[Skippy]

This is my situation. I need to be able to detect if someone is looking 300 units within a small box that is in midair (Doesn't have to look right at it). The problem is that with traceray I'm only able to find the end point and if someone isn't directly looking at the small box then they are looking at a wall way past the box. I need to be able to consider every point on the traceray and determine if someone's eye sight is within 300 units (creates a sphere) around the box.

[thecount]

I'm not sure about checking every point on the ray as that is not feasible. Someone else might have a better idea, but the only way I can think of to use TraceRay functionality is to make a sphere prop the size you want and invisible with no collision to players. Hopefully the traceray will still hit it regardless of its collision.

Actually, you could grab the forward vector of where the player is looking and do some math to find where this ray would be on certain points of the sphere then compare the distance from that point to the center of the sphere. I can't seem to think of an efficient way to solve this problem.

[Skippy]

Originally Posted by thecount I'm not sure about checking every point on the ray as that is not feasible. Someone else might have a better idea, but the only way I can think of to use TraceRay functionality is to make a sphere prop the size you want and invisible with no collision to players. Hopefully the traceray will still hit it regardless of its collision. Actually, you could grab the forward vector of where the player is looking and do some math to find where this ray would be on certain points of the sphere then compare the distance from that point to the center of the sphere. I can't seem to think of an efficient way to solve this problem.

That's the thing. I don't know how to find the points along the whole traceray. I can only find the end point.

[thecount]

Well if you have the direction of the ray, you could use that ratio of x:y:z to find a the value of a coordinate at a specific point. Say the direction of the ray is 2:7:5 and the distance on each axis from the player to a specific point you're checking is 3:4:6... You could check where the ray is when the x coordinate is 3 by 7 / 2 * 3 = Y coord and 5 / 2 * 3 = Z coord. The problem then would be deciding which coordinates to check. You could pick the greatest and least X value the 'sphere' contains and then once you calculate the position of the ray at that point, you can then check if it is indeed inside the sphere. But more than likely on these greater/least coordinates, the ray will be outside the sphere. So maybe use coordinates of a smaller radius inside, and then check if the ray point is inside the larger sphere. That probably wasn't a very clear explanation of what I mean. I'm using some similar logic for aiming in my C++ project, which is why I have given this some thought.

[Miu]

PHP Code:

bool f(int client, const float boxpos[3])
{
    float a[3], b[3], dir[3],  ang[3], diff[3], p[3], vec[3];
    GetClientAbsOrigin(client, a);
    GetClientEyeAngles(client, ang);
    GetAngleVectors(ang, dir, NULL_VECTOR, NULL_VECTOR);
    
    b = a;
    vec = dir;
    ScaleVector(vec, 10000.0);
    AddVectors(b, vec, b);
    
    SubtractVectors(b, a, diff);
    
    float lsq = GetVectorLength(diff, true);
    
    SubtractVectors(boxpos, a, vec);
    float t = GetVectorDotProduct(vec, diff) / lsq;
    
    if (t < 0)
        t = 0.0;
    else if (t > 1)
        t = 1.0;
    
    vec = diff;
    ScaleVector(vec, t);
    AddVectors(a, vec, p);
    
    SubtractVectors(p, boxpos, p);
    return GetVectorLength(p) < 300;
} 


something like that

[thecount]

Originally Posted by Miu something like that

Yeah, that seems like it should work. Nifty vector functions. The boxpos[3] parameter should actually be the center of it, I believe. Just in case you're using a prop that is not centered on the origin.

[Skippy]

Originally Posted by Miu PHP Code: bool f(int client, const float boxpos[3]) {     float a[3], b[3], dir[3],  ang[3], diff[3], p[3], vec[3];     GetClientAbsOrigin(client, a);     GetClientEyeAngles(client, ang);     GetAngleVectors(ang, dir, NULL_VECTOR, NULL_VECTOR);          b = a;     vec = dir;     ScaleVector(vec, 10000.0);     AddVectors(b, vec, b);          SubtractVectors(b, a, diff);          float lsq = GetVectorLength(diff, true);          SubtractVectors(boxpos, a, vec);     float t = GetVectorDotProduct(vec, diff) / lsq;          if (t < 0)         t = 0.0;     else if (t > 1)         t = 1.0;          vec = diff;     ScaleVector(vec, t);     AddVectors(a, vec, p);          SubtractVectors(p, boxpos, p);     return GetVectorLength(p) < 300; }  something like that

Yes!! Thank you so much. That worked perfectly.