Hey folks, I spent a little bit of time working on this script to create a laser beam effect. You can attach a particle system to it to create some sparks at contact point. I suggest placing the script in an empty game object that is aligned with your weapon so it rotates with it.
You can see the effect here:
//This is free to use and no attribution is required
//No warranty is implied or given
using UnityEngine;
using System.Collections;
[RequireComponent (typeof(LineRenderer))]
public class LaserBeam : MonoBehaviour {
public float laserWidth = 1.0f;
public float noise = 1.0f;
public float maxLength = 50.0f;
public Color color = Color.red;
LineRenderer lineRenderer;
int length;
Vector3[] position;
//Cache any transforms here
Transform myTransform;
Transform endEffectTransform;
//The particle system, in this case sparks which will be created by the Laser
public ParticleSystem endEffect;
Vector3 offset;
// Use this for initialization
void Start () {
lineRenderer = GetComponent<LineRenderer>();
lineRenderer.SetWidth(laserWidth, laserWidth);
myTransform = transform;
offset = new Vector3(0,0,0);
endEffect = GetComponentInChildren<ParticleSystem>();
if(endEffect)
endEffectTransform = endEffect.transform;
}
// Update is called once per frame
void Update () {
RenderLaser();
}
void RenderLaser(){
//Shoot our laserbeam forwards!
UpdateLength();
lineRenderer.SetColors(color,color);
//Move through the Array
for(int i = 0; i<length; i++){
//Set the position here to the current location and project it in the forward direction of the object it is attached to
offset.x =myTransform.position.x+i*myTransform.forward.x+Random.Range(-noise,noise);
offset.z =i*myTransform.forward.z+Random.Range(-noise,noise)+myTransform.position.z;
position[i] = offset;
position[0] = myTransform.position;
lineRenderer.SetPosition(i, position[i]);
}
}
void UpdateLength(){
//Raycast from the location of the cube forwards
RaycastHit[] hit;
hit = Physics.RaycastAll(myTransform.position, myTransform.forward, maxLength);
int i = 0;
while(i < hit.Length){
//Check to make sure we aren't hitting triggers but colliders
if(!hit[i].collider.isTrigger)
{
length = (int)Mathf.Round(hit[i].distance)+2;
position = new Vector3[length];
//Move our End Effect particle system to the hit point and start playing it
if(endEffect){
endEffectTransform.position = hit[i].point;
if(!endEffect.isPlaying)
endEffect.Play();
}
lineRenderer.SetVertexCount(length);
return;
}
i++;
}
//If we're not hitting anything, don't play the particle effects
if(endEffect){
if(endEffect.isPlaying)
endEffect.Stop();
}
length = (int)maxLength;
position = new Vector3[length];
lineRenderer.SetVertexCount(length);
}
}
