Making objects chase another (AS3) - actionscript-3

So i have an object that i want to chase another object. Everything is working fine, however i tried to implement an easeTo function to make it so that the object doesn't take the most direct route to the x,y locations of the object it is chasing. This also works but the thing that is really pissing that i can't fix is the fact that the objects speed changes depending how far away from the object it is chasing is. For example, if the object being chased is on the far right of the stage and the chaser spawns on the far left, it will go really fast towards the object on the right and slow down as it gets closer. I would love for it to go at a consistent speed. Any suggestions?
Thanks
Here is my code
private function easeTo(cur:Point, target:Point, ease:Number):Point{
var dx:Number = target.x - cur.x;
var dy:Number = target.y - cur.y;
var finalResult:Point = new Point(); //create a var to hold the result
finalResult.x = cur.x + (dx * ease);
finalResult.y = cur.y + (dy * ease);
return finalResult;
}
public function chase(xValue:Number, yValue:Number):void{
//store current x and y in a point var
var curPos:Point = new Point (x,y);
//store the mouse x and y in a var
var targetPos:Point = new Point(xValue, yValue);
var nextPos:Point = easeTo(curPos, targetPos, 0.001);
this.x = nextPos.x;
this.y = nextPos.y;
}
So the (xValue:Number, yValue:Number) is the x and y values of the object it is chasing being passed into the chase function.

I would suggest using Math.min (when dx or dy is negative) and Math.max (when dx or dy is positive) with a value you define to be your max speed
ie:
var maxSpeed:Number = 20;
if (dx >= 0){
dx = Math.max(dx,maxSpeed)
}else{
dx = Math.min(dx,maxSpeed)
}
repeat for dy

Related

How do I play an animation in a specific place controlled by actionscript?

I have this moving character and when I press a button I want it to shoot at a object pointed by the mouse. But the character is moving so I don't know how to make the animation in a specific place. I am using Flash, actionscript 2 or 3
There are many ways in which it can be done, but this one is known to be one of the simplest:
Given source point A and target point B:
Calculate distance between A and B
var distance:Number = computeDistance(A,B); //define your function where computeDistance returns the Pythagorean distance between A and B
Calculate x and y difference
var dx:Number = B.x - A.x;
var dy:Number = B.y - A.y;
// normalization. Think of this as a ratio of the legs relative to the hypotenuse
dx = dx / distance;
dy = dy / distance;`
Calcualate xSpeed and ySpeed by multiplying dx and dy with speedPerFrame (arbitrary)
var xSpeed:Number = dx*speedPerFrame;
var ySpeed:Number = dy*speedPerFrame;
Increment your object's x and y position using xSpeed and ySpeed in the main game loop (respectively). Make sure you add a check if the object has arrived at the destination point.

AS3 Missile Logic

I want to create a simple missile object, which moves at a set speed and rotates towards a specific target at a given rotation speed. However, I'm having trouble figuring out the math of it. This is my code so far:
private function enterFrame(e:Event):void {
// Rotate the missile towards the target.
var targetAngle:Number = getAngle(target.x, target.y, x, y);
if (targetAngle < 0) {
targetAngle += 360;
}
if (targetAngle - turnSpeed > rotation) {
rotation += turnSpeed;
} else if (targetAngle + turnSpeed < rotation) {
rotation -= turnSpeed;
} else {
rotation = targetAngle;
}
// Set the target point to move to based on angle and speed.
var newX:Number = x + Math.sin(degreesToRadians(rotation)) * speed;
var newY:Number = y + Math.cos(degreesToRadians(rotation)) * speed;
// Move to new location
x = newX;
y = newY;
}
private function getAngle (x1:Number, y1:Number, x2:Number, y2:Number):Number {
var dx:Number = x2 - x1;
var dy:Number = y2 - y1;
return (Math.atan2(dy,dx) * 180) / Math.PI;
}
private function degreesToRadians(degrees:Number):Number {
return degrees * Math.PI / 180;
}
I've been trying to debug it using trace and such, but I can't seem to figure out where the problem is, most likely because there are many problems and I can't tell if I've fixed one because the others are masking it. I suspect that the issue(s) lie somewhere in the rotation calculations, since I'm pretty sure that the movement part is working as it should, but I can't say for sure.
At any rate, whatever I do, the missiles always seem to fly off in random directions, sometimes tracking towards straight up, or straight down, or just looping around after nothing in particular.

