How to set a gameobject to an exact length in unity

Question

In Unity I have a float that represents a distance

float distance = Vector3.Distance(start.position,end.position);

I want to use that float to change the size of an object along its Z axis. I tried:

gameobject.transform.localScale.z = distance;

However, this just changes the scale, I need to change the game object to an exact length. Is there a straightforward way to achieve this?

Answer 1

I created a workaround function to convert a specific length into a scale (for anyone who may find this question in the future). Game objects can only have their size changed though scale, but their exact size can be found through the renderer. using a little interpolation you can convert this into a new scale to resize your object to an exact size.

public void newScale(GameObject theGameObject, float newSize) {

    float size = theGameObject.GetComponent<Renderer> ().bounds.size.y;

    Vector3 rescale = theGameObject.transform.localScale;

    rescale.y = newSize * rescale.y / size;

    theGameObject.transform.localScale = rescale;

}

Answer 2

Unity has no thing like "Length" for any object. At the scale of (1,1,1) unity considers that every object is of one unit. meaning if you want your object to be 3 units long along z axis you change its scale to (1,1,3) and similarly for other axis. thats why it is said that you need to take special care while designing assets for unity as they all need to made according to unity defined scale.