Side Scrolling Camera

Script for simple side scrolling camera. Attach the script to your main camera.

var Target : Transform;

function Update () {
transform.position = Target.position + Vector3(0, 0, -3);

}

Animation in Unity

A tutorial video on how to animate in unity:

Useful Unity Links

Script reference
http://unity3d.com/support/documentation/ScriptReference/index.html

Video Tutorials
http://unity3d.com/support/documentation/video/

Unity User Manual
http://unity3d.com/support/documentation/Manual/index.html

Moving Rigid Body Objects

The following script will allow you to move objects set up as rigid bodys. Attach this script to your character, and any object which has the rigid body component added can me moved.

// this script pushes all rigidbodies that the character touches
var pushPower = 2.0;
var objectName;

function OnControllerColliderHit (hit : ControllerColliderHit) {
var body : Rigidbody = hit.collider.attachedRigidbody;
// no rigidbody
if (body == null || body.isKinematic)
return;

// We dont want to push objects below us
if (hit.moveDirection.y < -0.3)
return;

// Calculate push direction from move direction,
// we only push objects to the sides never up and down
var pushDir : Vector3 = Vector3 (hit.moveDirection.x, 0, hit.moveDirection.z);

// If you know how fast your character is trying to move,
// then you can also multiply the push velocity by that.

// Apply the push
body.velocity = pushDir * pushPower;

}

Setting up Lerpz

ADDING LERPZ TO YOUR LEVEL
Drag the Lerpz asset from your project folder into your Hierarchy folder.

SCRIPTING LERPZ
The scripts we will use to animate and move Lerpz around your level are already in the Project window. Drag the following scripts onto the Lerpz asset in the Hierarchy folder. Scripts > Player > ThirdPersonController and also Scripts > Player > ThirdPersonPlayerAnimation

Now we add the camera script to the MainCamera asset. To create a new script select the create drop down menu from the top of the project window, and select JavaScript. A new asset will appear in your Project window called NewBehaviourScript highlight this new script and then select edit in the Inspector window. Copy and paste the following script into the text editor:


/*
This camera smoothes out rotation around the y-axis and height.
Horizontal Distance to the target is always fixed.
There are many different ways to smooth the rotation but doing it this way gives you a lot of control over how the camera behaves.
For every of those smoothed values we calculate the wanted value and the current value.
Then we smooth it using the Lerp function.
Then we apply the smoothed values to the transform's position.
*/

// The target we are following
var target : Transform;
// The distance in the x-z plane to the target
var distance = 10.0;
// the height we want the camera to be above the target
var height = 5.0;
// How much we
var heightDamping = 2.0;
var rotationDamping = 3.0;



function LateUpdate () {
// Early out if we don't have a target
if (!target)
return;

// Calculate the current rotation angles
wantedRotationAngle = target.eulerAngles.y;
wantedHeight = target.position.y + height;

currentRotationAngle = transform.eulerAngles.y;
currentHeight = transform.position.y;

// Damp the rotation around the y-axis
currentRotationAngle = Mathf.LerpAngle (currentRotationAngle, wantedRotationAngle, rotationDamping * Time.deltaTime);

// Damp the height
currentHeight = Mathf.Lerp (currentHeight, wantedHeight, heightDamping * Time.deltaTime);

// Convert the angle into a rotation
currentRotation = Quaternion.Euler (0, currentRotationAngle, 0);

// Set the position of the camera on the x-z plane to:
// distance meters behind the target
transform.position = target.position;
transform.position -= currentRotation * Vector3.forward * distance;

// Set the height of the camera
transform.position.y = currentHeight;

// Always look at the target
transform.LookAt (target);
}


Save the script and then drag it onto the Main Camera asset in the hierachy window. Highlight the main camera asset and the drag the Lerpz asset onto the target section to set what the camera is going to follow.

Unity Cube Game Project

The following posts are designed to help my students with the Cube Game project at Stafford College.

STARTING YOUR GAME LEVEL
For this project we are going to use the Lerpz character available on the unity website, to start your game download the Lerpz tutorial from http://unity3d.com/support/resources/tutorials/3d-platform-game then open the scene "thegame" in unity and select new scene. This allows us to use all the scripts and models used in the Lerpz tutorial.

External Light Mapping Problems

When using the free edition of Unity 3D there are no dynamic shadows available and so you can create light maps in external 3D software such as Maya or 3DS Max.

Unity External Lightmapping Tool from ranza on Vimeo.

Error:
When following the video guide I get the following error when setting up the export list, to be lightmapped in 3ds max. This error persists even when I return to 3ds max and check that the Unwrap UVW has normals checked.....

Hopefully I will sort this out and post the solution shortly.









Test One:
Simple Primatives with no materials applied. When importing into unity and the setting export list for external light mapping the box is OK and will export but the sphere will not.





Test Two:
A slightly more complicated model again with no materials applied.

Introduction and Synopsis

This blog has been set up for National Diploma students on the BTEC Interactive Media course at Stafford College, in order to aid them with their Games Design option. I will strat to learn how to use the Unity 3D Game Engine and post any problems and solutions that i find during the construction of a simple game.