Develop Reference

Java: Drawing "Random" Stars

I'm trying to take this code I finally got working for drawing one star and am confused on how to get it working for drawing 25 different stars (such as different sides and spikinness but I am unsure how to go about it exactly. I assume I would make a new random variable int randomStars = (int)(Math.random()*25+1); // Variable for 25 Random Stars to randomly generate the stars but I'm kind of confused where to take it from there.
I'd appreciate the help.
My Code (Using DrawingPanel.java):
import java.awt.*;
public class StarSampler {
public static void main(String[] args)
{
DrawingPanel panel = new DrawingPanel(500, 500);
Graphics2D g = panel.getGraphics();
g.setColor(Color.BLUE);
panel.setBackground(new Color(250, 0, 0));
fillStar(g, 250, 250, 150, 5, .3); // How to rotate it to start at center?
}
public static void fillStar(Graphics2D g, int ctrX, int ctrY, int radius, int nPoints, double spikiness)
{
double xDouble[] = new double[2*nPoints];
double yDouble[] = new double[2*nPoints];
int xPoint[] = new int[2*nPoints];
int yPoint[] = new int[2*nPoints];
nPoints = (int) (nPoints * 2);
int randomStars = (int)(Math.random()*25+1); // Variable for 25 Random Stars
// Would Nestest loop go here? for (randomStars++; randomStars < 25; randomStars++)
for (int i = 0; i < nPoints; i++)
{
double iRadius = (i % 2 == 0) ? radius : (radius * spikiness);
double angle = (270) + (i * 360.0) / (nPoints);
xPoint[i] = (int) (ctrX + iRadius * Math.cos(Math.toRadians(angle)));
yPoint[i] = (int) (ctrY + iRadius * Math.sin(Math.toRadians(angle)));
}
g.fillPolygon(xPoint, yPoint, nPoints); // Creates polygon
}
}
My Output:

Build up slowly. First concentrate on positioning two stars, just two. Pick the coordinates for the centre of the stars and place them. Adjust to get it right (your first attempt will probably have errors). Test, fix, test again, fix again. Repeat.
Then play with the spikiness and other changes so the stars aren't identical. When, and only when, that is tested and working move on to three, four etc. stars. With more stars you will have to be more careful to avoid overlaps.

Java - Calculating and placing the angle of a geometric shape

I'm currently working on a program which enables user to draw various geometric shapes. However, I got some issues on calculating and placing the angle objects onto my Canvas panel accurately. The angle object is basically an extension of the Arc2D object, which provides a additional method called computeStartAndExtent(). Inside my Angle class, this method computes and finds the necessary starting and extension angle values:
private void computeStartAndExtent()
{
double ang1 = Math.toDegrees(Math.atan2(b1.getY2() - b1.getY1(), b1.getX2() - b1.getX1()));
double ang2 = Math.toDegrees(Math.atan2(b2.getY2() - b2.getY1(), b2.getX2() - b2.getX1()));
if(ang2 < ang1)
{
start = Math.abs(180 - ang2);
extent = ang1 - ang2;
}
else
{
start = Math.abs(180 - ang1);
extent = ang2 - ang1;
}
start -= extent;
}
It is a bit buggy code that only works when I connect two lines to each other, however, when I connect a third one to make a triangle, the result is like the following,
As you see the ADB angle is the only one that is placed correctly. I couldn't figure how to overcome this. If you need some additional info/code please let me know.
EDIT: b1 and b2 are Line2D objects in computeStartAndExtent() method.
Thank you.

