How to calculate number of sprites to spawn across the device's screen height? - unity3d

Question

In my Unity2D project, I am trying to spawn my sprite on top of each other and across the entire height of the device's screen. For example to give an idea, think of a box on top of each other across the entire device's screen height. In my case, I'm spawning arrow sprites instead of boxes
I already got the sprites spawning on top of each other successfully. My problem now is how to calculate how many sprites to spawn to make sure it spreads across the screen's height.
I currently have this snippet of code:
public void SpawnInitialArrows()
{
// get the size of our sprite first
Vector3 arrowSizeInWorld = dummyArrow.GetComponent<Renderer>().bounds.size;
// get screen.height in world coords
float screenHeightInWorld = Camera.main.ScreenToWorldPoint(new Vector3(0, Screen.height, 0)).y;
// get the bottom edge of the screen in world coords
Vector3 bottomEdgeInWorld = Camera.main.ScreenToWorldPoint(new Vector3(0,0,0));
// calculate how many arrows to spawn based on screen.height/arrow.size.y
int numberOfArrowsToSpawn = (int)screenHeightInWorld / (int)arrowSizeInWorld.y;
// create a vector3 to store the position of the previous arrow
Vector3 lastArrowPos = Vector3.zero;
for(int i = 0; i < numberOfArrowsToSpawn; ++i)
{
GameObject newArrow = this.SpawnArrow();
// if this is the first arrow in the list, spawn at the bottom of the screen
if(LevelManager.current.arrowList.Count == 0)
{
// we only handle the y position because we're stacking them on top of each other!
newArrow.transform.position = new Vector3(newArrow.transform.position.x,
bottomEdgeInWorld.y + arrowSizeInWorld.y/2,
newArrow.transform.position.z);
}
else
{
// else, spawn on top of the previous arrow
newArrow.transform.position = new Vector3(newArrow.transform.position.x,
lastArrowPos.y + arrowSizeInWorld.y,
newArrow.transform.position.z);
}
// save the position of this arrow so that we know where to spawn the next arrow!
lastArrowPos = new Vector3(newArrow.transform.position.x,
newArrow.transform.position.y,
newArrow.transform.position.z);
LevelManager.current.arrowList.Add(newArrow);
}
}
The problem with my current code is that it doesn't spawn the correct number of sprites to cover the entire height of the device's screen. It only spawns my arrow sprites approximately up to the middle of the screen. What I want is for it to be able to spawn up to the top edge of the screen.
Anyone know where the calculation went wrong? and how to make the current code cleaner?

Answer 1

If sprites are rendered via camera mode in perspective and the sprites appear to have varying sizes when displayed on the screen (sprites farther away from the camera are smaller than sprites that are closer to the camera) then a new way to calculate the numberOfArrowsToSpawn value is needed.
You could try adding sprites with a while loop, instead of using a for loop, just continue creating sprites until the calculated world position for the sprite will no longer be visible to the camera. Check to see if a point will be visible in camera by using the technique Jessy provides in this link:
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/point-in-camera-view.72523/

Answer 2

I think your screenHeightInWorld is really a screenTopInWorld, a point can be anywhere in the space.
You need the relative screen height in world coordinate.
Which is actially the half of the camera frustum size if you use ortographic projection, as you think of it.
float screenHeightInWorld = Camera.main.orthographicSize / 2.0f;
I did not read the rest, but is probably fine, up to you how you implement this.
I'd simply create an arrow method, something like bool SpawnArrowAboveIfFits(), which can call itself iteratively on the new instances.