CGAffineTransform concatenation: appropriate order of transformations - ios

I know that whenever we want to apply a series of transform at once to a point, we have to specify the sequence in the opposite direction to what we want to perceive. If I want to translate(T) and then rotate(R) a point x we need to end with a concatenation matrix RT, then every point is transformed as (RT)x.
Apple Transform documentation shows that CGAffineTransform work as a transpose version of the above expression. i.e instead of transform a points as Ax for A being any transform matrix they do it as xB for B being the transpose of A.
Also CGAffineTransform.concatenating(T2) documentation state that it stack transforms to the right, ending in an transform matrix of the form as T1 * T2.
Now what are my concerns? If want a series of transformation that translate(T) and then rotate(R), I can call T.concatenating(R) which result in a transform TR, then the points are transformed as xTR, it seem that the order must be respected, but actually I'm getting the wrong result(at least that's what i think), I expect the image A but getting B,
It seem that they are transforming points as TRx, but this contradict the documentation and also not match the result when you apply the transform TR to a point as CGPoint.applying(TR) which also is consistent with the order xTR.
why's that? there's something that I'm missing about how transforms works in iOS?

It's hard to see what the question is here, because you've already answered it. Basically, the order you must use when calling concatenating is the opposite of the order you would use when chaining transformations. Thus for example:
v2.transform =
CGAffineTransform(rotationAngle: 45 * .pi/180).translatedBy(x: 100, y: 0)
In this screen shot, v2 is the green view, and started out where the purple view is:
If you wanted to do that with concatenating, you'd say:
let r = CGAffineTransform(rotationAngle: 45 * .pi/180)
let t = CGAffineTransform(translationX:100, y:0)
v2.transform = t.concatenating(r) // not r.concatenating(t)

If I'm not mistaken, your confusion lies not with order of operations, but with the rotate transformation. Rotation does not take place about the object's center, but about the origin of the frame, which remains fixed in place. When you rotate an object not centered at the frame's origin, it pivots around like the end of the hand of a clock. To achieve image A, you must
Translate your object so that the point you wish to rotate it about (presumably its center) lies at the origin.
Rotate the object.
Translate it to the desired position.

let rotationAngle = CGFloat.pi / 4
let slidingLength : CGFloat = 50
let duration = 0.3
UIView.animate(withDuration: duration) { [weak self] in
self?.slidingView.transform = CGAffineTransform(rotationAngle: rotationAngle)
self?.slidingView.center.x += slidingLength
}

Related

SceneKit - Rotate object around X and Z axis

I’m using ARKit with SceneKit. When user presses a button I create an anchor and to the SCNNode corresponding to it I add a 3D object (loaded from a .scn file in the project).
The 3D object is placed facing the camera, with the same orientation the camera has. I would like to make it look like the object is laying on a plane surface and not inclined if it is that way. So, if I got it right, I’d need to apply a rotation transformation so that it’s rotation around the X and Z axis become 0.
My attempt at this is: take the node’s x and z eulerAngles, invert them, and rotate that amount around each axis
let rotationZ = rotationMatrixAroundZ(radians: -node.eulerAngles.z)
let rotationX = rotationMatrixAroundX(radians: -node.eulerAngles.x)
let rotationTransform = simd_mul(rotationTransformX, rotationTransformZ)
node.transform = SCNMatrix4(simd_mul(simd_float4x4(node.transform), rotationTransform))
This works all right for most cases, but in some the object is rotated in completely strange ways. Should I be setting the
rotation angle to anything else than just the inverse of the current Euler Angle? Setting the angles to 0 directly did not work at all.
I've come across this and figured out I was running into gimbal lock. The solution was to rotate the node around one axis, parent it to another SCNNode(), then rotate the parent around the other axis. Hope that helps.
You don't have to do the node transform on a matrix, you can simply rotate around a specific axis and that might be a bit simpler in terms of the logic of doing the rotation.
You could do something like:
node.runAction(SCNAction.rotateBy(x: x, y: y, z: z, duration: 0.0))
Not sure if this is the kind of thing you're looking for, but it is simpler than doing the rotation with the SCNMatrix4
Well, I managed a workaround, but I'm not truly happy with it, so I'll leave the question unanswered. Basically I define a threshold of 2 degrees and keep applying those rotations until both Euler Angles around X and Z are below the aforementioned threshold.
func layDownNode(_ node: SCNNode) {
let maxErrDegrees: Float = 2.0
let maxErrRadians = GLKMathDegreesToRadians(maxErrDegrees)
while (abs(node.eulerAngles.x) > maxErrRadians || abs(node.eulerAngles.z) > maxErrRadians) {
let rotationZ = -node.eulerAngles.z
let rotationX = -node.eulerAngles.x
let rotationTransformZ = rotationMatrixAroundZ(radians: rotationZ)
let rotationTransformX = rotationMatrixAroundX(radians: rotationX)
let rotationTransform = simd_mul(rotationTransformX, rotationTransformZ)
node.transform = SCNMatrix4(simd_mul(simd_float4x4(node.transform), rotationTransform))
}
}

