Develop Reference

Shooting a bullet from the direction that a rectangle is facing

I have a Rectangle object that is placed on the screen and rendered using paintComponent.
I also have a rotation variable that determines the rotation of the object (using right and left keys to rotate) and repaints the object on the screen using Affine Transform.
In the keyPressed method, I have this which allows me to shoot bullets:
else if(key == KeyEvent.VK_SPACE) {
Bullet b = new Bullet(handler, player.x + 10, player.y - 10, ID.Bullet);
handler.addObject(b);
b.setDY(-3*Math.cos(player.rotation));
b.setDX(3*Math.sin(player.rotation));
}
If you see where I create a new bullet, in the second line, the second and third arguments in the new Bullet() are what determines where the bullets are created. Currently they just shoot from the same position on the rectangle regardless of the rotation.
I have failed at allowing the player to shoot a bullet from the direction they are facing, so if anyone has any suggestions that would be very helpful.

So basically you are trying to find the offset Vector from the player's position.
Let's assume, that you have the offset Vector, when you haven't rotated the object.
Then your task would be to rotate the given Vector by the rotation variable.
To do this we first need to look into geometry a bit. Let's think of a 2d-Vector as a triangle, that we can split into it's x and y components. We know, that the rotated Vector should have the same hypothenuse length as the original offset or in other terms the same magnitude.
This means that:
x₀² + y₀² = x₁² + y₁²
Since:
x² + y² = Vector-Magnitude
Your rotation variable keeps track of the inner angle of that "triangle vector" and hence we can describe the lengths as:
x = sin(rotation) * Vector Magnitude
y = cos(rotation) * Vector Magnitude
Now the only thing left to do is evalute those values. To do that, let us jump into the code, shall we?
float magnitude = offset.x*offset.x + offset.y*offset.y;
float x = Math.sin(rotation) * magnitude;
float y = Math.cos(rotation) * magnitude;
Bullet b = new Bullet(handler, player.x + x, player.y + y, ID.Bullet);
possible Errors and fixes
Make sure that you have the correct angle-format. The Java-Math class uses radiens for trigonometric methods.
There could be a constant rotation deviation, depending on what exactly you want your result to look like. This is a rather easy fix, as you just have to add this constant to the rotation variable. In unlikely instances you maybe also need to negate the rotation variable simply by using -rotation in the places I used rotation in my code.

If you know the rotation angle and the width of the rectangle then use this information to rotate the start position of the bullet too. For example to let the start position at the right side:
x = rectMiddleX + width/2 * cos(angle)
y = rectMiddleY + width/2 * sin(angle)
If angle is 0 it will start at the right side
else if(key == KeyEvent.VK_SPACE) {
Bullet b = new Bullet(handler, player.x + width/2 * cos(player.rotation), player.y - width/2 * sin(player.rotation), ID.Bullet);
//if player.x/y is in corner, add width/2 / height/2
handler.addObject(b);
b.setDY(-3*Math.cos(player.rotation));
b.setDX(3*Math.sin(player.rotation));
}

Computer Graphics: Rotating a polygon

Purpose
I'm implementing a polygon rotation with Java AWT.
I'm already able to draw polygons on the screen, and I'd like to apply a rotation matrix manually upon my polygons coordinates (rotation is done around the lookAt point of the user).
What I've already done
In order to rotate the world, the user first clicks on the screen and then drags the mouse around to perform the rotation.
Let's note the first click point as S, the following point from the drag event as L, and the center of the screen as C.
In order to calculate the rotation angle, when first clicking the screen, I keep a vector from C to S: C-S.
Then, when a drag event occurs, I calculate the vector from C to L: C-L.
I then calculate the angle in radians between C-S to C-L, and that's what I apply on my world.
This works well, and the polygon is indeed rotation around the lookAt point.
My problem
The problem occurs when the user finishes a rotation of PI, and then the polygon is rotating backward.
e.g. When the user starts rotating, the angle starts from 0.1.... 0.2... 1.. 2.. 3.. and in value ~3.1 (I assume PI), the values are starting to go down: 3... 2.. 1.. until 0, and vice versa.
This makes sense since the radians range is [0, PI].
I assume the base vector C-S lies on the right side of X axis, and when the rotation goes down below the X axis the polygon is rotating backwards.
However, I have no idea how to keep the polygon rotating in the same direction all the time (when the user performs a full rotation around the polygon).
Edit
Angle function is:
public final double angle(Vector2D v1)
{
double vDot = this.dot(v1) / ( this.length()*v1.length() );
if( vDot < -1.0) vDot = -1.0;
if( vDot > 1.0) vDot = 1.0;
return ((double) (Math.acos( vDot )));
}

