Unity Script Reference – Vector3.sqrMagnitude

Vector3.sqrMagnitude

var sqrMagnitude : float

Description

Returns the squared length of this vector (Read Only).

The magnitude of a vector v is calculated as Mathf.Sqrt(Vector3.Dot(v, v)). However, the Sqrt calculation is quite complicated and takes longer to execute than the normal arithmetic operations. Calculating the squared magnitude instead of using the magnitude property is much faster - the calculation is basically the same only without the slow Sqrt call. If you are using magnitudes simply to compare distances, then you can just as well compare squared magnitudes against the squares of distances since the comparison will give the same result.

See Also: magnitude.

JavaScript

    // detects when the other transform is closer than closeDistance
    // this is faster than using Vector3.magnitude
    var other : Transform;
    var closeDistance = 5.0;
    
    function Update() {
        if (other) {
            var offset = other.position - transform.position;
            var sqrLen = offset.sqrMagnitude;
            // square the distance we compare with
            if( sqrLen < closeDistance*closeDistance )
                print ("The other transform is close to me!");
        }
    }

using UnityEngine;
using System.Collections;

public class example : MonoBehaviour {
    public Transform other;
    public float closeDistance = 5.0F;
    void Update() {
        if (other) {
            Vector3 offset = other.position - transform.position;
            float sqrLen = offset.sqrMagnitude;
            if (sqrLen < closeDistance * closeDistance)
                print("The other transform is close to me!");
            
        }
    }
}

import UnityEngine
import System.Collections

class example(MonoBehaviour):

    public other as Transform

    public closeDistance as single = 5.0F

    def Update():
        if other:
            offset as Vector3 = (other.position - transform.position)
            sqrLen as single = offset.sqrMagnitude
            if sqrLen < (closeDistance * closeDistance):
                print('The other transform is close to me!')