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## combining strafe and walk?

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### #1cozzie  Members

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Posted 03 January 2014 - 01:48 PM

Hi all,

I've noticed that in my camera movement, when the camera/ player both walks forward/backward and strafes, the camera moves twice the amount as it should. At least that's what I think.

Below the code I'm using right now.

I have 2 questions:

- is my assumption correct that with the approach below, moving forward/backward + strafe at the same time, moves the camera/player twice the amount it should

- my approach to fix this, would be to check if the keys for both moving forward/backward and strafe and down, and if so, call a separate/ new function, moving the camera for strafe/ moving at once (if both keys down), if else only one etc.

What do you think?

			if(_dinput.KeyDown(DIK_W)) _player.SetPosition(_d3dcam.MoveForwardBackward(_timer.GetDelta() * _player.GetWalkSpeed()));
if(_dinput.KeyDown(DIK_S)) _player.SetPosition(_d3dcam.MoveForwardBackward(_timer.GetDelta() * -_player.GetWalkSpeed()));

if(_dinput.KeyDown(DIK_A)) _player.SetPosition(_d3dcam.MoveLeftRight(_timer.GetDelta() * -_player.GetStrafeSpeed()));
if(_dinput.KeyDown(DIK_D)) _player.SetPosition(_d3dcam.MoveLeftRight(_timer.GetDelta() * _player.GetStrafeSpeed()));

// the actual camera functions

/**************************************************************************************/
/***							MOVE FORWARD BACKWARD								***/
/*** ==> usage: when camera moves forward or backward								***/
/*** ==> calculates the changed X and Z camera position, based on movement value	***/
/**************************************************************************************/

VECTOR3 CD3dcam::MoveForwardBackward(const float pAmount)
{
mPosition += mLook * pAmount;					// 'flying' allowed, 6 DOF

// to disable 'FLYING', use:
//	mPosition += D3DXVECTOR3(mLook.x, 0.0f, mLook.z) * pAmount;

return VECTOR3(mPosition.x, mPosition.y, mPosition.z);
}

/**************************************************************************************/
/***							MOVE LEFT RIGHT										***/
/*** ==> usage: when camera strafes to the left or right							***/
/*** ==> calculates the changed X and Z camera position, based on movement value	***/
/**************************************************************************************/

VECTOR3 CD3dcam::MoveLeftRight(const float pAmount)
{
mPosition += mRight * pAmount;

return VECTOR3(mPosition.x, mPosition.y, mPosition.z);
}



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### #2Nypyren  Members

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Posted 03 January 2014 - 02:22 PM

You're just adding two orthogonal vectors.  So you'll see sqrt(walk * walk + strafe * strafe) total movement speed.  If walking and strafing speeds are the same, this is sqrt(2) or about 1.4 times faster than normal.

If you want to limit your speed, instead of applying each movement directly to mPosition, make a temporary movement vector first, apply all your player inputs to it, then limit that vector's length just before adding it to mPosition.

movementVector = zero;

apply all input to the movementVector;

speed = length of movementVector;

if (speed > limit) // assuming limit > 0 to prevent divide-by-zero.
movementVector = movementVector * (limit / speed);

mPosition += movementVector;

(edit) Note: You can also move the _timer.GetDelta() so that you only multiply it with movementVector on the final line. This way you won't need to multiply it with every vector, speed, or limit during your calculation.

Edited by Nypyren, 03 January 2014 - 02:37 PM.

### #3ferrous  Members

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Posted 03 January 2014 - 02:23 PM

I suspect you are correct, and your idea to fix it would work.

It's basically that velocity vector generated from strafe + movement is greater than the one generated by either one by itself.

Heh @Nypyren beat me to it, and explained it better =)

Edited by ferrous, 03 January 2014 - 02:25 PM.

### #4cozzie  Members

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Posted 03 January 2014 - 05:17 PM

Thanks, this is really clear. I'll go implement it right away

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### #5cozzie  Members

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Posted 03 January 2014 - 05:30 PM

That was easy, think I've got it.

Here it is, result looks as expected.

I've left the separate move forward/backward, left/right and up/down functions unchanged.

What do you think?

