Determine facing direction mecanim 2d movement

Question

I'm using this script to move my character in my 2d world:

    public float speed;   //Movementspeed

public Rigidbody2D rbody;
Animator anim;

void Start () {

    rbody = GetComponentInChildren<Rigidbody2D> ();
    anim = GetComponent<Animator> ();
}

void FixedUpdate () {

    Vector2 movement_vector = new Vector2(Input.GetAxisRaw("Horizontal"), Input.GetAxisRaw("Vertical"));

    if (movement_vector != Vector2.zero) {
        anim.SetBool("iswalking", true);
        anim.SetFloat("input_x", movement_vector.x);
        anim.SetFloat("input_y", movement_vector.y);
    } else {
        anim.SetBool("iswalking", false);
    }

    rbody.MovePosition (rbody.position + movement_vector * speed * Time.deltaTime);

}

}

What I want is to somehow register where my character is facing/walking towards to be able to Instansiate a gameobject infront of it.

How do I do that?

Answer 1

Add a Vector2 private variable to your class. This variable will tells you at any time where your character is facing:

private Vector2 facingDirection = Vector2.zero;
...
void FixedUpdate () {

    Vector2 movement_vector = new Vector2(Input.GetAxisRaw("Horizontal"), Input.GetAxisRaw("Vertical"));

    if (movement_vector != Vector2.zero) {
        anim.SetBool("iswalking", true);
        anim.SetFloat("input_x", movement_vector.x);
        anim.SetFloat("input_y", movement_vector.y);
        facingDirection= movement_vector;  // You save the direction only when the object is moving
        direction.Normalize() // Normalize it as the magnitude does not give any valuable information
    } else {
        anim.SetBool("iswalking", false);
    }

    rbody.MovePosition (rbody.position + movement_vector * speed * Time.deltaTime);

}

// Example of usage
private void createObject()
{
    GameObject newObject;
    float distance = 3; // instantiate an object 3 units in front of the character

    // Now you can access the current direction of the character anywhere in the class
    Instantiate(newObject, transform.position + facingDirection*distance, Quaternion.identity);
}

Answer 2

You could try and check if the distance between two objects is increasing or decreasing or you can use an infinite raycast and check the object it hits.

Answer 3

Are you just looking for Transform.forward?