Vector Basics

A vector is a very common concept mentioned in math, physics, and computer science. Understanding what they are and how to use them is essential in 3D game design.

Definition

In math and physics, a vector is a directional arrow that represents a certain length and direction. In computer science, a vector is a type of data structure that can store multiple numbers. Those numbers correlate to the directional arrow’s end position assuming the arrow started at the origin. Here’s an example of a 2D vector represented by the red arrow and the ending position coordinates (X=5, Y=5).

Use Cases

In programming, vectors are most commonly used to account for an object’s position and speed. Take this example of a player currently at the red vector position (5, 5) and is moving at a speed equal to the green vector (0, 4).

Vector Addition

Adding two vectors is equivalent to combining two vectors to make a sum vector. The sum vector is calculated by adding the two vectors’ number together in the same order. Using the example from above, adding the current position vector and the speed vector will result in a sum vector that represents the new position.

Vector Subtraction

Subtracting two vectors will result in a difference or offset vector. This represents the vector that connects the two endpoints. This is incredibly useful in games that need to know the distance of two objects or the direction required to move from one object to another. Here’s an example of an offset vector to determine the distance and direction of two players.

Normalizing a Vector

In some cases, it is useful to keep the direction of a vector but have the length of the vector equal to 1. This is known as normalizing a vector or turning a vector into a unit vector. One use case is to normalize the offset vector of two players to get a speed unit vector for the first player to approach the second player.

Scaling a Vector

A vector can be multiplied by a single number, which will multiply each number in the vector independently. By normalizing a vector and then multiplying it with a number, any vector can be modified to a desired length. For example, to move one player to another player at a certain speed, the following can be done:

• Subtract the player position vectors to get an offset vector.
• Normalize the offset vector so the length is 1.
• Multiply the normalized vector by the desired speed value.
• The multiplication result is the desired speed vector.

Dot Product

The dot product is when you project a vector onto another vector. The result of a dot product represents the similarity of two vectors. In game design, it is common to get the dot product of two normalized vectors to compare their directions. If the dot product returns 1, then they are pointed in the same direction. If it returns -1, then the vector is facing opposite directions.

Here’s an example that calculates the dot product of a player’s offset vector to another player and the player’s forward looking vector. The result will be slightly negative because the players are slightly behind each other. The dot product could be used to detect if the player is facing in a general direction.