Setting the projectionMatrix of a Perspective Camera in Three.js - three.js

I'm trying to set the ProjectionMatrix of a Three.js Perspective Camera to match a projection Matrix I calculated with a different program.
So I set the camera's position and rotation like this:
self.camera.position.x = 0;
self.camera.position.y = 0;
self.camera.position.z = 142 ;
self.camera.rotation.x = 0.0;// -0.032
self.camera.rotation.y = 0.0;
self.camera.rotation.z = 0;
Next I created a 4x4 Matrix (called Matrix4 in Three.js) like this:
var projectionMatrix = new THREE.Matrix4(-1426.149, -145.7176, -523.0170, 225.07519, -42.40711, -1463.2367, -23.6839, 524.3322, -0.0174, -0.11928, -0.99270, 0.43826, 0, 0, 0, 1);
and changed the camera's projection Matrix entries like this:
for ( var i = 0; i < 16; i++) {
self.camera.projectionMatrix.elements[i] = projectionMatrix.elements[i];
}
when I now render the scene I just get a black screen and can't see any of the objects I inserted. Turning the angle of the Camera doesn't help either. I still can't see any objects.
If I insert a
self.camera.updateProjectionMatrix();
after setting the camera's projection Matrix to the values of my projectionMatrix the camera is set back to the original Position (x=0,y=0,z=142 and looking at the origin where I created some objects) and the values I set in the camera's matrix seem to have been overwritten. I checked that by printing the cameras projection Matrix to the console. If I do not call the updateProjectionMatrix() function the values stay as I set them.
Does somebody have an idea how to solve this problem?

If I do not call the updateProjectionMatrix() function the values stay as I set them.
Correct, updateProjectionMatrix() calculates those 16 numbers you pasted in your projection matrix based on a bunch of parameters. Those parameters are, the position and rotation you set above, plus the parameters you passed (or default) for the camera. (these actually make the matrixWorld and its inverse.
In case of a perspective camera, you don't have much - near, far, fov and aspect. Left,right,top,bottom are derived from these, with an orthographic camera you set them directly. These are then used to compose the projection matrix.
Scratch a pixel has a REALLY good tutorial on this subject. The next lesson on the openGL projection matrix is actually more relevant to WebGL. left right top and bottom are made from your FOV and your aspect ratio. Add near and far and you've got yourself a projection matrix.
Now, in order for this thing to work, you either have to know what you're doing, or get really lucky. Pasting these numbers from somewhere else and getting it to work is short of winning the lottery. Best case scenario, you can have your scale all wrong and clipping your scene. Worst case, you've mixed a completely different matrix, different XYZ convention, and there's no way you'll get it to work, or at least make sense.
Out of curiosity, what are you trying to do? Are you trying to match your camera to a camera from somewhere else?

Related

Slant/Skew a Texture - Monogame

I am trying to Slant/Skew a texture to create some shadows for my game.
I have read over this helpful answer that shows this can be done by passing a matrix to spriteBatch.Begin().
Because my linear algebra skills are not very developed, I am having some troubles meeting my desired results. I am hoping to skew my shadow so it looks similar to the following. Where the shadow is slanted by an angle, but the bottom of the shadow lines up with the (feet in this case) bottom of the sprite.
I originally tied the skew matrix provided in the solution above:
Matrix skew = Matrix.Identity;
skew.M12 = (float)Math.Tan(MathHelper.ToRadians(36.87f));
But this ends up rotation the shadow against the world's origin. I see the solution also notes this, and provides the follow to rotate again the sprite.
Matrix myMatrix = Matrix.CreateTranslation(-100, -100, 0)
* Matrix.CreateScale(2f, 0.5f, 1f)
* Matrix.CreateTranslation(100, 100, 0);
Though I'm not sure where to apply this myMatrix Matrix. I have tried applying it to both the shadow sprite, the castingShadow sprite, and also multiplying them together and applying to the shadow with no luck.
I have also tried using other methods like Matrix.CreateRotationX(MathHelper.ToRadians(0.87f)) with no luck.
There is actually a Matrix.CreateShadow() method too, but it requires a Plane, which I have no semblance of in my game.
Can anyone can help me figure out the required Matrix for this slanting, or point me in the direction of some resources?
Thanks!
Okay, so I found a transform to use to get the desired slant.
Thanks to #David Gouveia and #AndreRussell from this post
Matrix matrix = Matrix.CreateRotationX(MathHelper.ToRadians(60)) *
Matrix.CreateRotationY(MathHelper.ToRadians(30)) *
Matrix.CreateScale(1,1,0);
EDIT:
So the above solution solved how I wanted to slant my texture, but had some weird positioning side effects. To address this, I ended up with a transform like the following:
Matrix slant = Matrix.CreateTranslation(-loc.X + angleX, -loc.Y, 0f) *
Matrix.CreateRotationX(MathHelper.ToRadians(angleX)) *
Matrix.CreateRotationY(MathHelper.ToRadians(30)) *
Matrix.CreateScale(1.4f, 1f, 0) *
Matrix.CreateTranslation(loc.X + angleX, loc.Y, 0f);
Where angleX was set based on the "sun" X position and loc vector is where I want the object and object's shadow to appear.