There are some of things that can be made to simplify the calculation:
Keep the vertices ordered, so that it is always clear how to calculate the vertex angles pointing away from the corner
Furthermore, always draw the polygon to the same direction; then you can always draw the angles to the same direction. The example below assumes the polygon is drawn clockwise. The same angle calculation would result in the arcs drawn outside given a polygon drawn counterclockwise.
Example code; is not quite the same as yours as I don't have your code, but has similar functionality:
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.Graphics2D;
import java.awt.Shape;
import java.awt.geom.Arc2D;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;
public class Polygon extends JPanel {
private static final int RADIUS = 20;
private final int[] xpoints = {
10, 150, 80, 60
};
private final int[] ypoints = {
10, 10, 150, 60
};
final Arc2D[] arcs;
Polygon() {
arcs = new Arc2D[xpoints.length];
for (int i = 0; i < arcs.length; i++) {
// Indices of previous and next corners
int prev = (i + arcs.length - 1) % arcs.length;
int next = (i + arcs.length + 1) % arcs.length;
// angles of sides, pointing outwards from the corner
double ang1 = Math.toDegrees(Math.atan2(-(ypoints[prev] - ypoints[i]), xpoints[prev] - xpoints[i]));
double ang2 = Math.toDegrees(Math.atan2(-(ypoints[next] - ypoints[i]), xpoints[next] - xpoints[i]));
int start = (int) ang1;
int extent = (int) (ang2 - ang1);
// always draw to positive direction, limit the angle <= 360
extent = (extent + 360) % 360;
arcs[i] = new Arc2D.Float(xpoints[i] - RADIUS, ypoints[i] - RADIUS, 2 * RADIUS, 2 * RADIUS, start, extent, Arc2D.OPEN);
}
}
#Override
public Dimension getPreferredSize() {
return new Dimension(160, 160);
}
#Override
protected void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
super.paintComponent(g);
g.drawPolygon(xpoints, ypoints, xpoints.length);
Graphics2D g2d = (Graphics2D) g;
for (Shape s : arcs) {
g2d.draw(s);
}
}
public static void main(String args[]){
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Polygon");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.add(new Polygon());
frame.pack();
frame.setVisible(true);
}
});
}
}
Results in:

Creating an arc between two points for interpolation in Java

I've got a top down game that I'm making and I want my enemies to be able to move across the screen in an arc. Right now they move in a straight line between two edges of the screen. I generate a start position on one edge then find a random position somewhere across the screen and calculate movement speeds my multiplying the sin/cos of the angle by their speed variable.
I'd like to use these to points to generate some arc between them and then use that to move my enemies along it. I thought maybe some sort of spline would do the trick but Im not entirely sure how to create one, nor more significantly how to use it to interpolate my characters. I think at this point its more of a math question than programming but I hope someone can help anyways. Thanks.

Yes, a spline would work for you. Specifically i would recommend a cubic spline, because later on if you wanted do a different shape, maybe a Street Fighter style uppercut, you could re-use the same code. I remember cubic spline being a decent, general solution.
As far as solving for a cubic spline I would recommend you just Google for pseudo code which makes sense to you. That's only if you really want to generically solve for a suitable cubic spline on the fly.
In practice, i imagine the shape you want will be the same almost all the time? If so, you can probably solve a few general cases of a spline and save it to some fast data structure to improve performance. In example, for y=x a suitable array holding the necessary information (pre-processed) would be x[0] = 1,x[1] = 1,x[2] = 2 ... x[n] = n.
In practice, you could come up with an equation to model a simple two point spline. A cubic equation has 4 unknowns. So you have two data points at least, you're starting point and your end point. In addition, you can calculate the derivative of him when he jumps. For your fourth point you could use either another point you want him to jump through, or the derivative when he lands. Then use https://www.wolframalpha.com/ to solve the equation for you. Or use an equation to solve cubics.
Another thing you can do is just calculate the arc using the quadratic equation + gravity + wind resistance. Again, Google knows how to solve that. This page is something i quickly found that looks like it could do the trick. http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/vectors/Lesson-2/Non-Horizontally-Launched-Projectiles-Problem-Solv

