Character Rotation | Godot Engine | Page 1

brittle orchid Jul 17, 2024, 12:20 AM

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How do i rotate my character based on direction of movement?

stone ruin Jul 17, 2024, 12:49 AM

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First you define a Vector2 and call it something like "facingDirection" and initialize it looking at the right.
Then, after the part of the code where you register player input, check the angle between that two vectors. If it's bigger than a certain value, rotate the character, else make it translate

brittle orchid Jul 17, 2024, 12:50 AM

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its a 3D third person game btw

stone ruin Jul 17, 2024, 12:50 AM

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Ah and don't forget to update "facingDirection" if the character rotates

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I have 0 experience with 3D sorry

brittle orchid Jul 17, 2024, 12:51 AM

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oh np

arctic carbon Jul 17, 2024, 12:59 AM

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From what I remember, if you can get the movement direction somehow, rotation.y = atan(move_dir.x, move_dir.z) will make the node's rotation so that it faces in that direction.

Maybe you can take velocity and normalize it and feed it in there.
You'll also need to check that the movement direction isn't Vector3.ZERO (standing still) or it'll throw an error.

brittle orchid Jul 17, 2024, 1:10 AM

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arctic carbon From what I remember, if you can get the movement direction somehow, ``rotation....

im totally new to this so i cant understand lol, can i give you my script + more details in DM to help me? its fine if you dont want to

arctic carbon Jul 17, 2024, 1:19 AM

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brittle orchid im totally new to this so i cant understand lol, can i give you my script + more...

You could try putting these in _physics_process:

if movement_direction != Vector3.ZERO:
   rotation.y = atan2(movement_direction.x, movement_direction.z)```

I'm not 100% sure it works, but I feel like it should.

brittle orchid Jul 17, 2024, 1:23 AM

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arctic carbon You could try putting these in _physics_process: ```var movement_direction: Vect...

Too many arguments for "atan()" call. Expected at most 1 but received 2.

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let me try atan2

arctic carbon Jul 17, 2024, 1:23 AM

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Oh yeah it's atan2 sorry my bad
I'll edit it

brittle orchid Jul 17, 2024, 1:25 AM

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arctic carbon Oh yeah it's atan2 sorry my bad I'll edit it

its rotating but everything is like messed up

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movement and all that

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should i give you script?

arctic carbon Jul 17, 2024, 1:26 AM

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Ahh yeah. the rotation.y part rotates whatever node the script it's on.

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So if you give it some_other_node.rotate... etc etc it'll rotate that instead.

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Depending on how your character is structured you might not want to rotate everything

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You can put the script here sure

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If we are lucky somebody smarter than me jumps in, too

brittle orchid Jul 17, 2024, 1:29 AM

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var mouse_sensitivity := 0.001
var twist_input := 0.0
var pitch_input := 0.0

@onready var twist_pivot := $TwistPivot
@onready var pitch_pivot := $TwistPivot/PitchPivot
@onready var animation_tree := $AnimationTree

var acceleration = 120.0

func _ready() -> void:
    Input.set_mouse_mode(Input.MOUSE_MODE_CAPTURED)

func _process(delta: float) -> void:
    var input = Vector3.ZERO
    input.x = Input.get_axis("left", "right")
    input.z = Input.get_axis("forward", "back")
    
    var direction = twist_pivot.basis * input
    if direction.length() > 0:
        velocity = direction.normalized() * acceleration * delta
    else:
        velocity = velocity.move_toward(Vector3.ZERO, acceleration * delta)
    
    move_and_slide()
    
    if Input.is_action_just_pressed("ui_cancel"):
        Input.set_mouse_mode(Input.MOUSE_MODE_VISIBLE)
        
    twist_pivot.rotate_y(twist_input)
    pitch_pivot.rotate_x(pitch_input)
    pitch_pivot.rotation.x = clamp(pitch_pivot.rotation.x, 
        deg_to_rad(-50), 
        deg_to_rad(20)
    )
    twist_input = 0.0
    pitch_input = 0.0
    
    var movement_direction: Vector3 = velocity.normalized()
    if movement_direction != Vector3.ZERO:
        rotation.y = atan2(movement_direction.x, movement_direction.z)
    
    animation_tree.set("parameters/conditions/idle", input == Vector3.ZERO)
    animation_tree.set("parameters/conditions/walk", input != Vector3.ZERO)
    

func _unhandled_input(event: InputEvent) -> void:
    if event is InputEventMouseMotion:
        if Input.get_mouse_mode() == Input.MOUSE_MODE_CAPTURED:
            twist_input = - event.relative.x * mouse_sensitivity
            pitch_input = - event.relative.y * mouse_sensitivity

brittle orchid Jul 17, 2024, 1:30 AM

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arctic carbon If we are lucky somebody smarter than me jumps in, too

u can do it, ur very smart

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i dont think we need anybody else : )

arctic carbon Jul 17, 2024, 1:33 AM

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What if you add func _physics_process(): and put the code I gave inside it instead? Right now it's inside _process.

brittle orchid Jul 17, 2024, 1:33 AM

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okay ill try that

arctic carbon Jul 17, 2024, 1:33 AM

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I don't guarantee it changes much, but it'll then be synchronized with the physics system if nothing else.

brittle orchid Jul 17, 2024, 1:34 AM

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seems same

arctic carbon Jul 17, 2024, 1:37 AM

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Weird, maybe rotating the node is messing with the other nodes somehow, you seem to have all these twist pivots and stuff. Hm.

brittle orchid Jul 17, 2024, 1:38 AM

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arctic carbon Jul 17, 2024, 1:38 AM

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Oh I see

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You could also try just having it rotate the visual part (armature) in case rotating the characterbody itself is breaking things.