Rotating an Object properly around a pivot point given axis and angle

In Three.js there seems to be quite a few ways of rotation which i personally do not find very intuitive. See e.g. the example
http://cloud.engineering-bear.com/apps/robot/robot.html
I get very strange unexpected effects when I apply rotation to multiple objects. E.g. when I rotate objects that have been added to each other and start rotating the parent the individual objects will all over sudden by placed differently in respect to each other then they originally where. I am now experimenting with grouping and would like to avoid the same effect.
See http://pi-q-robot.bitplan.com/example/robot?robot=/models/thing3088064.json for the current state of affairs and https://github.com/BITPlan/PI-Q-Robot for the source code.
So i searched for proper examples following the different API options:
rotation
function renderScene() {
stats.update();
//side1.rotation.z += 0.02;
pivot.rotation.z += 0.02;
https://jsfiddle.net/of1vfhzz/1/
https://github.com/mrdoob/three.js/issues/1958
rotateOnAxis
three.js rotate Object3d around Y axis at it center
How to rotate a 3D object on axis three.js?
ThreeJS - rotation around object's own axis
rotateAroundWorldAxis
object.rotateAroundWorldAxis(p, ax, r * Math.PI * 2 / frames);
How to rotate a object on axis world three.js?
https://stackoverflow.com/a/32038265/1497139
https://jsfiddle.net/b4wqxkjn/7/
THREE.js Update rotation property of object after rotateOnWorldAxis
rotateOnWorldAxis
object.rotateOnWorldAxis( axis, angle );
Rotate around World Axis
rotateAboutPoint
Three JS Pivot point
Rotation anchor point in Three.js
setRotationFromAxisAngle
https://threejs.org/docs/#api/en/core/Object3D.setRotationFromAxisAngle
setEulerFromQuaternion
quaternion = new THREE.Quaternion().setFromAxisAngle( axisOfRotation, angleOfRotation );
object.rotation.setEulerFromQuaternion( quaternion );
Three.js - Rotating a sphere around a certain axis
applyMatrix
this.mesh.updateMatrixWorld(); // important !
childPart.mesh.applyMatrix(new THREE.Matrix4().getInverse(this.mesh.matrixWorld))
Applying a matrix in Three.js does not what I expect
I like the jsFiddle for https://stackoverflow.com/a/56427636/1497139
var pivot = new THREE.Object3D();
pivot.add( cube );
scene.add( pivot );
I also found the following discussions
pivot issue in discourcee.three.js.org
https://discourse.threejs.org/t/rotate-group-around-pivot/3656
https://discourse.threejs.org/t/how-to-rotate-an-object-around-a-pivot-point/6838
https://discourse.threejs.org/t/set-dynamically-generated-groups-pivot-position-to-the-center-of-its-children-objects-position/6349
https://discourse.threejs.org/t/my-3d-model-is-not-rotating-around-its-origin/3339/3
https://jsfiddle.net/blackstrings/c0o3Lm45/
https://discourse.threejs.org/t/rotate-object-at-end-point/2190
https://jsfiddle.net/f2Lommf5/3594/
Questions
None of the above information is clear enough to get to the point of the problem to be solved. The graphics above are much clearer stating the problem than the proposals are stating a solution.
a)
I'd like to use the cylinder as the axis even when the cylinder is moved.I'd expect the easiest way to go would be to use rotateAroundWorldAxis - is that available in the latest revision from three.js or do i have to add it from e.g. https://stackoverflow.com/a/32038265/1497139?
b) I'd like to get a chain of objects to be rotated to later apply inverse kinematics as in
https://github.com/jsantell/THREE.IK
https://jsantell.github.io/THREE.IK/
Although i looked at the source code of that solutions I can't really find the place where the parent-child positioning and rotating is happening. What are the relevant lines of code / API functions that would make proper rotation around a chain of joints happen?
I already looked in the Bone/Skeleton API of Three.js but had the same problem there - lots of lines of code but no clear point where the rotation/positioning between child and parent happens.
Question a)
Basically it works as expected:
cylinder.position.set( options.x, 15, options.z );
pivot.position.x=options.x;
pivot.position.z=options.z;
see
https://jsfiddle.net/wf_bitplan_com/4f6ebs90/13/
Question b)
see
https://codepen.io/seppl2019/pen/zgJVKM
The key is to set the positions correctly. Instead of the proposal at https://stackoverflow.com/a/43837053/1497139 the size is computed in this case.
// create the pivot to rotate around/about
this.pivot = new THREE.Group();
this.pivot.add(this.mesh);
// shift the pivot position to fit my size + the size of the joint
this.pivot.position.set(
x,
y + this.size.y / 2 + this.pivotr,
z + this.size.z / 2
);
// reposition the mesh accordingly
this.mesh.position.set(0, this.size.y / 2, 0);

