A* Pathfinding Project  4.1.11
The A* Pathfinding Project for Unity 3D
GraphUpdateScene Class Reference

Helper class for easily updating graphs. More...

Detailed Description

Helper class for easily updating graphs.

The GraphUpdateScene component is really easy to use. Create a new empty GameObject and add the component to it, it can be found in Components–>Pathfinding–>GraphUpdateScene.
When you have added the component, you should see something like the image below.

The region which the component will affect is defined by creating a polygon in the scene. If you make sure you have the Position tool enabled (top-left corner of the Unity window) you can shift+click in the scene view to add more points to the polygon. You can remove points using shift+alt+click. By clicking on the points you can bring up a positioning tool. You can also open the "points" array in the inspector to set each point's coordinates manually.
In the inspector there are a number of variables. The first one is named "Convex", it sets if the convex hull of the points should be calculated or if the polygon should be used as-is. Using the convex hull is faster when applying the changes to the graph, but with a non-convex polygon you can specify more complicated areas.
The next two variables, called "Apply On Start" and "Apply On Scan" determine when to apply the changes. If the object is in the scene from the beginning, both can be left on, it doesn't matter since the graph is also scanned at start. However if you instantiate it later in the game, you can make it apply it's setting directly, or wait until the next scan (if any). If the graph is rescanned, all GraphUpdateScene components which have the Apply On Scan variable toggled will apply their settings again to the graph since rescanning clears all previous changes.
You can also make it apply it's changes using scripting.

GetComponent<GraphUpdateScene>().Apply ();

The above code will make it apply its changes to the graph (assuming a GraphUpdateScene component is attached to the same GameObject).

Next there is "Modify Walkability" and "Set Walkability" (which appears when "Modify Walkability" is toggled). If Modify Walkability is set, then all nodes inside the area will either be set to walkable or unwalkable depending on the value of the "Set Walkability" variable.

Penalty can also be applied to the nodes. A higher penalty (aka weight) makes the nodes harder to traverse so it will try to avoid those areas.

The tagging variables can be read more about on this page: Working with tags.

Note
The Y (up) axis of the transform that this component is attached to should be in the same direction as the up direction of the graph. So if you for example have a grid in the XY plane then the transform should have the rotation (-90,0,0).

Public Member Functions

void Apply ()
 Updates graphs with a created GUO. More...
 
void DisableLegacyMode ()
 Disables legacy mode if it is enabled. More...
 
Bounds GetBounds ()
 Calculates the bounds for this component. More...
 
virtual void InvertSettings ()
 Inverts all invertable settings for this GUS. More...
 
void LockToY ()
 Lock all points to a specific Y value. More...
 
override void OnPostScan ()
 Called right after all graphs have been scanned. More...
 
void RecalcConvex ()
 Recalculate convex hull. More...
 
void Start ()
 Do some stuff at start. More...
 
- Public Member Functions inherited from GraphModifier
virtual void OnGraphsPostUpdate ()
 Called after graphs have been updated using GraphUpdateObjects. More...
 
virtual void OnGraphsPreUpdate ()
 Called before graphs are updated using GraphUpdateObjects. More...
 
virtual void OnLatePostScan ()
 Called at the end of the scanning procedure. More...
 
virtual void OnPostCacheLoad ()
 Called after cached graphs have been loaded. More...
 
virtual void OnPreScan ()
 Called right before graphs are going to be scanned. More...
 

Public Attributes

bool applyOnScan = true
 Apply this graph update object whenever a graph is rescanned. More...
 
bool applyOnStart = true
 Apply this graph update object on start. More...
 
bool convex = true
 Use the convex hull of the points instead of the original polygon. More...
 
bool legacyMode = false
 Emulates behavior from before version 4.0. More...
 
float minBoundsHeight = 1
 Minumum height of the bounds of the resulting Graph Update Object. More...
 
bool modifyTag
 Should the tags of the nodes be modified. More...
 
bool modifyWalkability
 If true, then all affected nodes will be made walkable or unwalkable according to setWalkability. More...
 
int penaltyDelta
 Penalty to add to nodes. More...
 
Vector3 [] points
 Points which define the region to update. More...
 
bool resetPenaltyOnPhysics = true
 Reset penalties to their initial values when updating grid graphs and updatePhysics is true. More...
 
int setTag
 If modifyTag is enabled, set all nodes' tags to this value. More...
 
bool setWalkability
 Nodes will be made walkable or unwalkable according to this value if modifyWalkability is true. More...
 
bool updateErosion = true
 Update Erosion for GridGraphs. More...
 
bool updatePhysics
 Update node's walkability and connectivity using physics functions. More...
 

