifies whether this query should hit triggers | Enumeration
• Ray --> The starting point and direction of the ray | Struct