Unity objects bend around forcefield - unity3d

Question

I want to achieve this image below where it looks like the towers are being influenced by forcefield.
It looks simple, right?
GameObject towers = GameObject.Find("towers");
GameObject ball = GameObject.Find ("ball");
foreach (Transform tower in towers.transform) {
Vector3 heading = ball.transform.position - tower.position;
float distance = heading.magnitude;
Vector3 direction = heading.normalized;
Vector3 newDir = Vector3.RotateTowards(ball.transform.position, heading, 1, 0.0F);
tower.rotation = Quaternion.LookRotation(newDir);
//Debug.DrawRay(ball.transform.position, newDir, Color.red);
}
This is the result:
The towers in the back are decent but the front is falling in the wrong direction. What happened? Also, is there a way to control how much influence the towers bend depending on the distance from the ball to the tower?

Answer 1

Here is a solution which uses an AnimationCurve to control the rotation angle of your towers according to the distance between them and your ball.
My animation curve has two keys :
(0, 90) // Meaning the tower will be rotated 90° when they are 0 units from the ball
(10, 0) // Meaning the tower will be rotated 0° when they are 10 units from the ball
public AnimationCurve effect;
private GameObject towers ;
private GameObject ball ;
private void Start()
{
towers = GameObject.Find("towers");
ball = GameObject.Find ("ball");
}
private void Update()
{
foreach (Transform tower in towers.transform)
{
Vector3 direction = (ball.position - tower.position);
Vector3 rotationAxis = Vector3.Cross( direction.normalized, Vector3.up );
float angle = effect.Evaluate( direction.magnitude ) ;
tower.rotation = Quaternion.AngleAxis( angle, rotationAxis );
// If you want your towers to look at your ball :
// tower.rotation = Quaternion.LookRotation( direction ) * Quaternion.Euler( -angle, 0, 0 );
}
}