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physics

[Physics] Trace Raycast Origin Objects Instantly

Solution

physicsraycastingcollision detection

Unity 2021.3.x - Unity 6.3.x

Published Thu, Mar 19

Issue

 When an object is struck by a raycast, it may be necessary for the hit object to identify the specific GameObject that initiated the action, as the default RaycastHit structure does not inherently provide details about the source object.

Explanation

Enable a hit object to identify its origin by implementing an explicit communication mechanism.

  1. Define your interface with a method that accepts a GameObject reference (e.g., OnRaycastHitBy(GameObject **sender**)).
  2. Implement your interface on scripts attached to potential hit targets.
  3. Execute Physics.Raycast from your script to detect collision targets.
  4. Use TryGetComponent to retrieve your interface component from the hit GameObject.
  5. If the component exists, invoke the OnRaycastHitBy method while passing this.gameObject as the sender.

Establishing this direct reference allows the hit target to react dynamically to the raycast sender without performing expensive searches or broad-phase queries.

Additional Tips

  • Use LayerMask to improve performance by restricting raycast checks to specific layers.
  • Cache your script references to reduce overhead in frequently called Update methods.
  • Use Debug.DrawRay to visually debug the sender origin and ray path in the Scene view.

TL;DR

To enable an object hit by a raycast to detect its origin, the raycasting script should explicitly pass a reference of itself as the sender to a designated method on the target object.


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Content inspired by a Unity discussion post.