Make rotation smooth

Unity Engine
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1

i’m making a game with pretty simple controls, player moves diagonally, clicking changes the direction

if (Input.GetMouseButtonDown(0))
{
    direction *= -1;
    transform.rotation = Quaternion.Euler(0, 0, direction * 45);
}

no problems with that, was just wondering how to smooth out the rotation instead of having it just snap into place

2

When clicking the mouse button, instead of setting the new rotation to transform.rotation, store it in a custom variable, say targetRotation. Then in the same Update() method, but outside the Input.GetMoustButtonDown scope, you can rotate towards the target rotation like this:

transform.rotation = Quaternion.RotateTowards(transform.rotation, targetRotation, smootheningSpeed * Time.deltaTime);

(where smootheningSpeed is a constant float value that you set, pick a number that feels smooth for you)

3

And generally we call this “lerping” or “interpolating”, ie changing a value over time. There are typically two kinds of methods: Lerp (linear interpolation) and Slerp (spherical interpolation). You’ll find these in the Quaternion, Vector and Mathf classes for instance.

4

Smoothing the change between any two particular values:

You have currentQuantity and desiredQuantity.

  • only set desiredQuantity
  • the code always moves currentQuantity towards desiredQuantity
  • read currentQuantity for the smoothed value

Works for floats, Vectors, Colors, Quaternions, anything continuous or lerp-able.

The code: SmoothMovement.cs · GitHub

Another approach would be to use a tweening package such as LeanTween, DOTween or iTween.

OR… just make a simple canned animation… No code needed!