In this lecture we look at ways to normalize our vectors. Which is incredibly useful, as we often want to find the direction vector and not worry about the magnitude.
Did you get the answer to the mini challange?
(What is the normalized unit vector for b = (5, 12))
Post your answer below and remember to use the spoiler tags!
x² = 5² + 12² = 168
x = 13
(5,12) / 13 => (5/13, 12/13)
(0.38, 0.92)
Did I understand this lecture correctly in saying that vector normalisation does only apply (in games at least) for diagonal movement?
Normalizing your vectors can come in handy for all sorts of things. Using it for limit diagonal movement is just one example.
Another might be when you want to apply a force in a given direction. Here you would normalize any vectors that you’re working with, to get a unit direction vector. You can then multiply this by the amount of force you want to impart.
You’ll encounter normalized vectors quite a bit over the next few lectures and we’ll be putting them to good use in the lectures “Reflection” and “Project on a Plane”.