When you intend to use a spline, you can use the Path2D class that is already available in Java. You can assemble an arbitrary path by
moving to a certain point
appending a line segment
appending a quadratic curve segment
appending a cubic curve segment
So assembling this path should be easy: You can just create a quadratic curve that starts at a random point on the left border of the screen and ends at a random point on the right border of the screen. As the control points (for both ends) you can use a point at a random position in the center of the screen.
(BTW: When you manage to represent the path as a generic Path2D, then you can probably imagine that you have quite a lot of freedom when designing the path for the enemies. They could run in circles or zig-zag, just as you like...)
What might be more tricky here is to let the enemies follow this path.
The first step is not sooo tricky yet: You can walk along this path with a PathIterator. But this PathIterator will only return a single segment - namely, the quadratic curve. This can be alleviated by creating a flattening PathIterator. This will convert all curves into line segments (the resolution can be high, so you won't notice any corners).
However, now comes the really tricky part: When iterating these line segments, the movement speed may vary: Depending on the curvature of the original quadratic curve, there may be more or fewer line segments be created. In the worst case, when all 3 points are on one line, then only one line segment would be created, and the enemy would walk across the whole screen in a single step. So you have to make sure that this path is traversed with a constant speed. You have to compute how far you already have been walking when iterating over the path, and possibly interpolate a position between two points of the path.
I quickly assembled an example. It's certainly not bullet-proof, but might serve as a starting point.
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.Graphics2D;
import java.awt.RenderingHints;
import java.awt.Shape;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.awt.geom.Path2D;
import java.awt.geom.PathIterator;
import java.awt.geom.Point2D;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Random;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JComponent;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;
import javax.swing.Timer;
public class SplineMovementTest
{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable()
{
#Override
public void run()
{
createAndShowGUI();
}
});
}
private static PathFollower pathFollower;
private static void createAndShowGUI()
{
JFrame frame = new JFrame();
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.getContentPane().setLayout(new BorderLayout());
final Random random = new Random(0);
final SplineMovementPanel p = new SplineMovementPanel();
JButton generateButton = new JButton("Generate");
generateButton.addActionListener(new ActionListener()
{
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
{
Shape spline = generateSpline(p,
random.nextDouble(),
random.nextDouble(),
random.nextDouble());
p.setSpline(spline);
pathFollower = new PathFollower(spline);
p.repaint();
}
});
frame.getContentPane().add(generateButton, BorderLayout.NORTH);
startAnimation(p);
frame.getContentPane().add(p, BorderLayout.CENTER);
frame.setSize(800, 800);
frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
frame.setVisible(true);
}
private static Shape generateSpline(
JComponent c, double yLeft, double yCenter, double yRight)
{
Path2D spline = new Path2D.Double();
double x0 = 0;
double y0 = yLeft * c.getHeight();
double x1 = c.getWidth() / 2;
double y1 = yCenter * c.getHeight();
double x2 = c.getWidth();
double y2 = yRight * c.getHeight();
spline.moveTo(x0, y0);
spline.curveTo(x1, y1, x1, y1, x2, y2);
return spline;
}
private static void startAnimation(final SplineMovementPanel p)
{
Timer timer = new Timer(20, new ActionListener()
{
double position = 0.0;
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
{
position += 0.005;
position %= 1.0;
if (pathFollower != null)
{
Point2D point = pathFollower.computePointAt(
position * pathFollower.getPathLength());
p.setObjectLocation(point);
}
}
});
timer.start();
}
}
class PathFollower
{
private final List<Point2D> points;
private final double pathLength;
PathFollower(Shape spline)
{
points = createPointList(spline);
pathLength = computeLength(points);
}
public double getPathLength()
{
return pathLength;
}
Point2D computePointAt(double length)
{
if (length < 0)
{
Point2D p = points.get(0);
return new Point2D.Double(p.getX(), p.getY());
}
if (length > pathLength)
{
Point2D p = points.get(points.size()-1);
return new Point2D.Double(p.getX(), p.getY());
}
double currentLength = 0;
for (int i=0; i<points.size()-1; i++)
{
Point2D p0 = points.get(i);
Point2D p1 = points.get(i+1);
double distance = p0.distance(p1);
double nextLength = currentLength + distance;
if (nextLength > length)
{
double rel = 1 - (nextLength - length) / distance;
double x0 = p0.getX();
double y0 = p0.getY();
double dx = p1.getX() - p0.getX();
double dy = p1.getY() - p0.getY();
double x = x0 + rel * dx;
double y = y0 + rel * dy;
return new Point2D.Double(x,y);
}
currentLength = nextLength;
}
Point2D p = points.get(points.size()-1);
return new Point2D.Double(p.getX(), p.getY());
}
private static double computeLength(List<Point2D> points)
{
double length = 0;
for (int i=0; i<points.size()-1; i++)
{
Point2D p0 = points.get(i);
Point2D p1 = points.get(i+1);
length += p0.distance(p1);
}
return length;
}
private static List<Point2D> createPointList(Shape shape)
{
List<Point2D> points = new ArrayList<Point2D>();
PathIterator pi = shape.getPathIterator(null, 0.1);
double coords[] = new double[6];
while (!pi.isDone())
{
int s = pi.currentSegment(coords);
switch (s)
{
case PathIterator.SEG_MOVETO:
points.add(new Point2D.Double(coords[0], coords[1]));
case PathIterator.SEG_LINETO:
points.add(new Point2D.Double(coords[0], coords[1]));
}
pi.next();
}
return points;
}
}
class SplineMovementPanel extends JPanel
{
void setSpline(Shape shape)
{
this.spline = shape;
}
void setObjectLocation(Point2D objectLocation)
{
this.objectLocation = objectLocation;
repaint();
}
private Shape spline = null;
private Point2D objectLocation = null;
#Override
protected void paintComponent(Graphics gr)
{
super.paintComponent(gr);
Graphics2D g = (Graphics2D)gr;
g.setRenderingHint(
RenderingHints.KEY_ANTIALIASING,
RenderingHints.VALUE_ANTIALIAS_ON);
if (spline != null)
{
g.setColor(Color.BLACK);
g.draw(spline);
}
if (objectLocation != null)
{
g.setColor(Color.RED);
int x = (int)objectLocation.getX()-15;
int y = (int)objectLocation.getY()-15;
g.fillOval(x, y, 30, 30);
}
}
}