			Crealysm_math::VECTOR3 movement = Crealysm_math::VECTOR3(0.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f);

if(_dinput.KeyDown(DIK_W)) movement.z =  _player.GetWalkSpeed();
if(_dinput.KeyDown(DIK_S)) movement.z = -_player.GetWalkSpeed();

if(_dinput.KeyDown(DIK_A)) movement.x = -_player.GetStrafeSpeed();
if(_dinput.KeyDown(DIK_D)) movement.x = _player.GetStrafeSpeed();

if(_dinput.KeyDown(DIK_PRIOR)) movement.y = _player.GetWalkSpeed();
if(_dinput.KeyDown(DIK_NEXT)) movement.y = -_player.GetWalkSpeed();

movement *= _timer.GetDelta();

_player.SetPosition(_d3dcam.Move(movement));

VECTOR3 CD3dcam::Move(const Crealysm_math::VECTOR3 pMovement)
{
MoveForwardBackward(pMovement.z);
MoveLeftRight(pMovement.x);
MoveUpDown(pMovement.y);

return VECTOR3(mPosition.x, mPosition.y, mPosition.z);
}



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### #6Nypyren  Members

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Posted 03 January 2014 - 06:27 PM

That looks like it will work fine, but you will still have the ability to move faster than normal if you walk+strafe+climb at the same time.

It's totally optional if you want to limit the maximum movement speed or not.  If you do, use the idea in my pseudocode just before your "movement *= _timer.GetDelta()" line if you want to limit your combined XYZ speed, or before the PRIOR/NEXT keys if you only want to limit the XZ speed and not the Y speed.  For example, a game that allows the player to jump probably would do its speed limiting on the XZ movement and allow jumping/falling to let you move faster than what you can normally walk+strafe.

As a side note:  Another thing you can do with your new code is to cancel out opposite movements when the player presses both forward+back, left+right at the same time:  If you change each of the "=" to "+=" on each of your input checking lines, the opposite keys will cancel each other out when both buttons are pressed.

### #7cozzie  Members

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Posted 04 January 2014 - 03:41 AM

Thanks Nypyren, got it.

The movement actually 'feels' smoother now.

Here's the result:

		if(!_d3dscene.GetAnimated())
{
_player.Running(_dinput.KeyDown(DIK_LSHIFT));
Crealysm_math::VECTOR3 movement = Crealysm_math::VECTOR3(0.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f);

if(_dinput.KeyDown(DIK_W)) movement.z +=  _player.GetWalkSpeed();
if(_dinput.KeyDown(DIK_S)) movement.z += -_player.GetWalkSpeed();

if(_dinput.KeyDown(DIK_A)) movement.x += -_player.GetStrafeSpeed();
if(_dinput.KeyDown(DIK_D)) movement.x += _player.GetStrafeSpeed();

if(_dinput.KeyDown(DIK_PRIOR)) movement.y += _player.GetWalkSpeed();
if(_dinput.KeyDown(DIK_NEXT)) movement.y += -_player.GetWalkSpeed();

movement.limit(_player.GetWalkSpeed());
movement *= _timer.GetDelta();

_player.SetPosition(_d3dcam.Move(movement));
}

// NEW VECTOR3 inline function

VECTOR3 limit(const float pMax)
{
if(x > pMax) x = pMax;
if(y > pMax) y = pMax;
if(z > pMax) z = pMax;
return *this;
}



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### #8haegarr  Members

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Posted 04 January 2014 - 04:06 AM

VECTOR3 limit(const float pMax)
{
if(x > pMax) x = pMax;
if(y > pMax) y = pMax;
if(z > pMax) z = pMax;
return *this;
}


The maximum operation applied on each dimension separately allows the diagonal speed still to be approx. 1.4 times greater than the maximum speed in a orthogonal direction. You have to limit the length of the vector, not its components. This is because the vector defines a velocity, i.e. a speed and a direction of motion, where the speed is its length.

### #9cozzie  Members

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Posted 04 January 2014 - 07:27 AM

Ok. I might need some help on this. Do you mean I have to:

- calculate the length of the vector (sqrt(x*x + y*y + z*z)) = length

- if length > 'pMax', then make the vector the length of pMax

An example:

Movement vector = 0.5, 0.8, 0.5

Length/ magnitude = 1.067

Then I want to limit the vectors length to 'pMax', say 0.7.

I'm not sure how to do that, is this it?

Movement = 0.5, 0.8, 0.5 (1.067)

Limited = x, y, z (1.067)

New vector = movement * (0.7 / movement.length()

new.x = 0.5 * (0.7 / 1.067)

new.y = 0.8 * (0.7 / 1.067)

new.z = 0.5 * (0.7 / 1.067)

New = 0.33, 0.52, 0.33

Voila, magnitude = 0.7

Is this it?

If so, I'll make an optimized version of the above as a (inline) function in my vector struct.

Ps.: this really helps brushing up vector math

Edited by cozzie, 04 January 2014 - 07:27 AM.

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Posted 04 January 2014 - 07:47 AM

This is called vector normalization. (Make vector length one)

normalize(V) = V / magintude(V)

So in your case: Vmove = normalize(V) * movespeed

### #11cozzie  Members

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Posted 04 January 2014 - 07:54 AM

Okay, I'm not sure if I understand it correct then.

