Essentials Series/Springboard Tutorial: Difference between revisions

A vector is a collection of numbers that usually represent something. In this case, we have 3 numbers, X, Y, and Z, and they represent the direction you will be sent upon hitting the Springboard. What 'Normalized' means is that each of the 3 values is any decimal number between and including -1 to 1, and in this application of the vector, the value indicates the strength of the force being applied along that axis. For example, setting 'DirectionX' to 1 means that the Springboard will apply as much force as possible to send you to the right, and if 'DirectionY' and 'DirectionZ' are set to 0, you will go to the right with no conflicting force after bouncing on the Springboard. For another example, if you were to set 'DirectionX' to -1 and 'DirectionY' to 0.3, but leave 'DirectionZ' at 0, the resulting vector would be trying very hard to purely move you to the left from the negative 1 DirectionX value, but it would also apply exactly 30% upward force from the positive 0.3 DirectionY, and no force whatsoever depth-wise from the zero DirectionZ value. A good way to understand this concept is to [https://academo.org/demos/3d-vector-plotter/ visualize it with the help of a tool.] Using the provided tool, set the Red vector value to (0,0,0) so it can be ignored and then set the Blue vector's 3 values to any decimal numbers between and including -1 to 1, then clicking the 'Draw' button to refresh the render on the left of the value entry pane, making sure to observe how your entry affects the direction of the line, possibly even testing the extremes like (1,1,1) or (-1,-1,-1). Once you have the line looking like the direction you want to send the player in, you can use the 3 values of the Blue vector directly as the DirectionX, DirectionY, and DirectionZ values of the Springboard. Since it can be such a delicate set of decimals you end up with to angle it just right, I recommend referring to visualizers like this instead of educated guessing at values in most cases, the exceptions being memorized vectors from doing this sort of thing a lot.