Protected Member Functions

override void Awake ()
 
- Protected Member Functions inherited from GraphModifier
override void Awake ()
 
virtual void OnDestroy ()
 
virtual void OnDisable ()
 Removes this modifier from list of active modifiers. More...
 
virtual void OnEnable ()
 Adds this modifier to list of active modifiers. More...
 
- Protected Member Functions inherited from VersionedMonoBehaviour
virtual int OnUpgradeSerializedData (int version, bool unityThread)
 Handle serialization backwards compatibility. More...
 

Private Member Functions

void OnDrawGizmos ()
 Draws some gizmos. More...
 
void OnDrawGizmos (bool selected)
 Draws some gizmos. More...
 
void OnDrawGizmosSelected ()
 Draws some gizmos. More...
 
void ToggleUseWorldSpace ()
 Switches between using world space and using local space. More...
 

Private Attributes

Vector3 [] convexPoints
 Private cached convex hull of the points. More...
 
bool firstApplied
 Has apply been called yet. More...
 
bool legacyUseWorldSpace
 Use world space for coordinates. More...
 
int serializedVersion = 0
 
int setTagInvert
 Private cached inversion of setTag. More...
 

Additional Inherited Members

- Public Types inherited from GraphModifier
enum  EventType {
  PostScan = 1 << 0, PreScan = 1 << 1, LatePostScan = 1 << 2, PreUpdate = 1 << 3,
  PostUpdate = 1 << 4, PostCacheLoad = 1 << 5
}
 GraphModifier event type. More...
 
- Static Public Member Functions inherited from GraphModifier
static void FindAllModifiers ()
 
static void TriggerEvent (GraphModifier.EventType type)
 Triggers an event for all active graph modifiers. More...
 
- Static Protected Member Functions inherited from GraphModifier
static List< T > GetModifiersOfType< T > ()
 
- Protected Attributes inherited from GraphModifier
ulong uniqueID
 Unique persistent ID for this component, used for serialization. More...
 
- Static Protected Attributes inherited from GraphModifier
static Dictionary< ulong, GraphModifierusedIDs = new Dictionary<ulong, GraphModifier>()
 Maps persistent IDs to the component that uses it. More...
 

Member Function Documentation

◆ Apply()

void Apply ( )

Updates graphs with a created GUO.

Creates a Pathfinding.GraphUpdateObject with a Pathfinding.GraphUpdateShape representing the polygon of this object and update all graphs using AstarPath.UpdateGraphs. This will not update graphs immediately. See AstarPath.UpdateGraph for more info.

◆ Awake()

override void Awake ( )
protectedvirtual

Reimplemented from VersionedMonoBehaviour.

◆ DisableLegacyMode()

void DisableLegacyMode ( )

Disables legacy mode if it is enabled.

Legacy mode is automatically enabled for components when upgrading from an earlier version than 3.8.6.

◆ GetBounds()

Bounds GetBounds ( )

Calculates the bounds for this component.

This is a relatively expensive operation, it needs to go through all points and run matrix multiplications.

◆ InvertSettings()

virtual void InvertSettings ( )
virtual

Inverts all invertable settings for this GUS.

Namely: penalty delta, walkability, tags.

Penalty delta will be changed to negative penalty delta.
setWalkability will be inverted.
setTag will be stored in a private variable, and the new value will be 0. When calling this function again, the saved value will be the new value.

Calling this function an even number of times without changing any settings in between will be identical to no change in settings.

◆ LockToY()

void LockToY ( )

Lock all points to a specific Y value.

Deprecated:
The Y coordinate is no longer important. Use the position of the object instead.

◆ OnDrawGizmos() [1/2]

void OnDrawGizmos ( )
private

Draws some gizmos.

◆ OnDrawGizmos() [2/2]

void OnDrawGizmos ( bool  selected)
private

Draws some gizmos.

◆ OnDrawGizmosSelected()

void OnDrawGizmosSelected ( )
private

Draws some gizmos.

◆ OnPostScan()

override void OnPostScan ( )
virtual

Called right after all graphs have been scanned.

FloodFill and other post processing has not been done.

Warning
Since OnEnable and Awake are called roughly in the same time, the only way to ensure that these scripts get this call when scanning in Awake is to set the Script Execution Order for AstarPath to some time later than default time (see Edit -> Project Settings -> Script Execution Order).
Todo:
Is this still relevant? A call to FindAllModifiers should have before this method is called so the above warning is probably not relevant anymore.
See also
OnLatePostScan

Reimplemented from GraphModifier.

◆ RecalcConvex()

void RecalcConvex ( )

Recalculate convex hull.

Will not do anything if convex is disabled.

◆ Start()

void Start ( )

Do some stuff at start.

◆ ToggleUseWorldSpace()

void ToggleUseWorldSpace ( )
private

Switches between using world space and using local space.

