This article is the 7th in a series of articles that will hopefully teach you about 3D math. Each one builds on the previous lesson so you may find them easiest to understand by reading them in order.
- Translation
- Rotation
- Scaling
- Matrix Math
- Orthographic Projection
- Perspective Projection
- [Cameras](https://webgpufundamental…
This article is the 7th in a series of articles that will hopefully teach you about 3D math. Each one builds on the previous lesson so you may find them easiest to understand by reading them in order.
- Translation
- Rotation
- Scaling
- Matrix Math
- Orthographic Projection
- Perspective Projection
- Cameras ⬅ you are here
- Matrix Stacks
- Scene Graphs
In the last post we had to move the F in front of the frustum because the mat4.perspective function puts the eye at at the origin (0, 0, 0) and that objects in the frustum are between -zNear to -zFar in front of it. This means, anything we want to appear, needs to be placed this this space.
In the real world you usually move your camera to take a picture of a some object
moving the camera to the objects
But, in our last post, we came up with a projection matrix that requires things to be in front of the origin on the -Z axis. To achieve this, what we want to do is, move the camera to the origin and move everything else the right amount so it’s still in the same place relative to the camera.
moving the objects to the view
We need to effectively move the world in front of the camera. The easiest way to do this is to use an “inverse” matrix. The math to compute an inverse matrix in the general case is complex but conceptually it’s easy. The inverse is the value you’d use to negate some other value. For example, the inverse of a matrix that translates in X by 123 is a matrix that translates in X by -123. The inverse of a matrix that scales by 5 is a matrix that scales by 1/5th or 0.2. The inverse of a matrix that rotates 30° around the X axis would be one that rotates -30° around the X axis.
Up until this point we’ve used translation, rotation and scale to affect the position and orientation of our ‘F’. After multiplying all the matrices together we have a single matrix that represents how to move the ‘F’ from the origin to the place, size and orientation we want it. We can do the same for a camera. Once we have the matrix that tells us how to move and rotate the camera from the origin to where we want it we can compute its inverse which will give us a matrix that tells us how to move and rotate everything else the opposite amount which will effectively make it so the camera is at (0, 0, 0) and we’ve moved everything in front of it.
Let’s make a 3D scene with a circle of ’F’s like the diagrams above.
First things first, lets adjust our F vertex data. We originally started in 2D with pixels. The top left corner of the F is at 0,0 and extends 100 pixels right and 150 pixels down. “Pixels” probably make no sense as a unit in 3D and the perspective projection matrix we made uses positive Y up so, let’s flip our F so positive Y is up and let’s center it around the origin.
const positions = [
- // left column
- 0, 0, 0,
- 30, 0, 0,
- 0, 150, 0,
- 30, 150, 0,
-
- // top rung
- 30, 0, 0,
- 100, 0, 0,
- 30, 30, 0,
- 100, 30, 0,
-
- // middle rung
- 30, 60, 0,
- 70, 60, 0,
- 30, 90, 0,
- 70, 90, 0,
-
- // left column back
- 0, 0, 30,
- 30, 0, 30,
- 0, 150, 30,
- 30, 150, 30,
-
- // top rung back
- 30, 0, 30,
- 100, 0, 30,
- 30, 30, 30,
- 100, 30, 30,
-
- // middle rung back
- 30, 60, 30,
- 70, 60, 30,
- 30, 90, 30,
- 70, 90, 30,
+ // left column
+ -50, 75, 15,
+ -20, 75, 15,
+ -50, -75, 15,
+ -20, -75, 15,
+
+ // top rung
+ -20, 75, 15,
+ 50, 75, 15,
+ -20, 45, 15,
+ 50, 45, 15,
+
+ // middle rung
+ -20, 15, 15,
+ 20, 15, 15,
+ -20, -15, 15,
+ 20, -15, 15,
+
+ // left column back
+ -50, 75, -15,
+ -20, 75, -15,
+ -50, -75, -15,
+ -20, -75, -15,
+
+ // top rung back
+ -20, 75, -15,
+ 50, 75, -15,
+ -20, 45, -15,
+ 50, 45, -15,
+
+ // middle rung back
+ -20, 15, -15,
+ 20, 15, -15,
+ -20, -15, -15,
+ 20, -15, -15,
];
Further, as we went over in the previous article, because we were using positive Y = down to match most 2D pixel libraries, we had our triangle vertex order backward for normal 3D and ended up culling the the 'front' facing triangles instead of the normal 'back' facing triangles since were scaling Y by negative 1. Now that we’re doing normal 3D with positive Y = up, let’s flip the order of the vertices so that clockwise triangles are facing out.
