Drawing an arrow like this

[simone007]

Can you suggest me a way to draw an arrow like the one shown in the attached screenshot?
The idea is to be able to draw an arrow with a different lenght (depending on its starting/ending points).

Thanks!

[Maker16]

Off the top of my head, I’d use an image of the arrow head for the arrow head, and then use a line renderer with a square texture that matches the arrowhead style to handle the tail of the arrow. That way, you can use a little math to calculate the curve from the tip of the tail to where the line meets the arrow head.

[simone007]

@""

Off the top of my head, I’d use an image of the arrow head for the arrow head, and then use a line renderer with a square texture that matches the arrowhead style to handle the tail of the arrow. That way, you can use a little math to calculate the curve from the tip of the tail to where the line meets the arrow head.

Your suggestion is nice, but I think I cannot merge the line renderer with a texture, because the Unity engine draws the line renderer in an unpredictable way (its not flat like a texture)

[anon_76996076]

Perhaps a billboard? On an unrelated note, what’s that game in the screenshot? Call me crazy but it looks like Civilization 5.

[anon_67940662]

A neat option if you can get the look right would be to create a plane with many segments. Then use a basic arrow texture and warp the UVs in the middle of the plane upwards. You may have to tinker with the Arrow to get it looking correctly downwards. It’d be dependent on playing with the algorithm and getting something that looks just right.

[anon_69917618]

Here’s another option, off the top of my head:

1. in an art program, create a high-resolution picture of a curving arrow like that with a transparent background
2. bring it into Unity
3. put it on a plane
4. make it a prefab
5. when you need it in the game, instantiate the prefab, scale it accordingly (based on the distance from the starting point to the ending point of the arrow-arch), and rotate it accordingly too

[bigkahuna]

I’d model the arched arrow in 3D. That way it will be resolution independent and you won’t have to worry about jaggies if you scale / stretch it. I used a similar technique for a screen cursor that had to move around the 3d view, I thought it came out perfectly, The challenge for your application will be to use enough polys to keep it smooth looking while keeping its overhead low.

[simone007]

@""

Perhaps a billboard? On an unrelated note, what’s that game in the screenshot? Call me crazy but it looks like Civilization 5.

Exactly! It’s a preview screenshot of CIV 5… btw it should be a great game

[simone007]

@""

Here’s another option, off the top of my head:

1. in an art program, create a high-resolution picture of a curving arrow like that with a transparent background
2. bring it into Unity
3. put it on a plane
4. make it a prefab
5. when you need it in the game, instantiate the prefab, scale it accordingly (based on the distance from the starting point to the ending point of the arrow-arch), and rotate it accordingly too

Nice idea… i tried it but it has the problem that the plane has no witdh, so the arrow may disappear or be too thin at certain angles

[simone007]

@""

I’d model the arched arrow in 3D. That way it will be resolution independent and you won’t have to worry about jaggies if you scale / stretch it. I used a similar technique for a screen cursor that had to move around the 3d view, I thought it came out perfectly, The challenge for your application will be to use enough polys to keep it smooth looking while keeping its overhead low.

This solution is more complicated for me because I have no 3d modeling skills… but I like it.
Can you share a screenshot of your cursor? I would really like to see it in action