CGAffineTransfrom: Translating after a rotation

I am trying to animate a rectangle after I have rotated it with CGAffineTransform. The issue I am having is that the rectangle ends up where it is suppose to be, but the "starting" position for the second transform is not what I expect. This is only an issue because I am animating it. Here is my code below:
UIView.animate(withDuration: 5) {
let shift = 200 * CGFloat(2.0.squareRoot() / 2)
view.transform = view.transform.translatedBy(x: shift, y: 0)
}
view is already defined elsewhere and I have already rotated the view with this:
let rotation = CGAffineTransform(rotationAngle: (45/180)*CGFloat(M_PI))
view.transform = rotation
Before the animation, this is what it looks like: 1
For some reason, the transformation starts above (a little offscreen) and then moves down into position. 2
I would like this to happen instead, where it starts from the original picture, and then shifts in the direction of how its rotated. 3
Note I did try to apply the same shift value to both x and y for the translation but that did not fix my issue.

How to do transforms on a CALayer?

Before writing this question, I've
had experience with Affine transforms for views
read the Transforms documentation in the Quartz 2D Programming Guide
seen this detailed CALayer tutorial
downloaded and run the LayerPlayer project from Github
However, I'm still having trouble understanding how to do basic transforms on a layer. Finding explanations and simple examples for translate, rotate and scale has been difficult.
Today I finally decided to sit down, make a test project, and figure them out. My answer is below.
Notes:
I only do Swift, but if someone else wants to add the Objective-C code, be my guest.
At this point I am only concerned with understanding 2D transforms.
Basics
There are a number of different transforms you can do on a layer, but the basic ones are
translate (move)
scale
rotate
To do transforms on a CALayer, you set the layer's transform property to a CATransform3D type. For example, to translate a layer, you would do something like this:
myLayer.transform = CATransform3DMakeTranslation(20, 30, 0)
The word Make is used in the name for creating the initial transform: CATransform3DMakeTranslation. Subsequent transforms that are applied omit the Make. See, for example, this rotation followed by a translation:
let rotation = CATransform3DMakeRotation(CGFloat.pi * 30.0 / 180.0, 20, 20, 0)
myLayer.transform = CATransform3DTranslate(rotation, 20, 30, 0)
Now that we have the basis of how to make a transform, let's look at some examples of how to do each one. First, though, I'll show how I set up the project in case you want to play around with it, too.
Setup
For the following examples I set up a Single View Application and added a UIView with a light blue background to the storyboard. I hooked up the view to the view controller with the following code:
import UIKit
class ViewController: UIViewController {
var myLayer = CATextLayer()
#IBOutlet weak var myView: UIView!
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
// setup the sublayer
addSubLayer()
// do the transform
transformExample()
}
func addSubLayer() {
myLayer.frame = CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 100, height: 40)
myLayer.backgroundColor = UIColor.blue.cgColor
myLayer.string = "Hello"
myView.layer.addSublayer(myLayer)
}
//******** Replace this function with the examples below ********
func transformExample() {
// add transform code here ...
}
}
There are many different kinds of CALayer, but I chose to use CATextLayer so that the transforms will be more clear visually.
Translate
The translation transform moves the layer. The basic syntax is
CATransform3DMakeTranslation(_ tx: CGFloat, _ ty: CGFloat, _ tz: CGFloat)
where tx is the change in the x coordinates, ty is the change in y, and tz is the change in z.
Example
In iOS the origin of the coordinate system is in the top left, so if we wanted to move the layer 90 points to the right and 50 points down, we would do the following:
myLayer.transform = CATransform3DMakeTranslation(90, 50, 0)
Notes
Remember that you can paste this into the transformExample() method in the project code above.
Since we are just going to deal with two dimensions here, tz is set to 0.
The red line in the image above goes from the center of the original location to the center of the new location. That's because transforms are done in relation to the anchor point and the anchor point by default is in the center of the layer.
Scale
The scale transform stretches or squishes the layer. The basic syntax is
CATransform3DMakeScale(_ sx: CGFloat, _ sy: CGFloat, _ sz: CGFloat)
where sx, sy, and sz are the numbers by which to scale (multiply) the x, y, and z coordinates respectively.
Example
If we wanted to half the width and triple the height, we would do the following
myLayer.transform = CATransform3DMakeScale(0.5, 3.0, 1.0)
Notes
Since we are only working in two dimensions, we just multiply the z coordinates by 1.0 to leave them unaffected.
The red dot in the image above represents the anchor point. Notice how the scaling is done in relation to the anchor point. That is, everything is either stretched toward or away from the anchor point.
Rotate
The rotation transform rotates the layer around the anchor point (the center of the layer by default). The basic syntax is
CATransform3DMakeRotation(_ angle: CGFloat, _ x: CGFloat, _ y: CGFloat, _ z: CGFloat)
where angle is the angle in radians that the layer should be rotated and x, y, and z are the axes about which to rotate. Setting an axis to 0 cancels a rotation around that particular axis.
Example
If we wanted to rotate a layer clockwise 30 degrees, we would do the following:
let degrees = 30.0
let radians = CGFloat(degrees * Double.pi / 180)
myLayer.transform = CATransform3DMakeRotation(radians, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0)
Notes
Since we are working in two dimentions, we only want the xy plane to be rotated around the z axis. Thus we set x and y to 0.0 and set z to 1.0.
This rotated the layer in a clockwise direction. We could have rotated counterclockwise by setting z to -1.0.
The red dot shows where the anchor point is. The rotation is done around the anchor point.
Multiple transforms
In order to combine multiple transforms we could use concatination like this
CATransform3DConcat(_ a: CATransform3D, _ b: CATransform3D)
However, we will just do one after another. The first transform will use the Make in its name. The following transforms will not use Make, but they will take the previous transform as a parameter.
Example
This time we combine all three of the previous transforms.
let degrees = 30.0
let radians = CGFloat(degrees * Double.pi / 180)
// translate
var transform = CATransform3DMakeTranslation(90, 50, 0)
// rotate
transform = CATransform3DRotate(transform, radians, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0)
// scale
transform = CATransform3DScale(transform, 0.5, 3.0, 1.0)
// apply the transforms
myLayer.transform = transform
Notes
The order that the transforms are done in matters.
Everything was done in relation to the anchor point (red dot).
A Note about Anchor Point and Position
We did all our transforms above without changing the anchor point. Sometimes it is necessary to change it, though, like if you want to rotate around some other point besides the center. However, this can be a little tricky.
The anchor point and position are both at the same place. The anchor point is expressed as a unit of the layer's coordinate system (default is 0.5, 0.5) and the position is expressed in the superlayer's coordinate system. They can be set like this
myLayer.anchorPoint = CGPoint(x: 0.0, y: 1.0)
myLayer.position = CGPoint(x: 50, y: 50)
If you only set the anchor point without changing the position, then the frame changes so that the position will be in the right spot. Or more precisely, the frame is recalculated based on the new anchor point and old position. This usually gives unexpected results. The following two articles have an excellent discussion of this.
About the anchorPoint
Translate rotate translate?
See also
Border, rounded corners, and shadow on a CALayer
Using a border with a Bezier path for a layer

