i'm trying to get the tangent vector for each point on the circle , i tried to use the derivative for the circle equation, but the result looks off in the viewport, so i'm wondering if i can find some help here
the code
public void OnDrawGizmos(){
step = (360.0f * Mathf.Deg2Rad) / numberOfPoints ;
CreateVertices();
}
void CreateVertices()
{
Points.Clear();
Normals.Clear();
Tangents.Clear();
float dynamicAngle = 0.0f;
for (int i = 0; i <= numberOfPoints; i++)
{
Vector3 point;
point.x = transform.position.x + Radius * Mathf.Cos(dynamicAngle);
point.y = transform.position.y + Radius * Mathf.Sin(dynamicAngle);
point.z = transform.position.z;
dynamicAngle = dynamicAngle + step;
if (i >= 1)
{
Gizmos.color = Color.red;
Gizmos.DrawLine(Points[i - 1], point);
Gizmos.color = Color.white;
}
Points.Add(point);
CalculateNormals(dynamicAngle ,point);
CalculateTangents(dynamicAngle,i , point);
}
}
void CalculateNormals(float dynamicAngle , Vector3 point)
{
Vector3 Normal = (point - transform.position).normalized;
Gizmos.color = Color.magenta;
Gizmos.DrawLine(Normal, point);
Gizmos.color = Color.white;
Normals.Add(Normal);
}
void CalculateTangents(float dynamicAngle,int i ,Vector3 point)
{
Vector3 tangent;
tangent = new Vector3(-Normals[i].y, Normals[i].x, 0);
tangent.Normalize();
Gizmos.color = Color.blue;
Gizmos.DrawLine( point, tangent);
Gizmos.color = Color.white;
Tangents.Add(tangent);
}
Blue is the tangents purple is the normals, as you can see they are not perpendicular:
To understand my issue better here is a gif from unity viewport:
Since you already calculated the normals you can use the cross product to get the corresponding tangents
Vector3 up = new Vector3(0, 0, 1); // up side of your circle
Vector3 tangent = Vector3.Cross(normal, up);
If you only need to use circles on a specific plane you can also use this simplification
Vector3 tangent = new Vector3(-normal.y, normal.x, 0);
Edit:
The normals and tangents are direction vectors. They point from point
in the direction the normal / tangent whould point. To draw the tangent, you have to pass the correct start and end points of the line by using
Gizmos.DrawLine(point, point + tangent);
If you move the GameObject away from the origin you will notice that the normals also get deformed, this has the same reason.