Wouldn't normalizing the vector mean it gets a length of 1.0 instead of the wanted 0.7 in this example?

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Posted 04 January 2014 - 08:03 AM

Yep, hence the movespeed multiplication

Vmove = normalize(V) * movespeed

### #13cozzie  Members

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Posted 04 January 2014 - 08:05 AM

Ah ok, I get it.
This is a much cleaner and better approach

Thanks

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### #14ferrous  Members

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Posted 06 January 2014 - 08:18 PM

Just be careful you don't use the same limited vector for player movement as you do for things like gravity or getting flung by a catapult or whatever, as they should be normalized under a different set of constraints.

Ie Don't do this:

playerVec += walkMovementVec

playerVec += gravityVec

playerVec= normalize(playerVec) * playerWalkSpeed

### #15cozzie  Members

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Posted 13 January 2014 - 01:40 PM

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind

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### #16l0calh05t  Members

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Posted 14 January 2014 - 04:25 AM

Since you have different velocities in each direction it might be even better to scale after normalization, i.e.

if(_dinput.KeyDown(DIK_W)) movement.z += 1;
if(_dinput.KeyDown(DIK_S)) movement.z -= 1;

if(_dinput.KeyDown(DIK_A)) movement.x += 1;
if(_dinput.KeyDown(DIK_D)) movement.x -= 1;

if(_dinput.KeyDown(DIK_PRIOR)) movement.y += 1;
if(_dinput.KeyDown(DIK_NEXT)) movement.y -= 1;

movement = normalized(movement); // returns 0 if original length is 0, otherwise a unit vector is returned
movement.x *= _player.GetStrafeSpeed();
movement.y *= _player.GetWalkSpeed();
movement.z *= _player.GetWalkSpeed();


Edited by l0calh05t, 14 January 2014 - 04:27 AM.

### #17cozzie  Members

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Posted 19 January 2014 - 04:57 PM

I've put the changes through, seems to work fine:

			Crealysm_math::VECTOR3 movement = Crealysm_math::VECTOR3(0.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f);

if(_dinput.KeyDown(DIK_W)) movement.z += 1.0f;
if(_dinput.KeyDown(DIK_S)) movement.z -= 1.0f;

if(_dinput.KeyDown(DIK_A)) movement.x -= 1.0f;
if(_dinput.KeyDown(DIK_D)) movement.x += 1.0f;

if(_dinput.KeyDown(DIK_PRIOR)) movement.y += 1.0f;
if(_dinput.KeyDown(DIK_NEXT)) movement.y -= 1.0f;

movement.normalize();
movement.x *= _player.GetStrafeSpeed() * _timer.GetDelta();
movement.y *= _player.GetWalkSpeed() * _timer.GetDelta();
movement.z *= _player.GetWalkSpeed() * _timer.GetDelta();

_player.SetPosition(_d3dcam.Move(movement));



Maybe a bit of topic, but can someone help me with the following.

I've made a inline normalize function for my vector struct, this works:

	VECTOR3 normalize()
{
float mag = sqrt(x*x + y*y + z*z);
VECTOR3 normalized;
normalized.x = x / mag;
normalized.y = y / mag;
normalized.z = z / mag;
return normalized;
}



But when I try this, it doesn't:

	VECTOR3 normalize()
{
float mag = sqrt(x*x + y*y + z*z);
x = x / mag;
y = y / mag;
z = z / mag;
return *this;
}


What am I doing wrong?

Edited by cozzie, 19 January 2014 - 04:58 PM.

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### #18Nypyren  Members

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Posted 19 January 2014 - 05:15 PM

I've put the changes through, seems to work fine:


Crealysm_math::VECTOR3 movement = Crealysm_math::VECTOR3(0.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f);

if(_dinput.KeyDown(DIK_W)) movement.z += 1.0f;
if(_dinput.KeyDown(DIK_S)) movement.z -= 1.0f;

if(_dinput.KeyDown(DIK_A)) movement.x -= 1.0f;
if(_dinput.KeyDown(DIK_D)) movement.x += 1.0f;

if(_dinput.KeyDown(DIK_PRIOR)) movement.y += 1.0f;
if(_dinput.KeyDown(DIK_NEXT)) movement.y -= 1.0f;

movement.normalize();
movement.x *= _player.GetStrafeSpeed() * _timer.GetDelta();
movement.y *= _player.GetWalkSpeed() * _timer.GetDelta();
movement.z *= _player.GetWalkSpeed() * _timer.GetDelta();

_player.SetPosition(_d3dcam.Move(movement));


Maybe a bit of topic, but can someone help me with the following.
I've made a inline normalize function for my vector struct, this works:

VECTOR3 normalize()
{
float mag = sqrt(x*x + y*y + z*z);
VECTOR3 normalized;
normalized.x = x / mag;
normalized.y = y / mag;
normalized.z = z / mag;
return normalized;
}


But when I try this, it doesn't:

VECTOR3 normalize()
{
float mag = sqrt(x*x + y*y + z*z);
x = x / mag;
y = y / mag;
z = z / mag;
return *this;
}

What am I doing wrong?