This is a problem of the arcus cosine, acos(cos(x)) is a periodic hat function moving up and down in the range of 0 to pi.
In higher dimensions that can not be avoided, as there is no preferred frame of reference, so there is no way to say that phi should really be -phi. In 2 dimensions there is a prefered orientation of the plane so that one can say what is the first and what the second vector and define a unique angle in positive orientation. Rotate the situation so that the first vector comes to lay on the positive real half axis to get the angle and correct quadrant from the coordinates of the rotated second vector.
Easiest to reconstruct is the complex picture, to compute the angle from a=a.x+i*a.y to b=b.x+i*b.y rotate b back by multiplying with the conjugate of a to get an angle from the zero angle resp. the positive real axis,
arg((a.x-i*a.y)*(b.x+i*b.y))
=arg((a.x*b.x+a.y*b.y)+i*(a.x*b.y-a.y*b.x))
=atan2( a.x*b.y-a.y*b.x , a.x*b.x+a.y*b.y )
Note that screen coordinates use the opposite orientation to the cartesian/complex plane, thus change atan2(y,x) to atan2(-y,x) to get an angle in the usual direction.

public Point rotate(Point original, Point vertex, double angle){
Point translated = new Point(original.x - vertex.x, original.y - vertex.y);
int x = (int)Math.round(translated.x * Math.cos(angle) - translated.y * Math.sin(angle));
int y = (int)Math.round(translated.x * Math.sin(angle) + translated.y * Math.cos(angle));
return new Point(vertex.x+x,vertex.y+y);
}
This is a simple rotation method that you can use to rotate a point around a given vertex.

3D rotation of a circle to make the edge cross two points

I am trying to make a circle (actually a flat cylinder) rotate so that the edge crosses two points in world position. These two points can be anywhere on a sphere. The sphere has the same radius and position as the cylinder. the origin of both is [0,0,0].
It's a little bit hard to explain, so I included three pictures that I hope illustrates what I am trying to accomplish.
Here you see what I am trying to accomplish. The yellow circle represents one of the points along the sphere, while the red circle represents the other point. The blue line is actually a flat cylinder going through the sphere, and is rotated so that it goes through both points.
Here is another similar picture, but with the points at different locations.
In this picture one can see the cylinder in full, as the sphere has been hidden.
Now, I am really terrible at math, so I would really love an answer made up of pseudo code or a programming language. And if I should be so lucky, java.
The circles rotation can be represented with either a quaternion or a matrix
So far, what I have tried, is rotating the cylinder with an up vector towards one of the points, and a forward vector towards the other point. But I can't seem to make it work. I have also tried other solutions, most of them involving two rotations (one for each point), but I end up having trouble when combining the rotations.
Here is my current non-working code:
This code makes the circle go through the first point, and then rotates it with an "up vector" towards the same point, this second rotation varies depending on the first point position, and is kind off all over the place.
//calculate direction vector between the two points
point1point2dir.set(point1Pos);
//subtract point two position
point1point2dir.sub(point2Pos);
//normalize
point1point2dir.nor();
//make two quaternions for rotation
Quaternion rot1=new Quaternion();
Quaternion rot2=new Quaternion();
//set first rotation two a rotation between X-axis and point1 position. Vector3.X = (1,0,0)
rot1.set(m.quatUtils.getRot(Vector3.X, point1Pos));
//crossmuliply direction vector between the two points with X-axis
point1point2dir.crs(Vector3.X);
//set the second rotation to a rotation between Z-Axis and the crossmultiplied direction vector
rot2.set(m.quatUtils.getRot(Vector3.Z, point1point2dir));
//multiply the two rotations
rot1.mul(rot2);
//apply the rotation to the cylinders matrix
cylinderMatrix.rotate(rot1);
//the function that gets the quaternion rotation between two vectors
Quaternion getRot(Vector3 pStart, Vector3 pDest) {
start.set(pStart);
dest.set(pDest);
start.nor();
dest.nor();
cosTheta = Vector3.dot(start.x, start.y, start.z, dest.x, dest.y,
dest.z);
rotationAxis.set(0.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f);
if (cosTheta < -1.0f + 0.001f) {
rotationAxis.set(Z_AXIS);
rotationAxis.crs(start);
if (rotationAxis.len2() < 0.01f) {
rotationAxis.set(X_AXIS);
rotationAxis.crs(start);
}
rotationAxis.nor();
resultQuat.set(rotationAxis, 180.0f);
return resultQuat;
}
rotationAxis.set(start);
rotationAxis.crs(dest);
s = (float) Math.sqrt((1 + cosTheta) * 2);
invs = 1.0f / s;
resultQuat.set(rotationAxis.x * invs, rotationAxis.y * invs,
rotationAxis.z * invs, s * 0.5f);
return resultQuat;
}