Deprecated:
World space can no longer be used as it does not work well with rotated graphs. Use transform.InverseTransformPoint to transform points to local space.

Member Data Documentation

◆ applyOnScan

bool applyOnScan = true

Apply this graph update object whenever a graph is rescanned.

◆ applyOnStart

bool applyOnStart = true

Apply this graph update object on start.

◆ convex

bool convex = true

Use the convex hull of the points instead of the original polygon.

See also
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convex_hull

◆ convexPoints

Vector3 [] convexPoints
private

Private cached convex hull of the points.

◆ firstApplied

bool firstApplied
private

Has apply been called yet.

Used to prevent applying twice when both applyOnScan and applyOnStart are enabled

◆ legacyMode

bool legacyMode = false

Emulates behavior from before version 4.0.

◆ legacyUseWorldSpace

bool legacyUseWorldSpace
private

Use world space for coordinates.

If true, the shape will not follow when moving around the transform.

See also
ToggleUseWorldSpace

◆ minBoundsHeight

float minBoundsHeight = 1

Minumum height of the bounds of the resulting Graph Update Object.

Useful when all points are laid out on a plane but you still need a bounds with a height greater than zero since a zero height graph update object would usually result in no nodes being updated.

◆ modifyTag

bool modifyTag

Should the tags of the nodes be modified.

If enabled, set all nodes' tags to setTag

◆ modifyWalkability

bool modifyWalkability

If true, then all affected nodes will be made walkable or unwalkable according to setWalkability.

◆ penaltyDelta

int penaltyDelta

Penalty to add to nodes.

Usually you need quite large values, at least 1000-10000. A higher penalty means that agents will try to avoid those nodes more.

Be careful when setting negative values since if a node gets a negative penalty it will underflow and instead get really large. In most cases a warning will be logged if that happens.

See also
Working with tags for another way of applying penalties.

◆ points

Vector3 [] points

Points which define the region to update.

◆ resetPenaltyOnPhysics

bool resetPenaltyOnPhysics = true

Reset penalties to their initial values when updating grid graphs and updatePhysics is true.

If you want to keep old penalties even when you update the graph you may want to disable this option.

The images below shows two overlapping graph update objects, the right one happened to be applied before the left one. They both have updatePhysics = true and are set to increase the penalty of the nodes by some amount.

The first image shows the result when resetPenaltyOnPhysics is false. Both penalties are added correctly.

This second image shows when resetPenaltyOnPhysics is set to true. The first GUO is applied correctly, but then the second one (the left one) is applied and during its updating, it resets the penalties first and then adds penalty to the nodes. The result is that the penalties from both GUOs are not added together. The green patch in at the border is there because physics recalculation (recalculation of the position of the node, checking for obstacles etc.) affects a slightly larger area than the original GUO bounds because of the Grid Graph -> Collision Testing -> Diameter setting (it is enlarged by that value). So some extra nodes have their penalties reset.

◆ serializedVersion

int serializedVersion = 0
private

◆ setTag

int setTag

If modifyTag is enabled, set all nodes' tags to this value.

◆ setTagInvert

int setTagInvert
private

Private cached inversion of setTag.

Used for InvertSettings()

◆ setWalkability

bool setWalkability

Nodes will be made walkable or unwalkable according to this value if modifyWalkability is true.

◆ updateErosion

bool updateErosion = true

Update Erosion for GridGraphs.

When enabled, erosion will be recalculated for grid graphs after the GUO has been applied.

In the below image you can see the different effects you can get with the different values.
The first image shows the graph when no GUO has been applied. The blue box is not identified as an obstacle by the graph, the reason there are unwalkable nodes around it is because there is a height difference (nodes are placed on top of the box) so erosion will be applied (an erosion value of 2 is used in this graph). The orange box is identified as an obstacle, so the area of unwalkable nodes around it is a bit larger since both erosion and collision has made nodes unwalkable.
The GUO used simply sets walkability to true, i.e making all nodes walkable.

When updateErosion=True, the reason the blue box still has unwalkable nodes around it is because there is still a height difference so erosion will still be applied. The orange box on the other hand has no height difference and all nodes are set to walkable.

When updateErosion=False, all nodes walkability are simply set to be walkable in this example.

See also
Pathfinding.GridGraph

◆ updatePhysics

bool updatePhysics

Update node's walkability and connectivity using physics functions.

For grid graphs, this will update the node's position and walkability exactly like when doing a scan of the graph. If enabled for grid graphs, modifyWalkability will be ignored.

For Point Graphs, this will recalculate all connections which passes through the bounds of the resulting Graph Update Object using raycasts (if enabled).


The documentation for this class was generated from the following file: