Is using GetComponent slow?

Hi,

I'm using GetComponent to access variables in another script. I read somewhere that it was "relatively" slow. Is there a better way?

Just one more thing, FPSWalker seems to lag my program too. Not when I'm moving forward, just when I want to rotate left or right.

Thanks,

Chris

 

If you're using GetComponent a lot (like every frame), cache the component. Otherwise don't worry about it. Describe "lag", because there's nothing in the FPSWalker script that's slow.

--Eric

 

The trick here is to avoid calling it repeatedly, call it once and store the reference obtained in a variable then use that variable later when needed. Here are two simplistic examples:

Code (csharp):

1. // Bad
2. function Update () {
3.     var yourScript : ExampleScript = GetComponent (ExampleScript);
4.     yourScript.foo = 5;
5. }

Code (csharp):

1. // Good
2. var yourScript : ExampleScript;
3.  
4. function Start () {
5.   yourScript = GetComponent (ExampleScript);
6. }
7.  
8. function Update () {
9.   yourScript.foo = 5;
10. }

Again, the above are extremely simplistic but designed to prove a point. If you know you're going to need to access a component repeatedly then get a reference to it one time, then use that stored reference when necessary. This avoids the need to call GetComponent() repeatedly which can in fact be a performance drain if done in excess. Please note that this is a general strategy you should keep in mind across the board, any "finder" functions like that have to do some amount of work to look-up/find the item in question and that takes time (even if only tiny slices). But lots of tiny slices can add up, so cache references!

 

Edit: Nevermind, thanks for your help guys

Chris.