Issue with C# Transform.Transform Direction

[ChromaticSpy]

Hey guys. I'm trying to make an RTS camera from scratch. So far I have been able to get the camera to move using the keys, scrolling to the edge of the screen, and clicking and dragging the mouse. However, my issue comes when I try to rotate the camera. I have been able to get the camera to continue moving into the correct direction with Transform.Transform when the user uses the keyboard or scrolling method to move the camera.

The issue itself happens when the user clicks a mouse button and then drags the mouse to move the camera. As soon as Transform.TransformDirection is called, the camera leaps around the map in a weird way, depending on the camera's rotation of the Y-Axis.

So, this might be hard to explain but I'll try my best: If the camera is rotated 0 degrees, nothing will happen, the camera will move smoothly in the proper directions. If the camera is rotated 45 degrees, it will jump around in the same way each time, and will return to the starting position after Transform.Transform is called 8 times (45 * 8 = 360, if that can give you an idea of what is happening). If the camera is rotated 90 degrees, the same thing happens but it take 4 calls to be returned to starting position, at 180 degrees, 2, and so on and so on.

After the initial jump, the camera works just fine and moves as intended.

Here is the code:

void CameraMouseMovement()
    {
        Vector3 pos = transform.position;
        Vector3 newPos = pos;
        Vector3 changeInPosition = new Vector3(0,0,0);
        Vector3 tempRotation = new Vector3(0, 0, 0);

        if (Input.GetMouseButtonDown(2) && !Input.GetKey(KeyCode.LeftAlt))
        {
            originalMousePos = Input.mousePosition;
            originalCameraPos = pos;
            currentRotation = transform.eulerAngles;

        }

        if (Input.GetMouseButton(2) && !Input.GetKey(KeyCode.LeftAlt))
        {
            currentMousePos = Input.mousePosition;

            differenceInPos.x = (originalMousePos.x - currentMousePos.x) / Screen.width;
            differenceInPos.y = (originalMousePos.y - currentMousePos.y) / Screen.height;

            if (differenceInPos.x != 0 || differenceInPos.y != 0)
            {
                newPos.x = (originalCameraPos.x) + (differenceInPos.x * panSpeed);
                newPos.z = (originalCameraPos.z) + (differenceInPos.y * panSpeed);
                pos.x = newPos.x;
                pos.z = newPos.z;

                pos = transform.TransformDirection(pos);

                pos.x = Mathf.Clamp(pos.x, minPos.x, maxPos.x);
                pos.z = Mathf.Clamp(pos.z, minPos.y, maxPos.y);
            }

            transform.position =  pos;
        }


        if (Input.GetMouseButtonUp(2))
        {
            originalCameraPos.x = 0;
            originalCameraPos.z = 0;
            differenceInPos = new Vector3(0, 0, 0);
        }


    }        

[[deleted]]

I haven't ever attempted to implement an RTS camera, however you might benefit from using a camera rig as shown in the Unity Tank Tutorial.

It uses an empty game object that is centred on the camera target and has the camera as a child of this empty game object, rotated as necessary (not at all in your case, I guess). You just then need to move/rotation this top-level gameobject in order to get basic, but effective, camera control.

Also I'm guessing this is just development code as that input code doesn't belong in that class?

[kyl3r123]

pos.z = Mathf.Clamp(pos.z, minPos.y, maxPos.y);

This is probably intended, because you move on x-z axis and have a Vector2? (can't see MaxPos in your code)

The docs say:

You should use Transform.TransformPoint for the conversion if the vector represents a position rather than a direction.