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+--- Thread: Just Curious... (/thread-2052.html)
Just Curious... - GrimCaplan - 16-02-2020
I was wondering what 'Mu' means in the ObiParticlePicker?
Like not just its function, but what the 'm' and the 'u' actually stand for? Is it like measured unit or..?
RE: Just Curious... - josemendez - 17-02-2020
(16-02-2020, 10:57 PM)GrimCaplan Wrote: I was wondering what 'Mu' means in the ObiParticlePicker?
Like not just its function, but what the 'm' and the 'u' actually stand for? Is it like measured unit or..?
'Mu' stands for the greek letter mu (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mu_(letter)). In physics it can be used to denote the friction coefficient of a material, or fluid viscosity, among other things.
Sometimes it's used to name a normalized parameter, such as in ObiParticlePicker's case. Used in the ProjectPointLine() function, it is an out parameter that represents a point along a line segment. It ranges from 0 (point is at the start of the segment) to 1 (point lies at the end of the segment). If the optional parameter "clampToSegment" is set to false, then it can be negative or larger than 1, representing points outside the line segment.
I've also seen used as the interpolation parameter in lerp functions. In Unity they call it 't' instead: https://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/Vector3.Lerp.html, I don't think it is a great choice because many beginners think it must mean "time", and pass Time.deltaTime or similar stuff in cases where it does not make sense.
RE: Just Curious... - GrimCaplan - 17-02-2020
Huh. Neat. Never seen anyone else use Mu like that.
It does have a ton of usage cases.