Various problems:

Consider what happens if movement is zero. 'mag' will be zero. You'll divide x, y, and z by zero - getting an undefined result (or an exception).

movement.normalize();

You're not using the return value, which is why the behavior of your two normalize methods differ. The first normalize method will not change 'this', and you're not using the return value, so it doesn't actually do anything right now. Both methods can divide-by-zero, but the second one will actually be used because it changes 'this' itself.

Also, consider what normalizing a vector does: It FORCES it to be length = 1, even if the length was less than 1. What if the player wants to move slower than that? What if they don't want to move at all? Let's say you have an analog joystick instead of keys. The possible x/y inputs from the joystick are a continuous range from zero to maximum movement in each direction. Normalizing forces those to adhere to the points on the edge of a unit sphere, meaning you'll always move at maximum speed in SOME direction even if you don't want to.

Look at what I suggested in my first post:

if (speed > limit)

Essentially, this limits movement to anywhere inside the unit sphere, not just the edge of it. It protects from division by zero and amplified jitter when normalizing vectors that are extremely close to zero.

Edited by Nypyren, 19 January 2014 - 05:23 PM.

### #19cozzie  Members

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Posted 20 January 2014 - 01:36 PM

Thanks.

- I understand what you mean with the division by 0, strange thing is that it isn't crashing when I don't move, even when I initially start up the demo/ application

Action: I could check if mag != 0 and only if so, proceed. Is that the way to go?

- OK, so my second normalize function of my vector struct is the right way to go. I'll use that and see what it's going wrong, probably because of the division by zero

I'll let you know when it's finished and I understand it

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### #20cozzie  Members

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Posted 20 January 2014 - 04:22 PM

Think I've got it, results below.

To make sure I understand correct, I think this is what I'm doing:

1. creating a zero vector

2. get keyboard input to determine the base movement

3. based on the magnitude of the vector, 'limit' the movement (over all axes now) to my max walking speed * delta

4. update the position of the camera and player

A few thoughts:

- DeltaT is now multiplied when 'limiting', I could also do that in the end when updating the position (difference?)

- If I wanted to distinguish walking/ strafing/ 'flying' speed I could copy this line three times, using a different 'walkspeed':

movement = movement * ((_player.GetWalkSpeed() * _timer.GetDelta()) / speed);

- "Movement = movement *" can also be "movement *="

I don't think distinguishing walking and strafe speed is necessary anymore, since I introduced it as a hack to prevent walking + strafing to be to quick )

I also remade my vector functions, I'll split it to a separate header with the prototypes and move the implementations to a new cpp file

(it's growing too large, I'll also have to add more operations, !=, == etc.).

			_player.Running(_dinput.KeyDown(DIK_LSHIFT));
Crealysm_math::VECTOR3 movement = Crealysm_math::VECTOR3(0.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f);

if(_dinput.KeyDown(DIK_W)) movement.z = 1.0f;
if(_dinput.KeyDown(DIK_S)) movement.z = -1.0f;

if(_dinput.KeyDown(DIK_A)) movement.x = -1.0f;
if(_dinput.KeyDown(DIK_D)) movement.x = 1.0f;

if(_dinput.KeyDown(DIK_PRIOR)) movement.y = 1.0f;
if(_dinput.KeyDown(DIK_NEXT)) movement.y = -1.0f;

float speed = movement.magnitude();
if(speed > _player.GetWalkSpeed())
movement = movement * ((_player.GetWalkSpeed() * _timer.GetDelta()) / speed);

_player.SetPosition(_d3dcam.Move(movement));

// a few of the vector functions

// RETURN MAGNITUDE OF VECTOR
float magnitude()
{
return sqrt(x*x + y*y + z*z);
}

// NORMALIZE THE VECTOR IF MAGNITUDE != 0
VECTOR3 normalize()
{
float mag = sqrt(x*x + y*y + z*z);
if(mag != 0.0f)
{
x = x / mag;
y = y / mag;
z = z / mag;
}
return *this;
}

// MULTIPLY A VECTOR WITH A SCALAR
VECTOR3 operator* (const float pScalar)
{
VECTOR3 newVector = *this;
newVector.x *= pScalar;
newVector.y *= pScalar;
newVector.z *= pScalar;
return newVector;
}



Edited by cozzie, 20 January 2014 - 04:23 PM.

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