const indices = [
- 0, 1, 2, 2, 1, 3, // left column
- 4, 5, 6, 6, 5, 7, // top run
- 8, 9, 10, 10, 9, 11, // middle run
-
- 12, 14, 13, 14, 15, 13, // left column back
- 16, 18, 17, 18, 19, 17, // top run back
- 20, 22, 21, 22, 23, 21, // middle run back
-
- 0, 12, 5, 12, 17, 5, // top
- 5, 17, 7, 17, 19, 7, // top rung right
- 6, 7, 18, 18, 7, 19, // top rung bottom
- 6, 18, 8, 18, 20, 8, // between top and middle rung
- 8, 20, 9, 20, 21, 9, // middle rung top
- 9, 21, 11, 21, 23, 11, // middle rung right
- 10, 11, 22, 22, 11, 23, // middle rung bottom
- 10, 22, 3, 22, 15, 3, // stem right
- 2, 3, 14, 14, 3, 15, // bottom
- 0, 2, 12, 12, 2, 14, // left
+ 0, 2, 1, 2, 3, 1, // left column
+ 4, 6, 5, 6, 7, 5, // top run
+ 8, 10, 9, 10, 11, 9, // middle run
+
+ 12, 13, 14, 14, 13, 15, // left column back
+ 16, 17, 18, 18, 17, 19, // top run back
+ 20, 21, 22, 22, 21, 23, // middle run back
+
+ 0, 5, 12, 12, 5, 17, // top
+ 5, 7, 17, 17, 7, 19, // top rung right
+ 6, 18, 7, 18, 19, 7, // top rung bottom
+ 6, 8, 18, 18, 8, 20, // between top and middle rung
+ 8, 9, 20, 20, 9, 21, // middle rung top
+ 9, 11, 21, 21, 11, 23, // middle rung right
+ 10, 22, 11, 22, 23, 11, // middle rung bottom
+ 10, 3, 22, 22, 3, 15, // stem right
+ 2, 14, 3, 14, 15, 3, // bottom
+ 0, 12, 2, 12, 14, 2, // left
];
Finally let’s set the cullMode to cull back facing triangles.
const pipeline = device.createRenderPipeline({
label: '2 attributes',
layout: 'auto',
vertex: {
module,
buffers: [
{
arrayStride: (4) * 4, // (3) floats 4 bytes each + one 4 byte color
attributes: [
{shaderLocation: 0, offset: 0, format: 'float32x3'}, // position
{shaderLocation: 1, offset: 12, format: 'unorm8x4'}, // color
],
},
],
},
fragment: {
module,
targets: [{ format: presentationFormat }],
},
primitive: {
- cullMode: 'front', // note: uncommon setting. See article
+ cullMode: 'back',
},
depthStencil: {
depthWriteEnabled: true,
depthCompare: 'less',
format: 'depth24plus',
},
});
Here’s a function that given a matrix will compute its inverse matrix.
const mat4 = {
...
