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Computer Graphics involves technology to accept, process, transform and present information in a visual form that also concerns with producing images and animations using a computer. This course teach how to make your own design in computer using OpenGl. This lecture includes: Transformation, Distancs, Between, Points, Coordinate, Particular, Increase, Represented, Translation
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Definition of a 3D Point
A point is similar to its 2D counterpart; we simply add an extra component, Z, for the 3rd axis:
Points are now represented with 3 numbers: <x, y, z>. This particular method of representing 3D space is the "left-handed" coordinate system. In the left-handed system the x axis increases going to the right, the y axis increases going up, and the z axis increases going into the page/screen. The right-handed system is the same but with the z- axis pointing in the opposite direction.
Distance between Two 3D Points
The distance between two points <Ax,Ay,Az> and <Bx,By,Bz> can be found by again using the Pythagoras theorem:
dx = Ax-Bx dy = Ay-By dz = Az-Bz distance = sqrt(dxdx + dydy + dzdz)*
Definition of a 3D Vector
Like it's 2D counterpart, a vector can be thought of in two ways: either a point at <x,y,z> or a line going from the origin <0,0,0> to the point <x,y,z>.
3D Vector addition and subtraction is virtually identical to the 2D case. You can add a 3D vector <vx,vy,vz> to a 3D point <x,y,z> to get the new point <x',y',z'> like so:
x' = x + vx y' = y + vy z' = z + vz
Vectors themselves can be added by adding each of their components, or they can be multiplied (scaled) by multiplying each component by some constant k (where k <> 0). Scaling a vector by 2 (say) will still cause the vector to point in the same direction, but it will now be twice as long. Of course you can also divide the vector by k (where k <> 0) to get a similar result.
To calculate the length of a vector we simply calculate the distance between the origin and the point at <x, y, z>:
Length = | <x,y,z> - <0,0,0> | = sqrt( (x-0)(x-0) + (y-0)(y-0) + (z-0)(z-0) ) = sqrt(xx + yy + zz)**
Unit Vector
Often in 3D computer graphics you need to convert a vector to a unit vector, ie a vector that points in the same direction but has a length of 1.
This is done by simply dividing each component by the length:
Let <x,y,z> be our vector, length = sqrt(xx + yy + zz) Unit vector = <x,y,z> = | x , y , z | length | length length length |*
(Where length = |<x,y,z>|)
Note that if the vector is already a unit vector then the length will be 1, and the new values will be the same as the old.
Definition of a Line
As in 2D, we can represent a line by it's endpoints (P1 and P2) or by the parametric equation:
P = P1 + k * (P2-P1)
Where k is some scalar value between 0 and 1
Transformations:
A static set of 3D points or other geometric shapes on screen is not very interesting. You could just use a paint program to produce one of these. To make your program interesting, you will want a dynamic landscape on the screen. You want the points to move in the world coordinate system, and you even want the point-of-view (POV) to move. In short, you want to model the real world. The process of moving points in space is called transformation , and can be divided into translation, rotation and other kind of transformations.
Translation
Translation is used to move a point, or a set of points, linearly in space , for example, you may want to move a point “3 meters east, -2 meters up, and 4 meters north.” Looking at this textual description, you might think that this looks very much like a Point3D, and you would be close. But the above does not require one critical piece of information: it does not reference the origin. The above only encapsulates direction and distance, not an absolute point in space. This called a vector and can be represented in a structure identical to Point3D:
struct Vector3D float x; distance along x axes float y; distance along y axes float z; distance along z axes end struct
Multiplying: Scalar Multiplication
Multiplying a vector by a scalar ( a number with no units), and could be coded with:
Vector.x = Vector.x * scalarValue Vector.y = Vector.y * scalarValue Vector.z = Vector.z * scalarValue
If you had a vector with a length of 4 and multiplied it by 2.5, you would end up with a vector of length 10 that points in the same direction the original vector pointed. If you multiplied by -2.5 instead, you would still end up with a vector of length 10; but now it would be pointing in the opposite direction of the original vector.
Multiplying: Vector Multiplication
You can multiply with vectors two other ways; both involve multiplying a vector by a vector.
Dot Product
The dot product of two vectors is defined by the formula: Vector A, B
A * B = A.x * B.x + A.y * B.y + A.z * B.z
The result of a dot product is a number and has units of A’s units times B’s units. Thus, if you calculate the dot product for two vectors that both use feet for units, your answer will be in square feet. However, in 3D graphics we usually ignore the units and just treat it like a scalar. Consider the following definition of the dot product that is used by physicists (instead of mathematicians):
A * B = |A| * |B| * cos(theta)
Where theta is the angle between the two vectors
Remember that |v| represents the length of vector V and is a non-negative number; we can replace the vector lengths above and end up with:
K = |A| * |B| (therefore k > = 0)
A * B = K * cos (theta)
Therefore:
A * B => cos(theta)
Where “=>” means “directly correlates to.” Now, if you remember, the cos(theta) function has the following properties:
cos(theta) > 0 iff theta is less than 90 degrees or greater than 270 degrees cos(theta) < iff theta is greater than 90 degrees and less than 270 degrees cos(theta) = 0 iff theta is 90 degrees or 270 degrees
We can extend this to the dot product of two vectors, since it directly correlates to the angle between the two vectors:
AB > 0 iff the angle between them is less than 90 or greater than 270 degrees AB < 0 iff the angle between them is greater than 90 and less than 270 degrees A*B = 0 iff the angle between them is 90 or 270 degrees (they are orthogonal).
Use of Dot Product
Assume you have a point of view at < px,py,pz>. It is looking along the vector <vx,vy,vz>, and you have a point in space <x,y,z> you want to know if the point–of-view can possible see the point, of if the point is “behind “ the POV, as shown in figure.
Point3D pov; Vector3D povDir; Point3D test; Vector3D vTest float dotProduct; vTest.x = pov.x – test.x; vTest.y = pov.y – test.y; vTest.z = pov.z – test.z;
Direction of View <vx,vy,vz>
Point of View <px,py,pz>
Test vector <tx, ty, tz>
Point <x, y, z>
z = z + tz and (tx, ty , tz) is Translation vector
Now this can be expressed as a single matrix equation: P = P + T
Where:
3D Translation Example We may want to move a point “3 meters east, -2 meters up, and 4 meters north.” What would be done in such event? Steps for Translation Given a point in 3D and a translation vector, it can be translated as follows:
Point3D point = (0, 0, 0) Vector3D vector = (10, -3, 2.5) Adding vector to point point.x = point.x + vector.x; point.y = point.y + vector.y; point.z = point.z + vector.z; And finally we have translated point.
Homogeneous Coordinates
Analogous to their 2D Counterpart, the homogeneous coordinates for 3D translation can be expressed as :
x y z
x t x y t y z t z
Abbreviated as: P’ = T (tx, ty, tz). P On solving the RHS of the matrix equation, we get:
x y z
x x t y y t z z t
Which shows that each of the 3 coordinates gets translated by the corresponding translation distance.
z
y
x P
z
y
x P
z
y
x
t
t
t T