How to plot country names on the globe, so the mesh will be aligned with the surfaces

I'm trying to plot country names of the globe, so the text meshes will be aligned with the surface, but I'm failing to calculate proper rotations. For text I'm using THREE.TextGeometry. The name appears on the click of the mesh of the country at the point of intersection using raycasting. I'm lacking knowledge of how to turn these coordinates to proper rotation angles. I'm not posting my code, as it's complete mess and I believe for a knowldgeable person will be easier to explain how to achieve this in general.
Here is desired result:
The other solution, which I tried (and which, of course, is not the ultimate), based on this SO answer. The idea is to use the normal of the face you intersect with the raycaster.
Obtain the point of intersection.
Obtain the face of intersection.
Obtain the normal of the face (2).
Get the normal (3) in world coordinates.
Set position of the text object as sum of point of intersection (1) and the normal in world coordinates (4).
Set lookAt() vector of the text object as sum of its position (5) and the normal in world coordinates (4).
Seems long, but actually it makes not so much of code:
var PGHelper = new THREE.PolarGridHelper(...); // let's imagine it's your text object ;)
var PGlookAt = new THREE.Vector3(); // point of lookAt for the "text" object
var normalMatrix = new THREE.Matrix3();
var worldNormal = new THREE.Vector3();
and in the animation loop:
for ( var i = 0; i < intersects.length; i++ ) {
normalMatrix.getNormalMatrix( intersects[i].object.matrixWorld );
worldNormal.copy(intersects[i].face.normal).applyMatrix3( normalMatrix ).normalize();
PGHelper.position.addVectors(intersects[i].point, worldNormal);
PGlookAt.addVectors(PGHelper.position, worldNormal);
PGHelper.lookAt(PGlookAt);
}
jsfiddle exmaple
The method works with meshes of any geometry (checked with spheres and boxes though ;) ). And I'm sure there are another better methods.
very interesting question.I have tried this way, we can regard the text as a plane. lets define a normal vector n from your sphere center(or position) to point on the sphere surface where you want to display text. I have a simple way to make normal vector right.
1. put the text mesh on sphere center. text.position.copy(sphere.position)
2. make text to the point on sphere surface, text.lookAt(point)
3.relocate text to the point. text.position.copy(point)