I would suggest this solution:
Calculate v1 and v2 as the vectors from the center of the sphere to each point that you want the cylinder to pass trough.
Cross product v1 and v2 to get the vector up of the cylinder, let's call it n.
Position the center of the cylinder in the center of the sphere.
Rotate the cylinder using n as vector up.

I figured out the solution! It was actually really simple. I don't know how I managed to bungle the math as much as I did earlier. I actually did spend alot of time on this >:)
Sorry if I wasted anybodys time!
The solution:
find direction vector from point1 (A) to point2 (B).
crossmultiply direction vector with point2 to get (C)
Find the quaternion which represents the rotation from Z-axis to the crossmultiplied direction vector (C), function for doing this included in the code attached to the question.
apply rotation.
Here is the working code (yay):
//the rotation
Quaternion rot=new Quaternion();
//the direction from point1 to point 2 (the point positions are in this case also the direction vectors from center)
point1point2dir.set(point1Pos);
point1point2dir.sub(point2Pos);
point1point2dir.nor();
//crossmultiplied with point2
point1point2dir.crs(point2Pos);
//set the rotation to the rotation between Z-axis and the crossmultiplied direction between point 1 and 2
rot.set(m.quatUtils.getRot(Vector3.Z, point1point2dir));
//apply rotation
ekvatorMatrix.rotate(rot);
And here is the code for the function that returns the quaternion between two vectors:
Quaternion getRot(Vector3 pStart, Vector3 pDest) {
start.set(pStart);
dest.set(pDest);
start.nor();
dest.nor();
cosTheta = Vector3.dot(start.x, start.y, start.z, dest.x, dest.y,
dest.z);
rotationAxis.set(0.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f);
if (cosTheta < -1.0f + 0.001f) {
rotationAxis.set(Z_AXIS);
rotationAxis.crs(start);
if (rotationAxis.len2() < 0.01f) {
rotationAxis.set(X_AXIS);
rotationAxis.crs(start);
}
rotationAxis.nor();
resultQuat.set(rotationAxis, 180.0f);
return resultQuat;
}
rotationAxis.set(start);
rotationAxis.crs(dest);
s = (float) Math.sqrt((1 + cosTheta) * 2);
invs = 1.0f / s;
resultQuat.set(rotationAxis.x * invs, rotationAxis.y * invs,
rotationAxis.z * invs, s * 0.5f);
return resultQuat;
}

Assuming that the initial cylinder is axis aligned with the "circle" ends in positive and negative X direction, and assuming cylinder and sphere is initially unit size (radius=1.0) I would do the following:
Convert the world coordinate representation of the Red and "Yellow" points (let's just for fun call them A and B shall we) to normalized vectors pointing from centre [0,0,0] (from now on called C)
Calculate the angle between CA and CB (which is really just between A and B). Let's call this angle W
Calculate the vector perpendicular to both A and B by doing a cross product. Lets call this new vector D.
Find the rotation matrix that rotates from [0,0,1] to B. Lets call this M1. This can be done in the same way as in point 3 (create a perpendicular vector and rotate identity matrix around it with the angle between the normalized vectors).
Find the rotation matrix that rotates W around D. Let's call this M2
Combine M1 + M2 into M3
You result is M3
This was not tested and so I don't know if it works.

LWJGL first person camera using jBullet

I've got a camera set up, and I can move with WASD and rotate the view with the mouse. But now comes the problem: I want to add physics to the camera/player, so that it "interacts" with my other jBullet objects. How do I do that? I thought about creating a RigidBody for the camera and storing the position there, so that jBullet can apply its physics to the camera. Then, when I need to change something (the position), I could simply change it in the RigidBody. But I didn't find any methods for editing the position.
Can you push me in the right direction or maybe give me an example source code?

