VEX - moving obj in a certain direction by a certain amount

[SteveNi]

Hi

I have an object and I want to move it lets say 1.5 units in a certain direction ( so move it along a certain vector ), so I tried what you can see in the picture.

Of course this doesn't work, because 1.5*{1,1,1} will result in moving the obj of 1.5 units in every axis.

So how can I work out the correct numbers to move the obj by a certain amount in a certain direction?

[berglte]

You need to normalize your direction vector first before the multiplication. 
 

vector dir = {1, 1, 1};
v@P += 1.5 * normalize(dir);

 

[konstantin magnus]

float distance = chf("distance");
vector direction = chv("direction");
@P += normalize(direction) * distance;

 

[SteveNi]

Quote

You need to normalize your direction vector first before the multiplication. 

 

Ok Thanks it works!

As far as I knew normalizing something would have made it equal to 1, could you explain better what it does?

[konstantin magnus]

after normalizing the vector (dividing each component by its length) it is exactly one unit long.

[SteveNi]

Ok thanks