Spawn particle at edge of screen

I've searched far and wide, so if there's a similar question please forgive me but I just couldn't find it.
To put what I'm trying to do in context: I want to create an infinitely-generated field of stars that disappear as they go offscreen and reappear at the edge of the screen where the camera is moving. I'm working with a top-down view, so it must be pretty simple to achieve this, but alas I haven't a clue.
I'm using the following code to determine whether a star has gone off-screen and then replace it:
//update camera frustum
camera.projScreenMatrix.multiplyMatrices(
camera.projectionMatrix,
camera.matrixWorldInverse
);
camera.frustum.setFromMatrix(camera.projScreenMatrix);
//loop through stars
var stars=scene.stars.geometry.vertices;
for(var i=0;i<stars.length;i++) {
if(!camera.frustum.containsPoint(stars[i])) {
stars[i]=new THREE.Vector3(
// fill in the blank
);
scene.stars.geometry.verticesNeedUpdate=true;
}
}
Since I'm using a perspective camera, I know I'll need to somehow factor in camera.fov and other perspective elements, but as you can tell I'm no expert on the third dimension.
Assuming I have an angle or normalized vector telling me the direction the view is panning, how would I go about creating a vertex along the edge of the screen regardless of its Z position?
If I'm not clear enough, I'll be happy to clarify. Thanks.
I know this is an old question, but I came across it while looking for an answer and found a simple, trigonometry reliant method to get the left edge of the camera frustum, and I'm sharing it in case someone else might find it useful:
// Get half of the cameras field of view angle in radians
var fov = camera.fov / 180 * Math.PI / 2;
// Get the adjacent to calculate the opposite
// This assumes you are looking at the scene
var adjacent = camera.position.distanceTo( scene.position );
// Use trig to get the leftmost point (tangent = o / a)
var left = Math.tan( fov ) * adjacent * camera.aspect;
Basically, this gets the leftmost point, but if you don't multiply by the aspect ratio you should get a point in a circle around your camera frustum, so you could translate a point any direction away from the cameras focus and it would always be outside the frustum.
It works by assuming that the imaginary plane that is the camera is perpendicular to the line connecting the camera and its focus, so there is a straight angle. This should work if you want objects further away as well (so if you want them at a further point from the camera you just need to increase the distance between the focus and the camera).
Well, countless headaches and another question later, I've come up with a fairly makeshift answer. Just in case by some unlikely chance someone else has the same question, the following function plots a point on the scene relative to the camera's current view with whatever Z specified:
//only needs to be defined once
var projector=new THREE.Projector();
//input THREE.Vector3
function(vector) {
var z=vector.z;
vector.z=0;
projector.unprojectVector(vector,camera);
return camera.position.clone().add(
vector
.sub(camera.position)
.normalize()
.multiplyScalar(
-(camera.position.z-z)/vector.z
)
);
The x and y, in this case, both range from -1 to 1 for bottom-left to top-right. You can use position/window.Width and position/window.Height for extra precision (using mouse coordinates or what have you).

Correct calculations of floats in OpenGL ES

I'm making a game in 3D. Everything is correct in my code, although I'm confused about one thing.
When I setting up my perspective (gluPerspective) I set it to zNear = 0.1f and zFar = 100.0f. So far so good. Now, I also wanna move things just in the x or y direction via glTranslate.... But, the origo starts in the absolute centrum of my screen. Like I have zFar and zNear, why isn't that properly to the x and y coordinates? Now it is like if I move my sprite -2.0f to left on x-axis and make glTranslate... to handle that, it almost out of screen. And the z-axis is not behave like that. That's make it a lot more difficult to handle calculations in all directions. It's quite hard to add an unique float value to an object and for now I just add these randomly to just make them stay inside screen.
So, I have problem calculate corrects value to each object. Have I missed something? Should I change or thinkig of something? The reason that this is important is because I need to know the absolute left and right of my screen to make these calculations.
This is my onSurfaceChanged:
public void onSurfaceChanged(GL10 gl, int width, int height) {
gl.glViewport(0, 0, width, height);
gl.glMatrixMode(GL10.GL_PROJECTION);
gl.glLoadIdentity();
GLU.gluPerspective(gl, 45.0f, (float)width / (float)height,
0.1f, 100.0f);
gl.glMatrixMode(GL10.GL_MODELVIEW);
gl.glLoadIdentity();
}
Thanks in advance!
When you use gluPerspective you are transforming your coordinates from 3D world space into 2D screen space, using a matrix which looks at (0,0,0) by default (i.e. x= 0, y = 0 is in the center of the screen). When you set your object coordinates you are doing it in world space, NOT screen space.
If you want to effectively do 2D graphics (where things are given coordinates respective to their position on the screen you want to use gluOrtho2D instead.

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