C#, how can I Physics.Raycast from a position other than the object origin?

Hello, I wish to be able to use Physics.Raycast to shoot 2 parallel rays at positions x+-.5 relative to the capsule like shown in figure b.

Currently I only know how to make it like in figure A though. This is the code I use:

Code (CSharp):

1. float dist1 = 0;
2. RaycastHit hit;
3. if (Physics.Raycast(transform.position, -Vector3.up, out hit))
4. dist1 = hit.distance;
5. print(dist1);

 

What you could do would be to have a few Vector3 variables defined at the top of the code, and then update them every frame. See below:

Code (csharp):

1.  
2. Vector rayStart1, rayStart2, myPos;     // rayStart1 and rayStart2 are where the rays will start
3.  
4. void Start()
5. {
6.    myPos = transform.position;    // caching transform.position
7.    rayStart1 = myPos;
8.    rayStart2 = myPos;
9.    rayStart1.x -= 0.5f;                   // adjusts the x-coordinate
10.    rayStart2.x += 0.5f
11. }
12.  
13. // called once a frame
14. void Update()
15. {
16.    myPos = transform.position;
17.    rayStart1 = myPos;                // resets rayStart1 to the object's currentposition
18.    rayStart1.x -= 0.5f;                 // decreases the x-coordinate by 0.5 during the same frame
19.    rayStart2 = myPos;               // repeat for rayStart2
20.    rayStart2.x += 0.5f
21.  
22.   // call your raycasting code here, once for each ray
23. }
24.  

 

Instead of hardcoding a position offset, create 2 empty gameobjects and attach them to either side of your player, whereever you want the casts to start. Then pass those into your script.

It's a lot more scalable and a lot easier to change.

 

Those are both interesting answers, I like the first one better (because I love being able to do things using JUST code). I do want to ask a bit more of a detailed question for some clarity though.

in:
Physics.Raycast(transform.position, -Vector3.up, out hit)

The first argument is for the position right? Is there really no way to have the differences of position stated somewhere in there? This is just pseudo code to illustrate it, but something that would work kinda like this? :
Physics.Raycast(transform.position(x-.5f, y, z), -Vector3.up, out hit)

 

Seeing as the major advantage of using an engine like unity is the opposite of this, it doesn't make any sense.

Code (CSharp):

1. Physics.Raycast(new Vector3(transform.position.x - 5.0f,transform.position.y,transform.posiiton.z), -Vector3.up, out hit);

 

Yeah, that's definitely a better solution.

 

What if you had 10 different AI types that all used the same script but prefabs were all different? But you wanted to change one position. You'd have to manually reset all 10 of those game objects. It also makes the object more messy. As projects get larger and larger dealing with Objects should be minimized.

I think the code approach is the better solution for modifying the Raycast position. Make it a Vector3 you can add to your current position.. Then you can handle it in the inspector.