Making raycasting visible using parts

Help and Feedback Scripting Support
#1

hey guys, the other day I was watching a tutorial on how to make rays visible using parts by B Ricey, it was a pretty good video until I saw that he was using the deprecated raycasting system (original video: How to make Raycasting Visible using Parts - Roblox Studio - YouTube)

I tried implement the concept into the new raycasting system, but it didn’t turn out as I expected…
My code:

local origin = script.Parent.Position
local direction = (script.Parent.CFrame.LookVector * -1) * 20

function MakePartVisible(raycastResult)
	local part = Instance.new("Part", workspace)
	
	part.Anchored = true
	part.CFrame = CFrame.new(origin, direction)
	part.Size = Vector3.new(1, 1, direction.Z)
	
	part.Material = Enum.Material.Neon
	part.BrickColor = BrickColor.Red()
	
	return part
end

local raycastResult = workspace:Raycast(origin, direction)

MakePartVisible(raycastResult)

The result:

image
image786×528 64.2 KB

If you have any solutions, please share! Thanks in advance =)

2 Likes
#2

This has something to do with positioning your ray.

In order to achieve what the video has shown, you must understand two things:

  • Where is the ray facing?
  • What is the desired position?

Your code basically positions the ray part to the origin, which is not wrong, but the wrong part here is how it is being positioned. By default, Roblox positions parts with respect to the center of a part. The center of a part is usually the midpoint of each dimension length of the part, hence your part is positioned such so.

To solve this problem, the best way is to position the part somewhere that is at the middle of its raycast direction:

    local rayPos = (raycastResult.Origin + raycastResult.Direction/2)
	part.CFrame = CFrame.new(rayPos, direction)
	part.Size = Vector3.new(1, 1, direction.Z)

This positions the ray part at the middle of the raycast direction, and then make it face to the desired direction.

1 Like
#3

This tutorial is on the official Roblox studio help page, it’s pretty long but I’m sure that there’s something about making the raycast visible in there because I followed the tutorial. Hit Detection with Lasers | Roblox Creator Documentation

1 Like
#4

I have done much with this before. I recommend you use a LineAdornee as you don’t have to mess with CFrames.
Anyways, this is some old code that you may want to use. I would recommend you only use it for debugging.

local raycastView = Instance.new("Part")
raycastView.Anchored = true
raycastView.CanCollide = false
raycastView.CanQuery = false
raycastView.CanTouch = false
raycastView.CastShadow = false
local function visRay(startPosition,direction,colour)
	local endPosition = startPosition + direction
	local midpoint = (startPosition + endPosition) /2
	local ray = raycastView:Clone()
	ray.Parent = workspace
	ray.Size = Vector3.new(0.2,0.2,direction.Magnitude)
	ray.CFrame = CFrame.lookAt(midpoint,startPosition)
	Debris:AddItem(ray,0.1)
	--Ignore this if you do not care about the colour :)
	if colour == "red" then
		ray.BrickColor =BrickColor.new("Really red")
	elseif colour == "green" then
		ray.BrickColor =BrickColor.new("Bright green")
	elseif colour == "blue" then
		ray.BrickColor = BrickColor.new("Bright blue")
	elseif colour == "violet" then
		ray.BrickColor = BrickColor.new("Bright violet")
	end
	ray.Material = "Neon"
end

The difference is that you have to set your CFrame to the midpoint between the origin and the destination.

2 Likes
#5

hey, I don’t think Origin is a property of RaycastResult :sweat_smile:

image
image1920×1020 211 KB

1 Like
#6 
local function debugRay(OriginCFrame, Position)
		--spawn(function()
			local Beam = Instance.new("Part", game.Workspace.EffectsFolder)
			Beam.BrickColor = BrickColor.new("New Yeller")
			Beam.FormFactor = "Custom"
			Beam.Transparency = 0
			Beam.Anchored = true
			Beam.CanCollide = false
			local distance = (OriginCFrame.p - Position).magnitude
			Beam.Size = Vector3.new(0.05, 0.05, distance)
			Beam.CFrame = CFrame.new(OriginCFrame.p, Position) * CFrame.new(0, 0, -distance / 2)
			Debris:AddItem(Beam, 15)
		--end)
	end
2 Likes
#7

dont forget to mark somebody as a solution these solutions all work.

1 Like
#8

This was very helpful thank you!