Bug in space movement FLASH

I'm new to flash and can't find the bug in my code. I want a space ship to be able to accelerate in a vector, to not be able to accelerate over a max velocity, to keep that velocity vector when it stops accelerating but then suffer from friction (space dust ,) ). (It happens in a 2d stage.)
I think my math is correct, but I get a bug with velVector sometimes returns NaN - here's my code:
var friction:Number = .96;
var force:Number = .1;
var maxVel:Number = 3;
var accVector:Object = new Object();
var velVector:Object = new Object();
var velocity:Number;
var acceleration:Number;
If the ship points in the right direction it executes function 'accelerate' and if not it executes function 'drift'. It always executes 'moveship'
function accelerate():void {
curRotation.vx = Math.cos(rotation/180*Math.PI);
curRotation.vy = Math.sin(rotation/180*Math.PI);
var angle:Number = Math.atan2(curRotation.vy, curRotation.vx);
velocity = Math.sqrt(velVector.vx^2 + velVector.vy^2); //get velocity in both directions
acceleration = (maxVel - velocity)/maxVel*force; //this is to make it harder to accelerate when it approaches maxvelocity
accVector.vx = Math.cos(angle) * acceleration; //accelerate in each dimension
accVector.vy = Math.sin(angle) * acceleration;
velVector.vx += accVector.vx; //add acceleration to velocity
velVector.vy += accVector.vy;
}
function drift():void {
velVector.vx *= friction; //decrease velocity when not accelerating
velVector.vy *= friction;
}
function moveShip():void {
trace("velocity", velocity)
x += velVector.vx; //move
y += velVector.vy;
}
Many thanks!
I guess, your problem is in using of unsafe math operations without values validation. So, your velVector depends on accVector which depend on acceleration. You have a division operation counting "acceleration" val. That's it:
acceleration = (maxVel - velocity)/maxVel*force;
In AS3 you CAN divide by zero, and you'll get Infinity in such situation. But, there is also a chance to get NaN in case you are dividing zero by zero:
var acceleration:Number = 0 / 0;
trace(acceleration); //NaN
If you try doing something with NaN writing the result in Number or untyped variable (not int!), you'll always get NaN:
var a:Number = 5 * NaN;
trace(a); //NaN
So, I here is an example, which gives NaN:
acceleration = 0 / 0; //NaN
accVector.vx = Math.cos(angle) * acceleration; //NaN regardless on "angel" value
velVector.vx += accVector.vx; //NaN regardless on "velVector" value.
I hope, this will help.

Calculate a trajectory for an object, when given an angle and a velocity in flash

