Applying a "Spread" value to an XMFLOAT4X4 - rotation

Question

I'm attempting to add a small value to a World Matrix in order to replicate the accuracy of a fired weapon [pistol, assault rifle]
Currently, my World Matrix resides at a Parent Objects' position, with the ability to rotate about the Y axis exclusively.
I've done this in Unity3D, running whenever the object needs to be created [once per]:
var coneRotation = Quaternion.Euler(Random.Range(-spread, spread), Random.Range(-spread, spread), 0);
var go = Instantiate(obj, parent.transform.position, transform.rotation * coneRotation) as GameObject;
and am attempting to replicate the results using Direct3D11.
This lambda returns a random value between [-1.5, 1.5] currently:
auto randF = [&](float lower_bound, float uppder_bound) -> float
{
return lower_bound + static_cast <float> (rand()) / (static_cast <float> (RAND_MAX / (uppder_bound - lower_bound)));
};
My first thought was to simply multiply a random x && y into the forward vector of an object upon initialization, and move it in this fashion: position = position + forward * speed * dt; [speed being 1800], though the rotation is incorrect (not to mention bullets fire up).
I've also attempted to make a Quaternion [as in Unity3D]: XMVECTOR quaternion = XMVectorSet(random_x, random_y, 0) and creating a Rotation Matrix using XMMatrixRotationQuaternion.
Afterwards I call XMStoreFloat4x4(&world_matrix, XMLoadFloat4x4(&world_matrix) * rotation);, and restore the position portion of the matrix [accessing world_matrix._41/._42/._43] (world_matrix being the matrix of the "bullet" itself, not the parent).
[I've also tried to reverse the order of the multiplication]
I've read that the XMMatrixRotationQuaternion doesn't return as an Euler Quaternion, and XMQuaternionToAxisAngle does, though I'm not entirely certain how to use it.
What would be the proper way to accomplish something like this?
Many thanks!

Answer 1

Your code XMVECTOR quaternion = XMVectorSet(random_x, random_y, 0); is not creating a valid quaternion. First, if you did not set the w component to 1, then the 4-vector quaternion doesn't actually represent a 3D rotation. Second, a quaternion's vector components are not Euler angles.
You want to use XMQuaternionRotationRollPitchYaw which constructs a quaternion rotation from Euler angle input, or XMQuaternionRotationRollPitchYawFromVector which takes the three Euler angles as a vector. These functions are doing what Unity's Quaternion.Euler method is doing.
Of course, if you want a rotation matrix and not a quaternion, then you can XMMatrixRotationRollPitchYaw or XMMatrixRotationRollPitchYawFromVector to directly construct a 4x4 rotation matrix from Euler angles--which actually uses quaternions internally anyhow. Based on your code snippet, it looks like you already have a base rotation as a quaternion you want to concatenate with your spread quaternion, so you probably don't want to use this option for this case.
Note: You should look at using the C++11 standard <random> rather than your home-rolled lambda wrapper around the terrible C rand function.
Something like:
std::random_device rd;
std::mt19937 gen(rd());
// spread should be in radians here (not degrees which is what Unity uses)
std::uniform_real_distribution<float> dis(-spread, spread);
XMVECTOR coneRotation = XMQuaternionRotationRollPitchYaw( dis(gen), dis(gen), 0 );
XMVECTOR rot = XMQuaternionMultiply( parentRot, coneRotation );
XMMATRIX transform = XMMatrixAffineTransformation( g_XMOne, g_XMZero, rot, parentPos );
BTW, if you are used to Unity or XNA Game Studio C# math libraries, you might want to check out the SimpleMath wrapper for DirectXMath in DirectX Tool Kit.