Java AWT rotating ball

Oh boy, trigonometry is so hard! I kinda need some help, It's a simple program that is supposed to rotate a ball around the center of the screen... Here is my code:
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class Window {
private int x;
private int y;
private int R = 30;
private double alpha = 0;
private final int SPEED = 1;
private final Color COLOR = Color.red;
public static void main(String[] args) {
new Window().buildWindow();
}
public void buildWindow() {
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Rotation");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.setSize(800,600);
frame.setVisible(true);
frame.add(new DrawPanel());
while(true) {
try {
Thread.sleep(60);
alpha += SPEED;
frame.repaint();
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
#SuppressWarnings("serial")
class DrawPanel extends JPanel {
#Override
public void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
g.setColor(Color.blue);
Font font = new Font("Arial",Font.PLAIN,12);
g.setFont(font);
g.drawString(String.format("Angle: %.2f ", alpha), 0, 12);
g.setColor(Color.black);
g.drawLine(this.getWidth()/2,0, this.getWidth()/2, this.getHeight());
g.drawLine(0, this.getHeight()/2, this.getWidth(), this.getHeight()/2);
x = (int) ((this.getWidth() / 2 - R / 2 ) + Math.round((R + 20) * Math.sin(alpha)));
y = (int) ((this.getHeight() / 2 - R / 2 ) + Math.round((R + 20) * Math.cos(alpha)));
g.setColor(COLOR);
g.fillOval(x, y, R, R);
}
}
}
This code looks like it's working, but then I've printed Angle[alpha] information to the screen. And when I comment out the alpha+=SPEED and enter the angle manually it does not look like it's working.The angle on the screen doses not correspond to that angle alpha.
So I need suggestions. What should I change? Is my trigonometry wrong? etc...

