Roblox Vector3 - Lua

In Roblox Lua, Vector3 is a data type used to represent a position or a direction in 3D space. It is commonly used in game development for various purposes such as movement, collision detection, and camera manipulation.

Creating a Vector3

To create a Vector3 object, you can use the constructor syntax:

local v = Vector3.new(x, y, z)

Where x, y, and z are the respective coordinates of the vector.

Alternatively, you can use the Vector3 static methods Vector3.FromNormalId and Vector3.FromAxis to create predefined vectors:

local upVector = Vector3.FromNormalId(Enum.NormalId.Top)
local rightVector = Vector3.FromAxis(Vector3.new(0, 0, 1), math.pi / 2)

Vector3 Properties

The Vector3 data type provides several useful properties:

• X: the X-coordinate of the vector.
• Y: the Y-coordinate of the vector.
• Z: the Z-coordinate of the vector.
• Magnitude: the magnitude (length) of the vector.
• Unit: returns a Vector3 with the same direction as the original vector, but with a magnitude of 1.
• Normalized: returns a Vector3 with the same direction as the original vector, but with a magnitude of 1.

local v = Vector3.new(1, 2, 3)
print(v.X) -- 1
print(v.Magnitude) -- 3.74165
print(v.Unit) -- 0.267261, 0.534522, 0.801784

Vector3 Operations

Vector3 supports several arithmetic operations:

• +: adds two vectors.
• -: subtracts two vectors.
• *: multiplies a vector by a scalar.
• /: divides a vector by a scalar.

local v1 = Vector3.new(1, 2, 3)
local v2 = Vector3.new(4, 5, 6)

local v3 = v1 + v2 -- 5, 7, 9
local v4 = v3 / 3 -- 1.66667, 2.33333, 3

Vector3 also supports the following operations:

• Dot: returns the dot product of two vectors.
• Cross: returns the cross product of two vectors.
• Lerp: returns a Vector3 interpolated between two vectors.
• Angle: returns the angle between two vectors.
• ProjectOn: returns the projection of a vector onto another vector.

local v1 = Vector3.new(1, 2, 3)
local v2 = Vector3.new(4, 5, 6)

local dotProduct = v1.Dot(v2) -- 32
local crossProduct = v1.Cross(v2) -- -3, 6, -3
local lerp = v1.Lerp(v2, 0.5) -- 2.5, 3.5, 4.5
local angle = v1.Angle(v2) -- 0.225726
local projection = v1.ProjectOn(v2) -- 2.11099, 2.63874, 3.16649

Conclusion

Vector3 is an indispensable data type in Roblox Lua game development. With its many useful properties and operations, it can be used to implement a wide range of gameplay mechanics.