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It will probably face backwards if it works, though. Haha

brittle orchid Jul 17, 2024, 1:40 AM

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lol

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what if i seperate camera3D?

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with its script

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i mean if it works can u help me code camera3d lol

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or idk u tell any solutions

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im stuck on this for hours lol

arctic carbon Jul 17, 2024, 1:43 AM

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I think it might work if you just export a variable for the Armature and do something like armature.rotation.y where it now says just rotation.y

brittle orchid Jul 17, 2024, 1:43 AM

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okay ill try

brittle orchid Jul 17, 2024, 1:47 AM

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arctic carbon I think it might work if you just export a variable for the Armature and do some...

u were right its worked but facing backwards

arctic carbon Jul 17, 2024, 1:47 AM

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Haha

brittle orchid Jul 17, 2024, 1:48 AM

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xD

arctic carbon Jul 17, 2024, 1:48 AM

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Godot uses different forward directino for ndoes and meshes so you sometimes get 'em backwards like that. Happened to me before

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Maybe you can just multiply the rotation by * -1 to reverse it

brittle orchid Jul 17, 2024, 1:49 AM

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arctic carbon Maybe you can just multiply the rotation by ``* -1`` to reverse it

where should i write that?

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sorry im totally new to this lol

arctic carbon Jul 17, 2024, 1:50 AM

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rotation.y = (atan2(movement_direction.x, movement_direction.z)) * -1

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er armature.rotation

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but yea jsut wrap it inside () and add * -1 and it will multiply the rotation by -1. Math stuff.

brittle orchid Jul 17, 2024, 1:51 AM

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arctic carbon ``rotation.y = (atan2(movement_direction.x, movement_direction.z)) * -1``

its now behaving differently

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wait

arctic carbon Jul 17, 2024, 1:51 AM

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I'm kinda bad at math so I'm not entirely sure if that's right yea

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Sometimes jsut makign a rotation negative by making it have a minus sign in front can change results in a good way too

brittle orchid Jul 17, 2024, 1:52 AM

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ye

brittle orchid Jul 17, 2024, 1:52 AM

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arctic carbon ``rotation.y = (atan2(movement_direction.x, movement_direction.z)) * -1``

i did exactly like that

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behaving differently

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i dont know how to explain lol so should i make a video of it so you can understand clearly?

arctic carbon Jul 17, 2024, 1:54 AM

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It might be turning as a mirror, like inverted in a way

brittle orchid Jul 17, 2024, 1:54 AM

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brittle orchid Jul 17, 2024, 1:54 AM

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arctic carbon It might be turning as a mirror, like inverted in a way

wait ill show u

arctic carbon Jul 17, 2024, 1:54 AM

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Okay

brittle orchid Jul 17, 2024, 1:56 AM

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arctic carbon Okay

uh i gotta download screen recorder first sry lol

arctic carbon Jul 17, 2024, 1:57 AM

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If the non-reversed one was working (but backwards) I think you could also just add a minus in front of "move_direction" so that it's actually facing opposite of move direction.

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Though if you do you probably wanna rename that var lol, since it'll be the opposite of mvoement direction...

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I just tested it in my own game... I know what you mean now

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Doing * -1 on the atan2 makes it entirely mirrored, whoops.

brittle orchid Jul 17, 2024, 2:02 AM

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oh

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arctic carbon Jul 17, 2024, 2:04 AM

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Try armature.rotation.y = atan2(-1 * movement_direction.x, -1 * movement_direction.z)

brittle orchid Jul 17, 2024, 2:04 AM

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-movement_direction.z

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this worked

arctic carbon Jul 17, 2024, 2:04 AM

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Or that

brittle orchid Jul 17, 2024, 2:04 AM

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thank you

arctic carbon Jul 17, 2024, 2:04 AM

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Either one should work

brittle orchid Jul 17, 2024, 2:04 AM

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but not smooth

arctic carbon Jul 17, 2024, 2:05 AM

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Yeah 3d characters look super janky when rotated instantly

brittle orchid Jul 17, 2024, 2:05 AM

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anything to fix them?

arctic carbon Jul 17, 2024, 2:07 AM

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You can lerp angles lerp_angle(armature.rotation.y, THE FACE DIRECTION YOU WANT, delta * LERPING SPEED)
I put examples just in caps there lol

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I think you could modify the script so that instead of applying that rotation immediately you store it in a var

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Then lerp to it over time

brittle orchid Jul 17, 2024, 2:11 AM

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please tell me what to write where 🥲