I was asking the same question myself a few days ago. My solution was as Sierox said. To create a RigidBody of BoxShape and add that to the DynaicsWorld. To move the camera arund, apply force to its rigidbody. I have damping set to .999 for linear and 1 for angular to stop the camera when no force is applied, i.e. the player stops pressing the button.
I also use body.setAngularFactor(0); so the box isn't tumbling all over the place. Also set the mass really low as not to interfere too much with other objects, but still be able to jump on then and run into them, and otherwise be affected by them.
Remember to convert your x,y, and z coordinates to cartesian a plane so you move in the direction of the camera. i.e.
protected void setCartesian(){//set xyz to a standard plane
yrotrad = (float) (yrot / 180 * Math.PI);
xrotrad = (float) (xrot / 180 * Math.PI);
float pd = (float) (Math.PI/180);
x = (float) (-Math.cos(xrot*pd)*Math.sin(yrot*pd));
z = (float) (-Math.cos(xrot*pd)*Math.cos(yrot*pd));
//y = (float) Math.sin(xrot*pd);
}//..
public void forward(){// move forward from position in direction of camera
setCartesian();
x += (Math.sin(yrotrad))*spd;
z -= (Math.cos(yrotrad))*spd;
//y -= (Math.sin(xrotrad))*spd;
body.applyForce(new Vector3f(x,0,z),getThrow());
}//..
public Vector3f getThrow(){// get relative position of the camera
float nx=x,ny=y,nz=z;
float xrotrad, yrotrad;
yrotrad = (float) (yrot / 180 * Math.PI);
xrotrad = (float) (xrot / 180 * Math.PI);
nx += (Math.sin(yrotrad))*2;
nz -= (Math.cos(yrotrad))*2;
ny -= (Math.sin(xrotrad))*2;
return new Vector3f(nx,ny,nz);
}//..
to jump just use body.setLinearVelocity(new Vector3f(0,jumpHt,0)); and set jumpHt to whatever velocity you wish.
I use getThrow to return a vector for other objects i may be "throwing" on screen or carrying. I hope I answered your question and didn't throw in too much non-essential information.I'll try and find the source that gave me this idea. I believe it was on the Bullet forums.
------- EDIT ------
Sorry to have left that part out
once you have the rigid body functioning properly you just have to get it's coordinates and apply that to your camera for example:
float mat[] = new float[16];
Transform t = new Transform();
t = body.getWorldTransform(t);
t.origin.get(mat);
x = mat[0];
y = mat[1];
z = mat[2];
gl.glRotatef(xrot, 1, 0, 0); //rotate our camera on teh x-axis (left and right)
gl.glRotatef(yrot, 0, 1, 0); //rotate our camera on the y-axis (up and down)
gl.glTranslatef(-x, -y, -z); //translate the screen to the position of our camera
In my case I'm using OpenGL for graphics. xrot and yrot represent the pitch and yaw of your camera. the code above gets the world transform in the form of a matrix and for the purposes of the camera you need only to pull the x,y, and z coordinates then apply the transform.
from here, to move the camera, you can set the linear velocity of the rigid body to move the camera or apply force.

Before you read this answer I would like to mention that I have a problem with the solution stated in my answer. You can follow my question about that problem so that you can have the solution too if you use this answer.
So. First, you need to create a new BoxShape:
CollisionShape cameraHolder = new BoxShape(SIZE OF CAMERAHOLDER);
And add it to your world so that it interacts with all the other objects. Now you need to change all the methods about camera movement (not rotation) so that the methods move your cameraHolder but not your camera. Then set the position of your Camera to the position of the cameraHolder.
Again, if you have a problem where you can't move properly, you can check my question and wait for an answer. You also can find a better way of doing this.
If you have problems or did not understand something about the answer, please state it as a comment.

