UNITY3D JOINTS

LEARN ABOUT UNITY CONCEPT JOINTS

Jordan T Kay
4 min readMay 3, 2024

WHAT ARE JOINTS?
Joints connect GameObjects and simulate forces for pivoting, movement, and restriction.

Unity joints, specifically connect one Rigidbody to another Rigidbody (or fixed point in space), and can apply/restrict movement that is applied to the rigidbodies.

JOINT TYPES

Unity provides the following joint components:

  1. CHARACTER JOINT —mimics the functionality of a ball and socket joint, similar to the structure of a human hip or shoulder. It restricts the movement of rigid bodies along all linear degrees of freedom while allowing complete freedom of rotation around multiple axes. When rigid bodies are connected to a Character Joint, they adjust their orientation based on each axis and rotate around a central point of origin, creating a pivot effect that simulates natural joint movement.
  2. CONFIGURABLE JOINT — replicates the behavior of skeletal joints, such as those found in a ragdoll. With this joint, you have the flexibility to customize and control rigid body movement across various degrees of freedom. This means you can specify how much force to apply and which movements to restrict, allowing for precise control over the behavior of connected rigid bodies.
  3. FIXED JOINT — limits the movement of one rigid body to mimic the movement of another rigid body to which it’s connected. This is particularly handy when you require rigid bodies that can separate easily or…

--

--

Jordan T Kay

Join my journey into game development with Unity. Learning all I can to produce quality games. 🚀