+ inverse(m, dst) {
+ dst = dst || new Float32Array(16);
+
+ const m00 = m[0 * 4 + 0];
+ const m01 = m[0 * 4 + 1];
+ const m02 = m[0 * 4 + 2];
+ const m03 = m[0 * 4 + 3];
+ const m10 = m[1 * 4 + 0];
+ const m11 = m[1 * 4 + 1];
+ const m12 = m[1 * 4 + 2];
+ const m13 = m[1 * 4 + 3];
+ const m20 = m[2 * 4 + 0];
+ const m21 = m[2 * 4 + 1];
+ const m22 = m[2 * 4 + 2];
+ const m23 = m[2 * 4 + 3];
+ const m30 = m[3 * 4 + 0];
+ const m31 = m[3 * 4 + 1];
+ const m32 = m[3 * 4 + 2];
+ const m33 = m[3 * 4 + 3];
+
+ const tmp0 = m22 * m33;
+ const tmp1 = m32 * m23;
+ const tmp2 = m12 * m33;
+ const tmp3 = m32 * m13;
+ const tmp4 = m12 * m23;
+ const tmp5 = m22 * m13;
+ const tmp6 = m02 * m33;
+ const tmp7 = m32 * m03;
+ const tmp8 = m02 * m23;
+ const tmp9 = m22 * m03;
+ const tmp10 = m02 * m13;
+ const tmp11 = m12 * m03;
+ const tmp12 = m20 * m31;
+ const tmp13 = m30 * m21;
+ const tmp14 = m10 * m31;
+ const tmp15 = m30 * m11;
+ const tmp16 = m10 * m21;
+ const tmp17 = m20 * m11;
+ const tmp18 = m00 * m31;
+ const tmp19 = m30 * m01;
+ const tmp20 = m00 * m21;
+ const tmp21 = m20 * m01;
+ const tmp22 = m00 * m11;
+ const tmp23 = m10 * m01;
+
+ const t0 = (tmp0 * m11 + tmp3 * m21 + tmp4 * m31) -
+ (tmp1 * m11 + tmp2 * m21 + tmp5 * m31);
+ const t1 = (tmp1 * m01 + tmp6 * m21 + tmp9 * m31) -
+ (tmp0 * m01 + tmp7 * m21 + tmp8 * m31);
+ const t2 = (tmp2 * m01 + tmp7 * m11 + tmp10 * m31) -
+ (tmp3 * m01 + tmp6 * m11 + tmp11 * m31);
+ const t3 = (tmp5 * m01 + tmp8 * m11 + tmp11 * m21) -
+ (tmp4 * m01 + tmp9 * m11 + tmp10 * m21);
+
+ const d = 1 / (m00 * t0 + m10 * t1 + m20 * t2 + m30 * t3);
+
+ dst[0] = d * t0;
+ dst[1] = d * t1;
+ dst[2] = d * t2;
+ dst[3] = d * t3;
+
+ dst[4] = d * ((tmp1 * m10 + tmp2 * m20 + tmp5 * m30) -
+ (tmp0 * m10 + tmp3 * m20 + tmp4 * m30));
+ dst[5] = d * ((tmp0 * m00 + tmp7 * m20 + tmp8 * m30) -
+ (tmp1 * m00 + tmp6 * m20 + tmp9 * m30));
+ dst[6] = d * ((tmp3 * m00 + tmp6 * m10 + tmp11 * m30) -
+ (tmp2 * m00 + tmp7 * m10 + tmp10 * m30));
+ dst[7] = d * ((tmp4 * m00 + tmp9 * m10 + tmp10 * m20) -
+ (tmp5 * m00 + tmp8 * m10 + tmp11 * m20));
+
+ dst[8] = d * ((tmp12 * m13 + tmp15 * m23 + tmp16 * m33) -
+ (tmp13 * m13 + tmp14 * m23 + tmp17 * m33));
+ dst[9] = d * ((tmp13 * m03 + tmp18 * m23 + tmp21 * m33) -
+ (tmp12 * m03 + tmp19 * m23 + tmp20 * m33));
+ dst[10] = d * ((tmp14 * m03 + tmp19 * m13 + tmp22 * m33) -
+ (tmp15 * m03 + tmp18 * m13 + tmp23 * m33));
+ dst[11] = d * ((tmp17 * m03 + tmp20 * m13 + tmp23 * m23) -
+ (tmp16 * m03 + tmp21 * m13 + tmp22 * m23));
+
+ dst[12] = d * ((tmp14 * m22 + tmp17 * m32 + tmp13 * m12) -
+ (tmp16 * m32 + tmp12 * m12 + tmp15 * m22));
+ dst[13] = d * ((tmp20 * m32 + tmp12 * m02 + tmp19 * m22) -
+ (tmp18 * m22 + tmp21 * m32 + tmp13 * m02));
+ dst[14] = d * ((tmp18 * m12 + tmp23 * m32 + tmp15 * m02) -
+ (tmp22 * m32 + tmp14 * m02 + tmp19 * m12));
+ dst[15] = d * ((tmp22 * m22 + tmp16 * m02 + tmp21 * m12) -
+ (tmp20 * m12 + tmp23 * m22 + tmp17 * m02));
+ return dst;
+ },
...
Like we’ve done in previous examples, to draw 5 things we need 5 uniform buffers and 5 bind groups.