Java LWJGL - Vertical Shooting Bugs Out

So i've made my own FPS, graphics and guns and all of that cool stuff; When we fire, the bullet should take a random direction inside the crosshair, as defined by:
float randomX=(float)Math.random()*(0.08f*guns[currentWeapon].currAcc)-(0.04f*guns[currentWeapon].currAcc);
float randomY=(float)Math.random()*(0.08f*guns[currentWeapon].currAcc)-(0.04f*guns[currentWeapon].currAcc);
bulletList.add(new Bullet(new float[]{playerXpos, playerYpos, playerZpos}, new float[]{playerXrot+randomX, playerYrot+randomY}, (float) 0.5));
We calculate the randomness in X and Y (say you had a crosshair size (guns[currentWeapon].currAcc) of 10, then the bullet could go 0.4 to any side and it would remain inside the crosshair.
After that is calculated, we send the player position as the starting position of the bullet, along with the direction it's meant to take (its the player's direction with that extra randomness), and finally it's speed (not important atm, tho).
Now, each frame, the bullets have to move, so for each bullet we call:
position[0] -= (float)Math.sin(direction[1]*piover180) * (float)Math.cos(direction[0]*piover180) * speed;
position[2] -= (float)Math.cos(direction[1]*piover180) * (float)Math.cos(direction[0]*piover180) * speed;
position[1] += (float)Math.sin(direction[0]*piover180) * speed;
So, for X and Z positions, the bullet moves according to the player's rotation on the Y and X axis (say you were looking horizontally into Z, 0 degrees on X and 0 on Y; X would move 0*1*speed and Z would move 1*1*speed).
For Y position, the bullet moves according to the rotation on X axis (varies between -90 and 90), meaning it stays at the same height if the player's looking horizontally or moves completely up if the player is looking vertically.
Now, the problem stands as follows:
If i shoot horizontally, everything works beautifully. Bullets spread around the cross hair, as seen in https://dl.dropbox.com/u/16387578/horiz.jpg
The thing is, if i start looking up, the bullets start concentrating around the center, and make this vertical line the further into the sky i look.
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/16387578/verti.jpg
The 1st image is around 40º in the X axis, the 2nd is a little higher and the last is when i look vertically.
What am i doing wrong here? I designed this solution myself can im pretty sure im messing up somewhere, but i cant figure it out :/

Basicly the vertical offset calculation (float)Math.cos(direction[0]*piover180) was messing up the X and Z movement because they'd both get reduced to 0. The bullets would make a vertical line because they'd rotate on the X axis with the randomness. My solution was to add the randomness after that vertical offset calculation, so they still go left and right and up and down after you fire them.
I also had to add an extra random value otherwise you'd just draw a diagonal line or a cross.
float randomX=(float)Math.random()*(0.08f*guns[currentWeapon].currAcc)-(0.04f*guns[currentWeapon].currAcc);
float randomY=(float)Math.random()*(0.08f*guns[currentWeapon].currAcc)-(0.04f*guns[currentWeapon].currAcc);
float randomZ=(float)Math.random()*(0.08f*guns[currentWeapon].currAcc)-(0.04f*guns[currentWeapon].currAcc);
bulletList.add(new Bullet(new float[]{playerXpos, playerYpos, playerZpos}, new float[]{playerXrot, playerYrot}, new float[]{randomX,randomY, randomZ},(float) 0.5));
And the moving code...
vector[0]= -((float)Math.sin(dir[1]*piover180) * (float)Math.cos(dir[0]*piover180)+(float)Math.sin(random[1]*piover180)) * speed;
vector[1]= ((float)Math.sin(dir[0]*piover180)+(float)Math.sin(random[0]*piover180)) * speed;
vector[2]= -((float)Math.cos(dir[1]*piover180) * (float)Math.cos(dir[0]*piover180)+(float)Math.sin(random[2]*piover180)) * speed;

You didn't need to bust out any complex math, your problem was that when you were rotating the bullet around the y axis for gun spread, if you were looking directly up (that is, through the y axis, the bullet is being rotated around the path which its going, which means no rotation whatsoever (imagine the difference between sticking your arm out forwards towards a wall and spinning in a circle, and sticking you arm out towards the sky and spinning in a circle. Notice that your hand doesn't move at all when pointed towards the sky (the y-axis)) and so you get those "diagonal" bullet spreads.
The trick is to do the bullet spread before rotating by the direction the player is looking in, because that way you know that when you are rotating for spread, that the vector is guaranteed to be perpendicular to the x and y axes.
this.vel = new THREE.Vector3(0,0,-1);
var angle = Math.random() * Math.PI * 2;
var mag = Math.random() * this.gun.accuracy;
this.spread = new THREE.Vector2(Math.cos(angle) * mag,Math.sin(angle) * mag);
this.vel.applyAxisAngle(new THREE.Vector3(0,1,0),this.spread.y / 100); //rotate first when angle gaurenteed to be perpendicular to x and y axes
this.vel.applyAxisAngle(new THREE.Vector3(1,0,0),this.spread.x / 100);
this.vel.applyAxisAngle(new THREE.Vector3(1,0,0),player.looking.x); //then add player looking direction
this.vel.applyAxisAngle(new THREE.Vector3(0,1,0),player.looking.y);
this.offset = this.vel.clone()
I don't use java but I hope you get the main idea of what im doing by this javascript. I am rotating a vector going in the negative z direction (default direction of camera) by the spread.y, and spread.x, and then I am rotating by the pitch and yaw of the angle at which the player is facing.