I am trying to launch a cannonball from a cannon and have it follow a realistic path. The angle of fire changes depending on the orientation of the cannon (automatically orientates to mouse pointer). So what I'm trying to figure out, is how to move a cannonball along a parabolic path, when given an angle, and a set velocity.
I've read that this can be done without complicated trigonometry (never listened to it in highschool), and can be calculated simply by adding gravity to the yVelocity every tick. However, at this moment, I don't know how to calculate the initial yVelocity (again, depending on cannon orientation).
You can see the current animation here: http://kate.ict.op.ac.nz/~welfajw1/portfolio/videos/task3-assignment2.swf
This is all done in AS3, and the code I have is as follows:
Main timeline code:
import flash.display.*;
import flash.events.*;
import flash.geom.*;
var cannonball:ball_mc;
var angleDegree;
myCannon.addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, cannonEnterFrame);
function cannonEnterFrame(pEvt)
{
var mc = myCannon;
var mg = myCannon.myGun;
//find angle for orientation
var angleRadian = Math.atan2(mouseY - mc.y, mouseX - mc.x);
//convert to degrees
angleDegree = angleRadian * 180 / Math.PI;
//limit rotation
if(angleDegree > -63 && angleDegree < 20)
mg.rotation = angleDegree;
}
stage.addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, stageRefresh);
function stageRefresh(pEvt)
{
if (cannonball)
{
//move every "tick"
cannonball.move();
}
}
stage.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, mouseClicked);
function mouseClicked(pEvt)
{
//starting position of the ball
cannonball = new ball_mc(100, 475);
//SEND IN INITIAL x, y VELOCITIES
cannonball.fire(20, angleDegree);
//add to stage
stage.addChild(cannonball);
}
ball_mc code:
package
{
import flash.display.MovieClip;
import flash.sensors.Accelerometer;
import flashx.textLayout.formats.Float;
public class ball_mc extends MovieClip
{
//constant gravity
public static const g:Number = 2;
//starting velocities
private var ux:Number;
private var uy:Number;
public function ball_mc(startX:int, startY:int)
{
x = startX;
y = startY;
}
public function fire(vx:Number, vy:Number):void
{
ux = vx;
uy = vy;
}
public function move():void
{
//distance moved in x dir
var sx:Number = ux;
//new velocity in y dir
var vy:Number = uy + g;
//distance moved in y dir
var sy:Number = uy + g/2;
//apply movement
x += sx;
y += sy;
//save new y velocity
uy = vy;
}
}
}
You need a little bit of physics.
Initial speed must be calculated by using some criteria that you add on your own. One example is to calculate initial speed by using the distance between the mouse and the cannon, at the time the mouse is pressed. If the distance is greater the projectile will have a bigger speed, and if the distance is smaller the projectile will have smaller speed.
The you add an Event Listener with type ENTER_FRAME.
I guess it's 2 dimensional animation so you have to find the current x and y at any point in time.
Here's a little bit of code:
var TimeperFrame:Number = 1/fps //fps is not a constant, here you should add a number, a value that you previously added in fla. document properties. I usualy use 60 fps
var Time:Number = 0;
addEventListener(ENTER_FRAME, movingCannonBall);
function movingCannonBall(e:Event):void
{
Time += TimeperFrame;
}
Now here's the equitation for trajectory of projectile.
x = xo + vxo·t
y = yo + vyo·t - 0.5·g·t^2
yo = initial height of your cannon ball
vyo = initial y velocity; vyo = vo·sin θ
t = time passed, we conrol that by upper code
g = acceleration (9,81 m/s^2) at Earth's surface
xo = initial distance for the start
vxo = initial x velocity; vxo = vo·cos θ
Now in the upper code we add these equitations and it should look like this:
var TimeperFrame:Number = 1/fps
var Time:Number = 0;
var initx: Number = cannonball.x;
var inity: Number = cannonball.y;
var initVelocity: Number = (you define initial Velocity by your criteria)
var G: Number = 9.81;
addEventListener(ENTER_FRAME, movingCannonBall);
function movingCannonBall(e:Event):void
{
Time += TimeperFrame;
cannonball.x = initx + Math.cos(angle) * initVelocity * Time;
cannonball.y = inity + Math.sin(angle) * initVelocity * Time - G * Time * Time * 0.5
}
This should work. I have use this code many times and it's effiecient and also it's simple.

How to have an object hover back and forth constrained within a specific radius?

