How can I calculate position of a part to HumanoidRootPart?

[Yawyawalpaca333]

Hello!

I am wondering how I would find the real-time in-game distance between a part and a humanoidrootpart. I’ve made a beam system that creates a line between the player and a part, but I want to make it to where the beam disappears when the player is outside of a certain range. For example I want to be able to find is player >x(distance) from part then beam.visible = false and blah blah blah. What would I use to find this?

[Prototrode (Vernumerator)]

First find the displacement between the part and the HumanoidRootPart. The displacement would be the vector that when added to either one, will arrive at the other position.

local disp: Vector3 = HumanoidRootPart.Position - Part.Position

Then, you get the length of the displacement by simply doing disp.Magnitude, which is just the Pythagorean theorem in 3D.

If you want to compare distances however, it might be more efficient to avoid using magnitude since that involves using squareroots which are pretty expensive. Observe:

if a.Magnitude > b.Magnitude then
--is the same as
if math.sqrt(a.X^2 + a.Y^2 + a.Z^2) > math.sqrt(b.X^2 + b.Y^2 + b.Z^2) then
--algebra tells you that whatever you do, you must do to both sides to remain equal
--so we will remove the squareroot from both sides
--now it becomes
if a.X^2 + a.Y^2 + a.Z^2 > b.X^2 + b.Y^2 + b.Z^2 then

So for your beam, you will just constantly check that magnitude and whenever it exceeds a set value you make it disappear

local maxRange: number = 100
Beam.Enabled = (HumanoidRootPart.Position - Part.Position).Magnitude <= maxRange

[hotpocket285]

using the .Magnitude function of a vector to get the length of it. take the HumanoidRootPart position you want and the part position you want, subtract one from another and then use the Magnitude function on it to get the distance.

Example:

local rootPart = character.HumanoidRootPart
local part = workspace.Part

local distance = (rootPart.Position - part.Position).Magnitude

[Yawyawalpaca333]

Thank you for the great response!
I implemented this method into my game, however I think the way I did it was incorrect as it isn’t working. Here is the snippet of code that mostly controls the beam. There’s other code but it is just determining which tycoon (it’s for a tycoon game) is the players which is therefore where the beam will come from, which works fine.

local Players = game:GetService("Players")
local player = Players.LocalPlayer


local function CreatePart(character, objectToFollow)
	if not workspace.CurrentCamera:FindFirstChild(objectToFollow.Parent.Name) then
		local newPart = script.Part:Clone()
		newPart.Name = objectToFollow.Parent.Name
		newPart.Anchored = true
		newPart.CanCollide = false
		newPart.Material = Enum.Material.ForceField
		newPart.CanTouch = false
		newPart.Color = script.ColorValue.Value
		newPart.Parent = workspace.CurrentCamera
		character.Humanoid.Died:Connect(function()
			if newPart then
				newPart:Destroy()
			end
		end)
		local function FindFunction() -- where I started implemeting code that controls part position
			local Mid = (character.HumanoidRootPart.Position + objectToFollow.Position)/2
			local dist = (character.HumanoidRootPart.Position - objectToFollow.Position).Magnitude
			newPart.CFrame = CFrame.lookAt(character.HumanoidRootPart.Position, objectToFollow.Position)
			newPart.Position = Mid
			newPart.Size = Vector3.new(script.SizeX.Value, script.SizeY.Value, dist)
			if dist > 50 then -- where I detect distance/ likely where problem is
				newPart.Transparency = 0
			else
				newPart.Transparency = 1
			end
		end
		local LoadCor = coroutine.create(function()
			while objectToFollow.Parent ~= nil and objectToFollow.Transparency == 0 and character ~= nil do
				task.wait()
				FindFunction()
			end
			newPart:Destroy()
		end)
		coroutine.resume(LoadCor)
	end
end

I don’t know why it’s not working as I don’t have much experience in this certain field yet, obviously

[Prototrode (Vernumerator)]

Please describe the problem. If it isn’t working, is it that the beam never appears or that it appears at the wrong time and place?

@Yawyawalpaca333

			if dist > 50 then -- where I detect distance/ likely where problem is
				newPart.Transparency = 0
			else
				newPart.Transparency = 1
			end

What you have currently means that the beam will appear when the distance exceeds 50 studs.

[Yawyawalpaca333]

LOL that solved the problem . Thank you for pointing that out it works perfectly now thank you so much!