Problems rotating back to zero

Questions & Answers
1

Hi.

I recently created a script that made the player lean with middle mouse click and drag. The problem that appears, is that the player does not rotate back to zero (on the Z axis). It rotates closer to 0, but still far from it. I get a different number every time.

Here is the script causing this problem (sorry for the length):

var leaning : boolean = false;
var maximumLeft : float = -30;
var maximumRight : float = 30;
var currRotationZ : float = 0;
var rotationSpeed : float = -5;
var backToZeroSpeed : float = 2;
var smoothDampVelocity : float;
var maxSpeed : float = 5;
var mouseLookObj1 : Transform;
var mouseLookObj2 : Transform;

function Update () {
	if(Input.GetMouseButton(2)){
		leaning = true;
		if(mouseLookObj1){
			mouseLookObj1.GetComponent(MouseLook).enabled = false;
		}
		if(mouseLookObj2){
			mouseLookObj2.GetComponent(MouseLook).enabled = false;
		}
		
		currRotationZ += Input.GetAxis("Mouse X") * rotationSpeed;
		currRotationZ = Mathf.Clamp(currRotationZ, maximumLeft, maximumRight);
		
		transform.localEulerAngles.z = currRotationZ;
	}if(!Input.GetMouseButton(2)){		
		leaning = false;
		if(mouseLookObj1){
			mouseLookObj1.GetComponent(MouseLook).enabled = true;
		}
		if(mouseLookObj2){
			mouseLookObj2.GetComponent(MouseLook).enabled = true;
		}	
	}if(!leaning){
		currRotationZ = Mathf.SmoothDamp(currRotationZ, 0, smoothDampVelocity, backToZeroSpeed);
		transform.rotation.z = Mathf.SmoothDamp(transform.rotation.z, 0, smoothDampVelocity, backToZeroSpeed);
	}
}

Thanks,

Luka.

2

Don’t modify transform.rotation.z in your last line, that’s a component of a Quaternion and has nothing to do with the Z axis. Use transform.localEulerAngles.z, as you did above.

3

You must not change transform.rotation.z directly like you’re doing in the last line! transform.rotation is a quaternion, and its XYZ components are not the fancy angles you see in the field Rotation in the Inspector - those are actually the localEulerAngles.

Maybe changing transform.rotation.z in the last line to transform.localEulerAngles.z makes it work - but not so well, because setting localEulerAngles individually may produce “rotation leakage”, and after some time your object is tilted at weird angles.