+ const numFs = 5;
+ const objectInfos = [];
+ for (let i = 0; i < numFs; ++i) {
// matrix
const uniformBufferSize = (16) * 4;
const uniformBuffer = device.createBuffer({
label: 'uniforms',
size: uniformBufferSize,
usage: GPUBufferUsage.UNIFORM | GPUBufferUsage.COPY_DST,
});
const uniformValues = new Float32Array(uniformBufferSize / 4);
// offsets to the various uniform values in float32 indices
const kMatrixOffset = 0;
const matrixValue = uniformValues.subarray(kMatrixOffset, kMatrixOffset + 16);
const bindGroup = device.createBindGroup({
label: 'bind group for object',
layout: pipeline.getBindGroupLayout(0),
entries: [
{ binding: 0, resource: uniformBuffer },
],
});
+ objectInfos.push({
+ uniformBuffer,
+ uniformValues,
+ matrixValue,
+ bindGroup,
+ });
+ }
Let’s get rid of some of the settings to unclutter our example
const settings = {
fieldOfView: degToRad(100),
- translation: [-65, 0, -120],
- rotation: [degToRad(220), degToRad(25), degToRad(325)],
- scale: [1, 1, 1],
};
...
- mat4.translate(matrixValue, settings.translation, matrixValue);
- mat4.rotateX(matrixValue, settings.rotation[0], matrixValue);
- mat4.rotateY(matrixValue, settings.rotation[1], matrixValue);
- mat4.rotateZ(matrixValue, settings.rotation[2], matrixValue);
- mat4.scale(matrixValue, settings.scale, matrixValue);
Because we are drawing 5 things and they will all use the same projection matrix we’ll calculate it before the loop of drawing the Fs
function render() {
...
const aspect = canvas.clientWidth / canvas.clientHeight;
- mat4.perspective(
+ const projection = mat4.perspective(
settings.fieldOfView,
aspect,
1, // zNear
2000, // zFar
- matrixValue,
);
Next we’ll compute a camera matrix. This matrix represents the position and orientation of the camera in the world. The code below makes a matrix that rotates the camera around the origin radius * 1.5 distance out and looking at the origin.
camera movement
+ const radius = 200;
const settings = {
fieldOfView: degToRad(100),
+ cameraAngle: 0,
};
...
function render() {
...
+ // compute a matrix for the camera.
+ const cameraMatrix = mat4.rotationY(settings.cameraAngle);
+ mat4.translate(cameraMatrix, [0, 0, radius * 1.5], cameraMatrix);
We then compute a “view matrix” from the camera matrix. A “view matrix” is the matrix that moves everything the opposite of the camera effectively making everything relative to the camera as though the camera was at the origin (0,0,0). We can do this by using the inverse function that computes the inverse matrix (the matrix that does the exact opposite of the supplied matrix). In this case the supplied matrix would move the camera to some position and orientation relative to the origin. The inverse of that is a matrix that will move everything else such that the camera is at the origin.
// Make a view matrix from the camera matrix.
const viewMatrix = mat4.inverse(cameraMatrix);
Now we combine the view and projection matrix into a view projection matrix.
+ // combine the view and projection matrixes
+ const viewProjectionMatrix = mat4.multiply(projection, viewMatrix);
Finally we draw a circle of Fs. For each F we start with the view projection matrix, then compute a position on a circle and translate to that position.
function render() {
...
const aspect = canvas.clientWidth / canvas.clientHeight;
const projection = mat4.perspective(
settings.fieldOfView,
aspect,
1, // zNear
2000, // zFar
);
// compute a matrix for the camera.
const cameraMatrix = mat4.rotationY(settings.cameraAngle);
mat4.translate(cameraMatrix, [0, 0, radius * 1.5], cameraMatrix);
// Make a view matrix from the camera matrix.
const viewMatrix = mat4.inverse(cameraMatrix);
// combine the view and projection matrixes
const viewProjectionMatrix = mat4.multiply(projection, viewMatrix);
+ objectInfos.forEach(({
+ matrixValue,
+ uniformBuffer,
+ uniformValues,
+ bindGroup,
+ }, i) => {
+ const angle = i / numFs * Math.PI * 2;
+ const x = Math.cos(angle) * radius;
+ const z = Math.sin(angle) * radius;
+ mat4.translate(viewProjectionMatrix, [x, 0, z], matrixValue);
// upload the uniform values to the uniform buffer
device.queue.writeBuffer(uniformBuffer, 0, uniformValues);
pass.setBindGroup(0, bindGroup);
pass.draw(numVertices);
+ });
And voila! A camera that goes around the circle of ’F’s. Drag the cameraAngle slider to move the camera around.
