AGrid Inspector Breakdown for A* Pathfinding

May 5, 2020

A* Pathfinding

AGrid Inspector Breakdown


Display Grid Gizmos:
determines whether or not to run gizmo methods (methods used for debugging and visualization in the editor, like the node locations)


Unwalkable Mask:
this is the Unity layer that is deemed unwalkable to the system (the layer which are picked up by the nodes during raycasting)


Grid World Size:
a Vector2 which determines the real world size area to attempt to place nodes on (rectangular shaped with alterable width and height)


Node Radius:
half the real world size of each individual node, which correlates to half the distance between each node's center (in both the x and z direction)


Walkable Regions:
this section can be opened and various terrain types can be added to this as well as their associated movement cost penalties to make certain terrains more or less navigable (also picked up in the raycast of the nodes)


Obstacle Proximity Penalty:
adds a bit of extra cost to nodes right around obstacles to make agents less likely to run right up against (or right inside) of obstacles


Unit Height:
currently used in conjunction with system placing the nodes at the proper elevation to place nodes slightly above the terrain so that using those location as waypoints for the agents does not make them go through/below the ground


Influence Objects:
variable sized array that can be filled with Influence objects so system knows which Influence objects to apply when filling out node values

Example Images of AGrid System and Inspector Designer Tools

Fig. 1: Visualize Nodes (Black Cubes are Node Centers)

Fig. 2: Visualize Nodes (Perspective)

Fig. 3: Visualize Nodes (Smaller Grid to Show Control)

Fig. 4: Additional Sketches to Show Parameter Influence

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Online Multiplayer Networking Solution Tutorial Using Unity and Mirror - Tutorial by: Jason Weimann

February 2, 2021 Networking Online Multiplayer Unity & Mirror Title: Let's build a 4-Player Networked Game LIVE - Online Shooter (with Mirror & Unity) By: Jason Weimann Youtube - Tutorial Description: Intro to using Mirror for networking online multiplayer play in Unity development. Introduction This tutorial has Jason Weimann implementing online network play into a basic Unity twin-stick shooting game. They use Mirror, which is a Unity asset used for simplifying the online network synchronization process. This is a live implementation where they work through many errors transferring a game from simply working locally to working with a host/client relationship. Mirror Mirror - Home Page Mirror is "a high level Networking API for Unity, supporting different low level Transports" (from Mirror themselves). It is a clean solution for implementing a quick and simple online networking option for Unity projects. The core components breakd...
Read more

Exporting FBX from Houdini with Color

April 17, 2019 Exporting From Houdini FBX and Color Information Exporting the Model Using my balloon Houdini example from class, I was able to export the geometry using the Educational version (the Apprentice version does not allow exporting FBX, but you could export an OBJ for my purposes possibly). This was very straight forward, as you can just use File -> Export -> FBX in Houdini. Since I was doing this for a class to use in a Snapchat filter (using LensStudio), I wanted to reduce the poly count a lot. I opened the FBX in Maya and used a basic Reduce to reduce the poly count a lot before exporting that for use in LensStudio. While this was good enough to export the geometry, I could not get any of the color information to come with it. I originally exported out an OBJ and had the same issue, so I exported FBX in hopes it would keep the color information somehow, but this was not the case. Exporting the Color Information My first thought to get the color ...
Read more

Sebastian Lague A* Tutorial Series - Path Smoothing - Pt. 08 and Pt. 09

December 13, 2019 A* Tutorial Series A* Pathfinding (E08: path smoothing 1/2) A* Pathfinding (E08: path smoothing 1/2) Link - Tutorial 1 By: Sebastian Lague A* Tutorial Series A* Pathfinding (E09: path smoothing 2/2) A* Pathfinding (E09: path smoothing 2/2) Link - Tutorial 2 By: Sebastian Lague A* Pathfinding (E08: path smoothing 1/2) Intro: These tutorials both covered the same general topic of smoothing the path of the unit. Theory Currently the units follow the path by making a straight line from one point to the next, which looks unnatural. To remedy this, they suggest a path smoothing technique. This system starts with each point having a small line pointing directly to the previous point, whose length is called the "turn distance". This line then has a perpendicular line emanating from the end, called the "turn boundary". Once the unit passes this turn boundary, it will start to turn towards the next point in the path (inste...
Read more