Formula node

Note

For versions 2019/2020 LTS, download the Visual Scripting package from the Unity Asset Store.

Formula is a powerful node that evaluates logical and mathematical expressions directly via a textual Formula and a list of Arguments.

Important

Due to the binary tree traversal overhead (despite caching attempts), performance in using the formula node is significantly slower than using the operator nodes individually. It is preferable to avoid using this node at every frame.

Although a formula can return either a boolean for logic, or a number for math, formulas can return any type of value.

The first text field in the header is the formula itself.

The second text field is the number of arguments. It's set to 2 by default, giving us A and B as inputs. Formulas can have up to 10 arguments, which are always ordered alphabetically. If more are required, they are called B, C, D, E, and so forth.

For example, this formula returns a boolean indicating:

• whether, at a minimum, 10 seconds have elapsed since the start of the game and
• the current object's name is Player.

Arguments

Variable Names

Variable names can be directly used in the formula. For example, a graph variable named health can return a boolean just by typing the formula health > 50. The argument names are evaluated in the following order of priority:

1. Alphabetical argument names (a - z)
2. Graph variable names
3. Object variable names
4. Scene variable names
5. Application variable names
6. Saved variable names

Properties and Methods

Use the \[arg.prop\] notation to retrieve the value of a property on an argument or variable. For example, if position is a Vector 3 object variable, check if it is equal to zero with: \[position.x\] = 0. Get the return value of parameterless methods with the \[arg.Method()\] notation.

Note: Accessing properties and methods is not guaranteed to be compatible with AOT platforms, because the AOT pre-build cannot generate stubs for members that are only accessed by name.

Literals

Use the following literals for assigning fixed values.

Literal	Description	Example
Number	An integer or float.	3.5
String	A piece of text between apostrophes.	"Hello World!"
Boolean	A boolean value.	true, false
Null	The null constant.	a != null
Delta Time	The Unity frame delta time.	30 \* dt
Invert Delta Time	The inverse of the delta time.	30 / second

Operators

Every common logical and mathematical operator can be used in formulas, as well as the ones defined through custom operator overloading in script.

Operator	Operation	Rank	Result	Example
not, !	Logical Negation	Unary	The opposite of the operand.	not true
\-	Numerical Negation	Unary	The negative of the operand.	-5
and, &&	Logical And	Binary	True if both operands are true.	(a \< 5) and (b \> 3)
or, \|\|	Logical Or	Binary	True if either operand is true	(a \< 5) or (b \> 3)
=, ==	Equality	Binary	True if the two operands are equal.	a = b
!=, \<\>	Inequality	Binary	True if the two operands are not equal.	a != b
\<, \<=, \>, \>=	Numeric Comparison	Binary	The result of a numeric comparison	a \>= 10
\+	Addition	Binary	The sum of the two operands.	a + 5
\-	Subtraction	Binary	The difference between the two operands.	b - 3
\*	Multiplication	Binary	The product of the two operands.	12 \* a
/	Division	Binary	The quotient of the two operands.	b / 2
%	Modulo	Binary	The remainder of the division of the two operands.	a % 2
?:	If	Ternary	The left operand if the condition is true, otherwise the right operand.	(health \> 0) ? "Alive" : "Dead"

All common bitwise operators like \~ and >> are also supported.

Functions

You can also use any function from the following table.

Name	Result	Example
abs	The absolute value of a specified number.	abs(-1)
acos	The angle whose cosine is the specified number.	acos(1)
asin	The angle whose sine is the specified number.	asin(0)
atan	The angle whose tangent is the specified number.	atan(0)
ceiling	The smallest integer greater than or equal to the specified number.	ceiling(1.5)
cos	The cosine of the specified angle.	cos(0)
exp	e raised to the specified power.	exp(0)
floor	The largest integer less than or equal to the specified number.	floor(1.5)
log	The logarithm of a specified number.	log(1, 10)
log10	The base 10 logarithm of a specified number.	log10(1)
max	The larger of two specified numbers.	max(1, 2)
min	The smaller of two numbers.	min(1, 2)
pow	A specified number raised to the specified power.	pow(3, 2)
round	Rounds a value to the nearest integer or specified number of decimal places.	round(3.222, 2)
sign	1 if the number is positive, -1 is if it negative.	sign(-10)
sin	The sine of the specified angle.	sin(0)
sqrt	The square root of a specified number.	sqrt(4)
tan	The tangent of the specified angle.	tan(0)
truncate	The integral part of a number.	truncate(1.7)
v2	Creates a 2D vector.	v2(0, 0)
v3	Creates a 3D vector.	v3(0, 0, 0)
v4	Creates a 4D vector.	v4(0, 0, 0, 0)