I have a sprite in a movie symbol that I would like to hover back and forth within a 360 radius. I was hoping to make it smooth and random. Never really venturing from its original xy cordinates.
I've tried to create some stipulations with if statements and a starting momentum. Like this:
var num = 2;
stage.addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, hover);
function hover(evt:Event):void{
//start it moving
cloudWhite.y += num;
cloudWhite.x += num;
//declare these variables
var cX = cloudWhite.x;
var cY = cloudWhite.y;
// object travels 10 pixels
var cXP = cX + 10;
var cXN = cX - 10;
var cYP = cY + 10;
var cYN = cY - 10;
// if object goes 10 pixels reverse direction of momentum (maybe)
if (cX >= cXP) {
num = -2;
}
if (cX <= cXN){
num = 2;
}
if (cY >= cYP) {
num = 2;
}
if (cY <= cYN){
num = 2;
}
Clearly this is super wrong because when it runs the object just either goes to 0,0 or to some place that only the math gods know of.
I am clearly a noob at this kind of math so i apologize but I am very excited to learn the trig behind this.
Thank you for your help and thank you for reading.
You are setting all your variables inside the ENTER_FRAME loop, so none of your conditions ever evaluates to true. On every single frame you are doing this:
cloudWhite.x += 2;
cX = cloudWhite.x;
cXP = cX + 10; // Must == cloudWhite's previous x + 10 + 2;
cXN = cX - 10; // Must == cloudWite's previous x -10 + 2;
if(cX > cXP)... // Can never be true.
if(cX < cXN)... // Can never be true.
What you need to do is:
1) Store the original position of cloudWhite somewhere outside the loop, and store it before the loop begins.
2) Define your bounds relative to the original position of cloudWhite, again before your loop begins. Also define the amount you are going to change the position with each iteration.
3) Start your loop.
4) Increment the current position of cloudWhite on each iteration. Add a little random in here if you want the shape to move in a random manner.
5) Check if the new position of cW is outside your bounds and adjust the direction if it is.
The sample below is crude and jerky but I don't know exactly what effect you're looking for. If you want smoother, longer movements in each direction, consider using the Tween class or a Tween library such as the popular Greensock one, instead of incrementing / decrementing the position manually. There's a useful discussion of this here: http://www.actionscript.org/forums/archive/index.php3/t-163836.html
import flash.display.MovieClip;
import flash.events.Event;
// Set up your variables
var original_x:Number = 100; // Original x
var original_y:Number = 100; // Original y
var x_inc:Number = 5; // X Movement
var y_inc:Number = 5; // Y Movenent
var bounds:Number = 50; // Distance from origin allowed
// Doesn't take into account width of object so is distance to nearest point.
// Create an MC to show the bounds:
var display:MovieClip = addChild(new MovieClip()) as MovieClip;
display.graphics.lineStyle(1, 0x0000FF);
display.graphics.beginFill(0x0000FF, 0.5);
display.graphics.drawRect(0-bounds, 0-bounds, bounds * 2, bounds *2);
display.x = original_x;
display.y = original_y;
addChild(display);
// Create our moving mc:
var mc:MovieClip = addChild(new MovieClip()) as MovieClip;
mc.graphics.beginFill(0xFF0000, 1);
mc.graphics.drawCircle(-10, -10, 20);
// Position it:
mc.x = original_x;
mc.y = original_y;
addChild(mc);
// Loop:
function iterate($e:Event = null):void
{
// Move the mc by a random amount related to x/y inc
mc.x += (Math.random() * (2 * x_inc))/2;
mc.y += (Math.random() * (2 * y_inc))/2;
// If the distance from the origin is greater than bounds:
if((Math.abs(mc.x - original_x)) > bounds)
{
// Reverse the direction of travel:
x_inc == 5 ? x_inc = -5 : x_inc = 5;
}
// Ditto on the y axis:
if((Math.abs(mc.y - original_y)) > bounds)
{
y_inc == 5 ? y_inc = -5 : y_inc = 5;
}
}
// Start the loop:
addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, iterate);
This should get you started. I'm sure there are any number of other ways to do this with formal trig, but this has the benefit of being very simple, and just an extension of your existing method.