Three things to note here:
I assume your alpha variable is in degrees since you are adding 20 in each step. However the Math.sin() and Math.cos() methods expect an angle in radians.
Normally 0 deg (or 0 rads) is represented at the "3 o'clock" position. For this you need to switch the sin and cos calls.
Reverse the sign in the y equation to account for the fact that y coordinates start at the top of the screen and increase downwards
With these modifications, your code will work as you expect:
double rads = (alpha * Math.PI) / 180F;
x = (int) ((this.getWidth() / 2 - R / 2 ) + Math.round((R + 20) * Math.cos(rads)));
y = (int) ((this.getHeight() / 2 - R / 2 ) - Math.round((R + 20) * Math.sin(rads)));

How do you move an object in a wavy pattern?

I know the following code will move an object in a straight line. How can I get the object to travel in a wavy line? I know that something extra is required for the x variable.
public void draw(Graphics2D g)
{
g.setColor(Color.WHITE);
g.fillOval ((int) (x - r), (int) (y - r), (int)
(2 * r),
(int) (2 * r));
y++;
if (y - r > height)
y = -r;
}

Use the sine or cosine function to calculate y as a function of x.
Multiply the sine or cosine function to increase the amplitude (how high it goes)
y = 100 * sin(x) // will make it have peaks of -100 and 100
Divide the x to increase the period. (distance between peaks)
y = sin(x/2) // will make it take twice the x distance between peaks.
Something like this:
public void draw(Graphics2D g)
{
g.setColor(Color.WHITE);
g.fillOval ((int) (x - r), (int) (y - r), (int)
(2 * r),
(int) (2 * r));
x++; // Left to right movement
// Example, modify the multipliers as necessary
y = 100 * Math.sin(Math.toDegrees(x/4))
}

Including a sin(x) or cos(x) in your function will provide a regular wave pattern, irregular pattern needs a more sophisticated function

I know you already accepted an answer, but here's something to draw additional inspiration from that I whipped up...
package wavy;
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.Graphics2D;
import java.util.Timer;
import java.util.TimerTask;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
public class Wavy {
public static void main(String[] args) {
final JFrame frame = new JFrame("Wavy!");
final WavyPanel wp = new WavyPanel();
frame.getContentPane().add(wp, BorderLayout.CENTER);
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
final Ticker t = new Ticker(wp);
final Repainter r = new Repainter(wp);
frame.pack();
frame.setVisible(true);
final Timer tickTimer = new Timer();
final Timer paintTimer = new Timer();
paintTimer.schedule(r, 1000, 50);
tickTimer.schedule(t, 1000, 10);
}
private static class WavyPanel extends JPanel {
private final Dimension size = new Dimension(640, 480);
private int amplitude = 50;
private int frequency = 5;
private int x = 0;
private double y = size.height / 2;
private int yBase = 0;
WavyPanel() {
super(true);
}
#Override
protected void paintComponent(final Graphics g) {
final Graphics2D g2 = (Graphics2D)g;
g2.setColor(Color.WHITE);
g2.fillRect(0, 0, size.width, size.height);
g2.setColor(Color.BLACK);
g2.fillOval(x, (int)y, 30, 30);
}
#Override
public Dimension getPreferredSize() {
return size;
}
#Override
public Dimension getMinimumSize() {
return size;
}
#Override
public Dimension getMaximumSize() {
return size;
}
public void tick() {
//Move a pixel to the right; loop over to the left when reaching edge
x = (++x) % size.width;
//Length of one full wave = panel width divided by frequency
final int waveLength = size.width / frequency;
//Incrementing yBase; capping off at wavelength
yBase = (++yBase) % waveLength;
//Normalizing to [0..1]
final double normalized = (double)yBase / (double)waveLength;
//Full wave at 2*pi, means...
final double radians = normalized * Math.PI * 2;
//Getting the sine
final double sine = Math.sin(radians);
//Multiplying with amplitude, add to center position and we have our y
y = (int)(sine * amplitude) + size.height/2;
}
}
private static class Ticker extends TimerTask {
private final WavyPanel panel;
Ticker(final WavyPanel panel) {
this.panel = panel;
}
#Override
public void run() {
panel.tick();
}
}
private static class Repainter extends TimerTask {
private final WavyPanel panel;
Repainter(final WavyPanel panel) {
this.panel = panel;
}
#Override
public void run() {
panel.repaint();
}
}
}
This should run at an approximate 20 frames per second. You can increase this by setting the second argument of paintTimer.schedule(r, 1000, 50) lower. The speed of movement can be altered by lowering (speeding up) or increasing (slower) the second argument of tickTimer.schedule(t, 1000, 50).
Changing the amplitude field of WavyPanel will change how high/low the circle moves. Changing the frequency to a higher value will result in shorter waves, while a lower value will produce longer waves.
With some additional work you could add in controls to change the amplitude and frequency on-the-fly. Some additional notes:
You may wish to add some safeguard to the tick() method to make sure that when one invocation is already running, additional ones are skipped until the first one is done. Otherwise the calculations could fail for short tick intervals. A semaphore could be used here.
Since trigonometric calculations aren't exactly the cheapest, you may consider caching some results (e.g. in an array) for re-use if many similar animations are to be played or if there's a lot more drawing going on.