That’s all fine but using rotate and translate to move a camera where you want it and point toward what you want to see is not always easy. For example if we wanted the camera to always point at a specific one of the ’F’s it would take some pretty crazy math to compute how to rotate the camera to point at that ‘F’ while it goes around the circle of ’F’s.
Fortunately there’s an easier way. We can just decide where we want the camera and what we want it to point at and then compute a matrix that will put the camera there. Based on how matrices work this is surprisingly easy.
First we need to know where we want the camera. We’ll call this the eye. Then we need to know the position of the thing we want to look at or aim at. We’ll call it the target. If we subtract the target from the eye we’ll have a vector that points in the direction we’d need to go from the camera to get to the target. Let’s call it zAxis. Since we know the camera points in the -Z direction we can subtract the other way eye - target. We normalize the results and copy it directly into the z part of a matrix.
| Zx | |||
| Zy | |||
| Zz | |||
This part of a matrix represents the Z axis. In this case the Z-axis of the camera. Normalizing a vector means making it a vector that represents 1.0 unit. If you go back to the rotation article where we talked about unit circles and how those helped with 2D rotation. In 3D we need unit spheres and a normalized vector represents a point on a unit sphere.
the z axis
That’s not enough info though. Just a single vector gives us a point on a unit sphere but which orientation from that point to orient things? We need to fill out the other parts of the matrix. Specifically the X axis and Y axis parts. We know that in general, these 3 parts are perpendicular to each other. We also know that “in general”, we don’t point the camera straight up. Given that, if we know which way is up, in this case (0,1,0), We can use that and something called a “cross product” to compute the X axis and Y axis for the matrix.
I have no idea what a cross product means in mathematical terms. What I do know is that, if you have 2 unit vectors and you compute the cross product of them you’ll get a vector that is perpendicular to those 2 vectors. In other words, if you have a vector pointing south east, and a vector pointing up, and you compute the cross product you’ll get a vector pointing either south west or north east since those are the 2 vectors that are perpendicular to south east and up. Depending on which order you compute the cross product in, you’ll get the opposite answer.
In any case if we compute the cross product of our zAxis and up we’ll get the xAxis for the camera.
up cross zAxis = xAxis
And now that we have the xAxis we can cross the zAxis and the xAxis which will give us the camera’s yAxis
zAxis cross xAxis = yAxis
Now all we have to do is plug the 3 axes into a matrix. That gives us a matrix that will orient something that points at the target from the eye. We just need to put in the eye position in the final column.
| x axis → | y axis → | z axis → | eye position → |
| Xx | Yx | Zx | Tx |
| Xy | Yy | Zy | Ty |
| Xz | Yz | Zz | Tz |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Here’s the code to compute the cross product of 2 vectors. Like our matrix code we’ll make it take an optional destination array.
+const vec3 = {
+ cross(a, b, dst) {
+ dst = dst || new Float32Array(3);
+
+ const t0 = a[1] * b[2] - a[2] * b[1];
+ const t1 = a[2] * b[0] - a[0] * b[2];
+ const t2 = a[0] * b[1] - a[1] * b[0];
+
+ dst[0] = t0;
+ dst[1] = t1;
+ dst[2] = t2;
+
+ return dst;
+ },
+};
Here’s the code to subtract two vectors.
const vec3 = {
...
+ subtract(a, b, dst) {
+ dst = dst || new Float32Array(3);
+
+ dst[0] = a[0] - b[0];
+ dst[1] = a[1] - b[1];
+ dst[2] = a[2] - b[2];
+
+ return dst;
+ },
Here’s the code to normalize a vector (make it into a unit vector).
const vec3 = {
...
+ normalize(v, dst) {
+ dst = dst || new Float32Array(3);
+
+ const length = Math.sqrt(v[0] * v[0] + v[1] * v[1] + v[2] * v[2]);
+ // make sure we don't divide by 0.
