Is this the correct way to orient myself with quaternions??

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I have a Quaternion class with a function: Quaternion rotate(float angle, float x, float y, float z) // this is overloaded for Vectors too { w = cos(angle/2); myX = x*sin(angle/2); myY = y*sin(angle/2); myZ = z*sin(angle/2); return *this; } When I want to rotate myself around my position is this the correct way to go about it (assume I have a quaternion representing my orientation 'myOrien' and a vector for my position 'myPos'): myOrien = myOrien.rotate(45, 0,1,0) * Quaternion(0, myPos) * ~myOrien; // the '~' is my conjugate operator Thank you, Jon

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Quote:
 Original post by jon723myOrien = myOrien.rotate(45, 0,1,0) * Quaternion(0, myPos) * ~myOrien; // the '~' is my conjugate operator
Assuming that when operator~() is called, myOrien has the values assigned to it by the previous call to rotate(), then this will rotate the point 'myPos' with respect to the origin; in other words, it will cause your object to 'orbit' about (0, 0, 0).

I'm guessing this isn't what you want. If you want your object's orientation to change, recompute its quaternion via local or global rotations as appropriate; if you want your object's position to change, update it via the method of your choice (physics simulation, or perhaps just adding constant multiples of the direction vectors); to interface with an API or with other matrix operations, load the position and orientation into the proper class (probably a 4x4 matrix).

That's all assuming that I understood correctly what you're wanting to do.

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Yea the final step to all of this would be to convert the quaternion to a matrix and load that matrix (im using opengl). What im trying to accomplish is rotation around an axis "local" to my position. I understand why it would rotate globally but how would i go about doing this locally?? Would the same functions apply??

EDIT:

myOrien = myOrien * myOrien.rotate(45, 0,1,0);

Would that be the proper way to rotate myself locally??

[Edited by - jon723 on May 9, 2006 11:01:10 AM]

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Quote:
 Original post by jon723myOrien = myOrien * myOrien.rotate(45, 0,1,0); Would that be the proper way to rotate myself locally??
Yes, it should be either that or the other way around (depending on your chosen convention for quaternion mult order).

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There are a few things that need to be addressed:
• Rather than using a function named rotate to intialize a quaternion, you should use a constructor. However, since you already have a constructor that takes 4 floats, you need another signature for axis/angle.
• While this might work, it has problems:
    myOrien = myOrien.rotate(45, 0,1,0) * Quaternion(0, myPos) * ~myOrien;
rotate() must be called before operator~() is called. Otherwise, it won't work right. Also, reusing the variable myOrien is confusing.
• Finally, C++ math functions use radians, not degrees. Replace 45 with M_PI/4 or something like that.
Here is how I would change the code:
    Quaternion::Quaternion( float angle, Vector3 const & axis )    {        w = cos(angle/2);        x = axis.x * sin(angle/2);        y = axis.y * sin(angle/2);        z = axis.z * sin(angle/2);    }    ...    Quaternion orientation( M_PI/4, Vector3(0,1,0) );    new_position = orientation * Quaternion(0, myPos) * ~orientation;

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Creating a new Quaternion each time I want to rotate seems like overkill to me. The internals of my rotation function do all of that already and since the rotation function returns a quaternion it saves me the trouble of having to declare a new variable each time I want to use it.

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Quote:
 Original post by jon723Creating a new Quaternion each time I want to rotate seems like overkill to me.
If you mean in terms of performance, don't worry about it; creating a temporary quaternion or two in the course of orienting your camera is of almost no consequence.

If you mean in terms of clarity or functionality, it depends. Your first example, while probably ok due to C++ operator precedence and associativity, is confusing and generally bad practice. Also, 'rotate' is not a particularly good name for that function; it should be a constructor as John suggested, or perhaps something like 'fromAxisAngle()'.

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Given an object that you want to rotate by sigma around axis A, where axis A is in object-local coordinates, right-sided multiplication:

(ie, ABCx means apply C to x, then B to Cx, then A to BCx).

Quaternion Rotation( double radians ); // generates a Quaternion that rotates points around the z-axis.Quaternion Axis( Vector3D v ); // Axis(v)*(0,0,1) = vQuaternion RotateOrientation( Quaternion current, Quaternion Axis, double radians ) {  return current*Axis*Rotation(radians)*~Axis*~current;}Quaternion RotateOrientation( Quaternion current, Vector3D Axis_, double radians ) {  return RotateOrientation( current, Rotation(Axis_), radians );}

You might want an axis that isn't rooted at (0,0,0). To do this, you have to add another parameter.

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