move_to explanation?

[KCoombes]

While going through the lua_api.txt, I spotted the ObjectRef method `move_to(pos, continuous=false)' and was confused by the 'continuous' part - once an object has moved to the 'pos', isn't that it? How could it be continuous after completing the action?

[Krock]

`move_to` moves the objects to a position and tells the client to interpolate this movement. The interpolation calculates the position in between using differentials, so far movements first appear very fast and slow down the nearer they are to the destination point.
`continuous` basically indicates whether the movement is done at the destination point or not. If you use the function multiple times (say, 5 times per second) with only slightly changing movement directions, then you might get a nicer looking movement using `continuous`.
Code reference: https://github.com/minetest/minetest/bl ... pp#L95-L97

[stu]

While going through the lua_api.txt, I spotted the ObjectRef method `move_to(pos, continuous=false)' and was confused by the 'continuous' part - once an object has moved to the 'pos', isn't that it? How could it be continuous after completing the action?

This is something I have also found very confusing and it seems to be no less confusing even looking at the source.

https://github.com/minetest/minetest/bl ... #L618-L626

From what I can tell, setting `continuous` true results is the sao base position being updated but not actually sent. At a guess I'd say it was some ugly hack to achieve a specific effect at some point, in my experience it would appear to give a smoother transition from a->b but I have no idea of its intended purpose.

Edit: Thanks Krock for the explanation, however, it still does not make a great deal of sense to me. IMO it would be a lot more useful if we were able to specify time taken or even approximate speed.