+ if (length > 0.00001) {
+ dst[0] = v[0] / length;
+ dst[1] = v[1] / length;
+ dst[2] = v[2] / length;
+ } else {
+ dst[0] = 0;
+ dst[1] = 0;
+ dst[2] = 0;
+ }
+
+ return dst;
+ },
Here’s the code to compute a camera matrix. It follows the steps described above.
const mat4 = {
...
cameraAim(eye, target, up, dst) {
dst = dst || new Float32Array(16);
const zAxis = vec3.normalize(vec3.subtract(eye, target));
const xAxis = vec3.normalize(vec3.cross(up, zAxis));
const yAxis = vec3.normalize(vec3.cross(zAxis, xAxis));
dst[ 0] = xAxis[0]; dst[ 1] = xAxis[1]; dst[ 2] = xAxis[2]; dst[ 3] = 0;
dst[ 4] = yAxis[0]; dst[ 5] = yAxis[1]; dst[ 6] = yAxis[2]; dst[ 7] = 0;
dst[ 8] = zAxis[0]; dst[ 9] = zAxis[1]; dst[10] = zAxis[2]; dst[11] = 0;
dst[12] = eye[0]; dst[13] = eye[1]; dst[14] = eye[2]; dst[15] = 1;
return dst;
},
...
And here is how we might use it to make the camera point at a specific ‘F’ as we move it.
- // compute a matrix for the camera.
- const cameraMatrix = mat4.rotationY(settings.cameraAngle);
- mat4.translate(cameraMatrix, [0, 0, radius * 1.5], cameraMatrix);
+ // Compute the position of the first F
+ const fPosition = [radius, 0, 0];
+
+ // Use matrix math to compute a position on a circle where
+ // the camera is
+ const tempMatrix = mat4.rotationY(settings.cameraAngle);
+ mat4.translate(tempMatrix, [0, 0, radius * 1.5], tempMatrix);
+
+ // Get the camera's position from the matrix we computed
+ const eye = tempMatrix.slice(12, 15);
+
+ const up = [0, 1, 0];
+
+ // Compute the camera's matrix using cameraAim
+ const cameraMatrix = mat4.cameraAim(eye, fPosition, up);
// Make a view matrix from the camera matrix.
const viewMatrix = mat4.inverse(cameraMatrix);
And here’s the result.
Drag the slider and notice how the camera tracks a single ‘F’.
Most math libraries don’t have a cameraAim function. Instead they have a lookAt function which computes exactly what our cameraAim function does but ALSO converts it to a view matrix. Functionally lookAt could be implemented like this
const mat4 = {
...
+ lookAt(eye, target, up, dst) {
+ return mat4.inverse(mat4.cameraAim(eye, target, up, dst), dst);
+ },
...
};
Using this lookAt function our code would change to this
- // Compute the camera's matrix using look at.
- const cameraMatrix = mat4.cameraAim(eye, fPosition, up);
-
- // Make a view matrix from the camera matrix.
- const viewMatrix = mat4.inverse(cameraMatrix);
+ // Compute a view matrix
+ const viewMatrix = mat4.lookAt(eye, fPosition, up);
Note that you can use this type of “aim” math for more than just cameras. Common uses are making a character’s head follow some target. Making a turret aim at a target. Making an object follow a path. You compute where on the path the target is. Then you compute where on the path the target would be a few moments in the future. Plug those 2 values into your aim function and you’ll get a matrix that makes your object follow the path and orient toward the path as well.
Usually to “aim” something you want it to point down the positive Z axis instead of the negative Z axis as our function above did. So, we need to subtract target from eye instead of eye from target
const mat4 = {
...
+ aim(eye, target, up, dst) {
+ dst = dst || new Float32Array(16);
+
+ const zAxis = vec3.normalize(vec3.subtract(target, eye));
+ const xAxis = vec3.normalize(vec3.cross(up, zAxis));
+ const yAxis = vec3.normalize(vec3.cross(zAxis, xAxis));
+
+ dst[ 0] = xAxis[0]; dst[ 1] = xAxis[1]; dst[ 2] = xAxis[2]; dst[ 3] = 0;
+ dst[ 4] = yAxis[0]; dst[ 5] = yAxis[1]; dst[ 6] = yAxis[2]; dst[ 7] = 0;
+ dst[ 8] = zAxis[0]; dst[ 9] = zAxis[1]; dst[10] = zAxis[2]; dst[11] = 0;
+ dst[12] = eye[0]; dst[13] = eye[1]; dst[14] = eye[2]; dst[15] = 1;
+
+ return dst;
+ },
cameraAim(eye, target, up, dst) {
dst = dst || new Float32Array(16);
const zAxis = vec3.normalize(vec3.subtract(eye, target));
const xAxis = vec3.normalize(vec3.cross(up, zAxis));
const yAxis = vec3.normalize(vec3.cross(zAxis, xAxis));
dst[ 0] = xAxis[0]; dst[ 1] = xAxis[1]; dst[ 2] = xAxis[2]; dst[ 3] = 0;
dst[ 4] = yAxis[0]; dst[ 5] = yAxis[1]; dst[ 6] = yAxis[2]; dst[ 7] = 0;
dst[ 8] = zAxis[0]; dst[ 9] = zAxis[1]; dst[10] = zAxis[2]; dst[11] = 0;
dst[12] = eye[0]; dst[13] = eye[1]; dst[14] = eye[2]; dst[15] = 1;
return dst;
},
...