I hope I'm interpreting this right. Could use the sine or cosine of either your x or y coordinate. I'm not at a machine with java so I can't make an example at the moment..

You're right that you need to update both the x and y variables to get a wavy line. Here's the general strategy for a horizontal line that is wavy up and down:
Choose a function f(x) that has the shape you want. This will be used to calculate values for y. (For instance, you can use y = amplitude * Math.sin(frequency * x) to get a regular sine wave of a given amplitude and frequency.)
If necessary, write the code that implements your function.
Set x to some initial value.
In draw, before you paint the oval, calculate y = f(x);. Paint the oval and then increment x. If necessary, reset x so it stays in range.
If you want a vertical line that is wavy left and right, just reverse the roles of x and y in the above. If you want the oval to go in the reverse direction, just decrement instead of increment in step 4.

this sample is for point(Line with one length) on sinus graph and clock using.
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
public class RunSwing extends JPanel {
static int x1 = 500;
static int y1 = 500;
static int x2 = x1;
static int y2 = y1;
final static int vectorLength = 100;
final static int sinx2 = x2;
final static int siny2 = y2;
static double count = 0;
private static RunSwing run = new RunSwing();
final Timer print = new Timer(1000, new ActionListener() {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(final ActionEvent e) {
//increaseSinusGraph();
increaseClockVector();
count+=6; //for clock for 1 second
/*count++;//for sinus*/
if (count % 360 == 0)
System.out.println((count / 360) + " minute passed");
}
});
RunSwing() {
print.start();
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
JFrame frame = new JFrame("amir");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.add(run);
frame.setSize(1100, 700);
frame.setVisible(true);
}
static void increaseClockVector() {
double cos = Math.cos(Math.toRadians(count));
double sin = Math.sin(Math.toRadians(count));
y2 = siny2 + (int) (vectorLength * sin);
x2 = sinx2 + (int) (vectorLength * cos);
}
static void increaseSinusGraph() {
double sin = Math.sin(Math.toRadians(count));
y2 = siny2 + (int) (vectorLength * sin);
x2++;
}
private void createPoint(Graphics g) {
Graphics2D g2d = (Graphics2D) g;
g2d.drawLine(x2, y2, x2 + 1, y2 + 1);
}
#Override
public void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
super.paintComponent(g);
g.setColor(new Color(0, 0, 0));
g.drawLine(x1, y1, x2, y2);//for clock
/*g.drawLine(x2, y2, x2+1, y2+1);//for sinus*/
repaint();
}
}