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and btw

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the camera isnt free

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like i cant freely move the camera while moving

arctic carbon Jul 17, 2024, 2:12 AM

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Yeah sure. lerp means linear interpolation. It basically smoothly moves a value from one point to another.
Can you paste the part of the code in _physics_process?
I'd rather have the exact same version you have before I try modifying it

brittle orchid Jul 17, 2024, 2:13 AM

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arctic carbon Jul 17, 2024, 2:14 AM

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Ah yeah I'm not sure aboit twist pivots ... I've actually never used them.

brittle orchid Jul 17, 2024, 2:14 AM

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arctic carbon Yeah sure. lerp means linear interpolation. It basically smoothly moves a value ...

do u mean this ? lerp_angle(armature.rotation.y, THE FACE DIRECTION YOU WANT, delta * LERPING SPEED)

arctic carbon Jul 17, 2024, 2:15 AM

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I meant the whole physics_rpocess thing, but I think I have a good guess on how exactly it looks atm

brittle orchid Jul 17, 2024, 2:16 AM

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    var movement_direction: Vector3 = velocity.normalized()
    if movement_direction != Vector3.ZERO:
        armature.rotation.y = (atan2(movement_direction.x, -movement_direction.z)) * -1 
        lerp_angle(armature.rotation.y, 1, delta * 1)```

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how do i write this lerp thing bro

arctic carbon Jul 17, 2024, 2:20 AM

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    var movement_direction: Vector3 = velocity.normalized()
    if movement_direction != Vector3.ZERO:
        var final_rotation_target = (atan2(movement_direction.x, -movement_direction.z)) * -1 
        armature.rotation.y = lerp_angle(armature.rotation.y, final_rotation_target, delta * 20.0)```

I haven't tested it, I'm not 100% sure if that ``final_rotation_target`` part needs to be stored somehow.

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In my game I jsut had 2 nodes, one rotates isntantly and the one with the armature lerps after it's rotation.

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Edited, sorry I left one of the 1s in there by accident

brittle orchid Jul 17, 2024, 2:22 AM

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np

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thank you!! its much better now

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one more thing, it rotates very fast when we press any movement button

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wait

arctic carbon Jul 17, 2024, 2:25 AM

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Yeah and you probably figured but the 20.0 is the speed it turns the mesh at

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I mean armature but yeah models/meshes following armature

brittle orchid Jul 17, 2024, 2:26 AM

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oh

arctic carbon Jul 17, 2024, 2:28 AM

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You could make the 20.0 into a var or just fiddle with it directly.
I made the character in my game turn super fast but just slow enough that it doesn't look super janky

brittle orchid Jul 17, 2024, 2:28 AM

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ye thanks

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i did 10.0 it looks pretty nice

arctic carbon Jul 17, 2024, 2:28 AM

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Yea 10.0 probably nicer in a more realistic style game

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I have one warning I learned the hard way btw

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Lerping the mdoels liek that looks fine. But if oyu ever lerp like a uh... real rotation

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And you want the character shooting stuff in the rotation

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It can make controls feel really bad, because it will fire in the direction the armature is facing atm.

brittle orchid Jul 17, 2024, 2:30 AM

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oh

arctic carbon Jul 17, 2024, 2:30 AM

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That's why I use thei sntant one for facing for actual attacks and jsut lerp the armature for visuals

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I just made my "real facing" a separate child node because all the rotations made my head hurt.
There's probably osme smarter way to handle it all but I liek keeping things easy

brittle orchid Jul 17, 2024, 2:31 AM

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i saw one tutorial he did seperate script for camera3d and and it wasnt under character, he made it what i want but it was too buggy and too bad so i didnt do that

brittle orchid Jul 17, 2024, 2:31 AM

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arctic carbon I just made my "real facing" a separate child node because all the rotations mad...

hmm

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i want free camera while moving, but ig we cant do that with this

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but honestly rn it looks much better

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even for free camera too

arctic carbon Jul 17, 2024, 2:35 AM

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As for the camera. I used a free add-on called PhantomCamera for my game.
It has bit of a learning curve... and in current version it's very jittery when above 60FPS because of a feature that isn't in Godot yet.
But I just didn't want to do all the math involved with good cameras.

So I can't help with that... but I'm glad your dude is rotating now.

brittle orchid Jul 17, 2024, 2:35 AM

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so i dont need it rn

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not planning to make like those action games so ig we're good

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@arctic carbonthank you so much bro, you helped me a lot. can i disturb you again if i want more help later sometime? ( im just started and im so noob so obv i would need more help lol sry)

arctic carbon Jul 17, 2024, 2:39 AM

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I'm often focused on something. But I read newbie threads pretty often. Quick-help ch, too.

brittle orchid Jul 17, 2024, 2:41 AM

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arctic carbon I'm often focused on something. But I read newbie threads pretty often. Quick-he...

don't worry im gonna ask first if you're free, can i add you ?

arctic carbon Jul 17, 2024, 2:42 AM

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No offense but I don't really want people DMing me. We cool, though!

#Character Rotation