xbox360controller: rotate object based on angle of analog stick

Questions & Answers
1

Help?!

I am trying to get an object to rotate appropriately based on the angle of the analog stick. I am facing an issue where the angle is outputting at very strict 0/90 degrees and only in the upper and right quadrants.

Once the angle is calculated properly, it is my intention to have rotation of my gun transform match. I believe I need a Quaternion for this.

This is for a simple 2D-plane game using the 3D toolset. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

// ROTATE A GUN OBJECT AROUND THE Z-AXIS
		// BASED ON THE ANGLE OF THE RIGHT ANALOG STICK
		float x = Input.GetAxis ("R_analog_horz");
		float y = Input.GetAxis ("R_analog_vert");
		float aim_angle;

		// CANCEL ALL INPUT BELOW THIS FLOAT
		float R_analog_threshold = 0.30f;
		if (x < Mathf.Abs (R_analog_threshold)) {
			x=0.0f;
		}
		if (y < Mathf.Abs (R_analog_threshold)) {
			y=0.0f;
		}

		// USED TO CHECK OUTPUT
		Debug.Log(" horz: " + x + " vert: " + y);

		// CALCULATE ANGLE AND ROTATE
		if (x != 0.0f || y != 0.0f) {
				aim_angle = Mathf.Atan2 (y, x) * Mathf.Rad2Deg;
				// USED TO CHECK OUTPUT
				Debug.Log ("angle: " + aim_angle);

			// SIMPLE TEST TO CHECK IF OBJECT IS REFERENCED PROPERLY
			// WILL BE REPLACED WITH A FUNCTIONING ROTATE WHEN ANGLE
			// (AROUND Z-AXIS) IS FIGURED OUT
			gun_test.transform.Rotate ( new Vector3(0, y, x) );
		}
2

Your logic on lines 9 and 12 is wrong. It should be:

if (Mathf.Abs(x) < R_analog_threshold) {
    x = 0.0f;
}

if (Mathf.Abs(y) < R_analog_threshold) {
    y = 0.0f;
}

While it is probably okay, I never like direct comparisons between floats. So change line 20 to:

  if (x >= R_analog_threshold || y >= R_analog_threshold) {

Transform.Rotate() is a relative rotation, so unless you reset the rotation each time the object is rotated, you want to do something else. If this is a 2D game, make sure the right side of your object is considered front when the rotation is (0,0,0), then do:

 gun_test.transform.rotation = Quaternion.AngleAxis(aim_angle, Vector3.forward);
3

Thak you very much. For reference, the final code ended up being.

		// ROTATE A GUN OBJECT AROUND THE Z-AXIS
		// BASED ON THE ANGLE OF THE RIGHT ANALOG STICK
		float x = Input.GetAxis ("R_analog_horz");
		float y = Input.GetAxis ("R_analog_vert");
		float aim_angle = 0.0f;
		bool aiming_right = false;
		bool aiming_up = false;
		// USED TO CHECK OUTPUT
		//Debug.Log(" horz: " + x + "   vert: " + y);

		// CANCEL ALL INPUT BELOW THIS FLOAT
		float R_analog_threshold = 0.20f;

		if (Mathf.Abs(x) < R_analog_threshold) {x = 0.0f;} 

		if (Mathf.Abs(y) < R_analog_threshold) {y = 0.0f;} 

		// CALCULATE ANGLE AND ROTATE
		if (x != 0.0f || y != 0.0f) {

			aim_angle = Mathf.Atan2(y, x) * Mathf.Rad2Deg;

							// ANGLE GUN
			gun_test.transform.rotation = Quaternion.AngleAxis(aim_angle, Vector3.forward);
		}
4

The way you’re handling the threshold seems like it’d cause some jumpiness. It’s better to combine both axis.

float? getStickAngle()
{
    float vertical = Input.GetAxis("Vertical");
    float horizontal = Input.GetAxis("Horizontal");

    float magnitudeish = Mathf.Abs(vertical) + Mathf.Abs(horizontal); // less intense than Vector2(horizontal, vertical).magnitude
    if (magnitudeish < R_analog_threshold) // inside deadzone
        return null;

    return Mathf.Atan2(horizontal, -vertical) * Mathf.Rad2Deg;
}