What is the advantage of using the MovePosition function of a Rigidbody2D as opposed to using Transform.Translate?

Questions & Answers
1

I was trying to create my own physics(gravity and collisions etc) in a 2D platformer game I was making on Unity without a Rigidbody and I thought it would be okay to use the transform.Translate function to make the Player seem as if it was being subjected to gravity. I would use Raycasts in order to detect collisions etc.

However it was suggested to me that it would be better to add a Kinematic Rigidbody to the Player game object and then use the MovePosition function instead. However they would not specify the exact reason why this is better than using transform.Translate? They said that if I used the transform.Translate function it would cause the collider of the Player to be “completely recreated each time I modified the transform”.

Can anyone help me understand what is meant by this? I don’t understand what is meant by a game object being “recreated” each time it’s transform is being modified.

Kind regards

2

Well, the main difference is that transform.Translate is moving something while ignoring physics, and RidigBody.MovePosition attempts to move something by calculating forces by it’s own.

Regarding the “recreated” and stuff, in general, it’s a bit advanced knowledge on how Unity works and system-friendly operations. You shouldn’t put too much effort to understand it because you don’t need to.

When attempting to create a physics based game, you have to use only physics based functions. That’s what whoever was advising you meant. Otherwise, it could lead to a rather funny game, which can also be an option… But it will be created by accident.