Rotation an Object to point somewhere
Author
I've been writing a program for quite a few months now, and i've been avoiding one issue that i really need to address.
My game is a 'space sim'. Objects need to be able to point towards an arbitrary x,y,z position in space.
Right now my object points towards the camera (the mesh's orientation upon loading).
Suppose my mesh is sitting at 0,0,0 and i need to point at position X,y,Z. The issue i'm having is the math.. I understand the concepts of what i need to do (Find the angles in each of the X,Y,Z axis) then apply the appropriate rotations.
I have the following code, which i'm honestly not even sure is correct
<code>
D3DVECTOR NormVector(D3DVECTOR vector)
{
float length;
length = sqrt((vector.x * vector.x)+(vector.y * vector.y)+ (vector.z * vector.z));
vector.x /= length;
vector.y /= length;
vector.z /= length;
return vector;
}
float DotVector(D3DVECTOR origin, D3DVECTOR target)
{
return ((origin.x*target.x) + (origin.y*target.y) + origin.z*target.z));
}
float FindAngleRadians(D3DVECTOR origin, D3DVECTOR target)
{
return acos(DotVector(NormVector(origin),NormVector(target)));
}
</code>
Those functions make me wonder if i'm correctly even doing the basic math.
Now assuming that i get the Angle change in the X,Y,Z vectors... then i just need to apply a D3DXMatrixAxisRotation() correct? Then set it?
If my problems a little vague let me know and i can repost it to try and clarify... but its making my head hurt quite a bit here :(
(also sorry about the code not being in a /code box... i couldn't figure out the syntax for it)
This forum uses "forum tags," not HTML. Instead of <>, you use [] for tags. You can put your code inside <code></code> tags (replace <> with []), or, if you'd like a syntax-highlighted scrollable box, use the <source></source> tags.
Check out my post on this thread: http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/topic.asp?topic_id=336156 for one solution.
Also, is there any reason why you're not using the D3DX vectors and their associated functions? D3DX provides a very nice mathlib which is optimized to use things like SSE and MMX on processors that support it.
Check out my post on this thread: http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/topic.asp?topic_id=336156 for one solution.
Also, is there any reason why you're not using the D3DX vectors and their associated functions? D3DX provides a very nice mathlib which is optimized to use things like SSE and MMX on processors that support it.
Hi Avengre,
How are you doing?
[The Logic]
The logic behind pointing an object towards a point will be able to push you in the right direction.
What you need to get is the point on the object that you want to point into a direction. The rest is very simple depending if it's 2d or 3d.
You take that point and rotate it using D3DXMatrixRotationX, D3DXMatrixRotationY, D3DXMatrixRotationZ or whatever...
[Example]
The objects point is in (0.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f) and pointing towards (1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f) and you want it to rotate it to the point (0.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f).
Like so
^(0.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f)
|
|
|
|
|
-----------> (1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f)
The best way to solve problems like this is take an example where you know what the angle is. The angle here would be 90CCW right?
[So how did we get there?
Finding the angle between 2 lines
[Conclusion]
You can play around with this if you have a 3D scene.
This solution will work well for a 2D game.
How are you doing?
[The Logic]
The logic behind pointing an object towards a point will be able to push you in the right direction.
What you need to get is the point on the object that you want to point into a direction. The rest is very simple depending if it's 2d or 3d.
You take that point and rotate it using D3DXMatrixRotationX, D3DXMatrixRotationY, D3DXMatrixRotationZ or whatever...
[Example]
The objects point is in (0.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f) and pointing towards (1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f) and you want it to rotate it to the point (0.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f).
Like so
^(0.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f)
|
|
|
|
|
-----------> (1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f)
The best way to solve problems like this is take an example where you know what the angle is. The angle here would be 90CCW right?
[So how did we get there?
Finding the angle between 2 lines
[Conclusion]
You can play around with this if you have a 3D scene.
This solution will work well for a 2D game.
Hi this question is similar to one that i asked and Mr Robert Dunlop replied here's what was said:
By me:
By Robert Dunlop
By me:
Quote:Does any one know how I can make a mesh look in the direction it's
> 'walking'.
>
> I want it to face a given Vector.
>
> At the moment i can rotate my model using a transform matrix and then use
> the m31,m32,m33 components of this matrix to determin which direction it
> faces, however this doesnt help me for the above problem
By Robert Dunlop
Quote:Actually, it is the same problem in reverse, you can construct a matrix by
the same means, though you also need to figure an "up" and "right" direction
for the mesh. The you would put the forward vector in m31,m32,m33, the up
vector in m21,m22,m23, the right vector in m11,m12,m13, and the location in
m41,m42,m43 (and of course set the last column (m11,m21,m31,m41) to
0,0,0,1).
You can calculate the right and up vectors in a manner similar to that used
by Matrix.LookAtLH. Assuming your object will stay within a pitch range of
+/- 90 degrees and does not need to roll (otherwise you would need more info
than a forward vector), you can calculate the matrix like this (pseudocode)
:
forward (m31,m32,m33) = normalize(forward)
right (m11,m12,m13) = normalize(cross(vector(0,1,0),forward))
up (m21,m22,m23) = cross(forward,right)
(m41,m42,m43) = location
--
Robert Dunlop
The X-Zone
http://www.directxzone.com/
Microsoft DirectX MVP
Author
The D3DXMatrixLookAt() function... Can you use it on a world matrix? Then set the transform for that? OR does that only setup a view matrix.
If it can be used to setup a rotation matrix for a World object... it'll be not too difficult..
If it can be used to setup a rotation matrix for a World object... it'll be not too difficult..
Author
Sorry to dig this topic up again.
Would i want to normalize the Vector from the Objects position to the Target?
Or would that not matter
Would i want to normalize the Vector from the Objects position to the Target?
Or would that not matter
This topic is closed to new replies.
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