<a id="a-aim-fs"></a> Let's make a bunch of Fs point at another F (yea, too many Fs but I don't want to clutter
the example with more data). We'll make a grid of 5x5 Fs + 1 more
for them to "aim" at
```js
- const numFs = 5;
+ const numFs = 5 * 5 + 1;
Then we’ll hard code a camera target and change the settings so we can move one of the Fs
const settings = {
- fieldOfView: degToRad(100),
- cameraAngle: 0,
+ target: [0, 200, 300],
+ targetAngle: 0,
};
const radToDegOptions = { min: -360, max: 360, step: 1, converters: GUI.converters.radToDeg };
const gui = new GUI();
gui.onChange(render);
- gui.add(settings, 'fieldOfView', {min: 1, max: 179, converters: GUI.converters.radToDeg});
- gui.add(settings, 'cameraAngle', radToDegOptions);
+ gui.add(settings.target, '1', -100, 300).name('target height');
+ gui.add(settings, 'targetAngle', radToDegOptions).name('target angle');
And finally for the first 25 Fs we’ll orient them in a grid using aim and aim them at the 26th F
+ // update target X,Z based on angle
+ settings.target[0] = Math.cos(settings.targetAngle) * radius;
+ settings.target[2] = Math.sin(settings.targetAngle) * radius;
const aspect = canvas.clientWidth / canvas.clientHeight;
const projection = mat4.perspective(
- settings.fieldOfView,
+ degToRad(60), // fieldOfView,
aspect,
1, // zNear
2000, // zFar
);
- // Compute the position of the first F
- const fPosition = [radius, 0, 0];
-
- // Use matrix math to compute a position on a circle where
- // the camera is
- const tempMatrix = mat4.rotationY(settings.cameraAngle);
- mat4.translate(tempMatrix, [0, 0, radius * 1.5], tempMatrix);
-
- // Get the camera's position from the matrix we computed
- const eye = tempMatrix.slice(12, 15);
+ const eye = [-500, 300, -500];
+ const target = [0, -100, 0];
const up = [0, 1, 0];
// Compute a view matrix
- const viewMatrix = mat4.lookAt(eye, fPosition, up);
+ const viewMatrix = mat4.lookAt(eye, target, up);
// combine the view and projection matrixes
const viewProjectionMatrix = mat4.multiply(projection, viewMatrix);
objectInfos.forEach(({
matrixValue,
uniformBuffer,
uniformValues,
bindGroup,
}, i) => {
- const angle = i / numFs * Math.PI * 2;
- const x = Math.cos(angle) * radius;
- const z = Math.sin(angle) * radius;
-
- mat4.translate(viewProjectionMatrix, [x, 0, z], matrixValue);
+ const deep = 5;
+ const across = 5;
+ if (i < 25) {
+ // compute grid positions
+ const gridX = i % across;
+ const gridZ = i / across | 0;
+
+ // compute 0 to 1 positions
+ const u = gridX / (across - 1);
+ const v = gridZ / (deep - 1);
+
+ // center and spread out
+ const x = (u - 0.5) * across * 150;
+ const z = (v - 0.5) * deep * 150;
+
+ // aim this F from it's position toward the target F
+ const aimMatrix = mat4.aim([x, 0, z], settings.target, up);
+ mat4.multiply(viewProjectionMatrix, aimMatrix, matrixValue);
+ } else {
+ mat4.translate(viewProjectionMatrix, settings.target, matrixValue);
+ }
// upload the uniform values to the uniform buffer
device.queue.writeBuffer(uniformBuffer, 0, uniformValues);
And now 25 Fs are facing (their front is positive Z), the 26th F
Move the sliders and see all 25Fs aim.