Keeping Direction of a Vector Constant while Rotating Sprite

I'm trying to make a game where the sprite will always move to the right when hit by an object. However since the Sprite rotates constantly and the zero radians rotates with the Sprite causes my calculated magnitude to go the opposite direction if the sprite is facing left and hits the object. Is there a way to keep the direction of the magnitude always pointing to the right even if the zero is facing left?
// referencePoint = upper right corner of the frame
let rightTriangleFinalPoint:CGPoint = CGPoint(x: referencePoint.x, y: theSprite.position.y)
let theSpriteToReferenceDistance = distanceBetweenCGPoints(theSprite.position, b: referencePoint)
let theSpriteToFinalPointDistance = distanceBetweenCGPoints(theSprite.position, b: rightTriangleFinalPoint)
let arcCosineValue = theSpriteToFinalPointDistance / theSpriteToReferenceDistance
let angle = Double(acos(arcCosineValue))
let xMagnitude = magnitude * cos(angle)
let yMagnitude = (magnitude * sin(angle)) / 1.5
Not sure if this works for you:
I would use an orientation constraint to rotate the sprite. The movement can be done independent from the orientation in that case.
I made an tutorial some time ago: http://stefansdevplayground.blogspot.de/2014/09/howto-implement-targeting-or-follow.html
So I figured out what was going on.
It seems like the angle doesn't rotate with the Sprite like I originally thought and the vector that I am making is working with the code above. THE problem that I had was that I also set the collision bit for the objects which is wrong. If I only set the contact bit for the objects against the sprite the my desired outcome comes true.

SceneKit applyTorque

I am trying to applyTorque to a node in my scene. The documentation states:
Each component of the torque vector relates to rotation about the
corresponding axis in the local coordinate system of the SCNNode
object containing the physics body. For example, applying a torque of
{0.0, 0.0, 1.0} causes a node to spin counterclockwise around its
z-axis.
However in my tests it seems that Physics animations do not affect actual position of the object. Therefore, the axis remain static (even though the actual node obviously moves). This results in the torque always being applied from the same direction (wherever the z axes was when the scene was initiated).
I would like to be able to apply torque so that it is always constant in relation to the object (e.g. to cause node to spin counterclockwise around z-axis of the node's presentationNode not the position node had(has?) when the scene was initiated)
SceneKit uses two versions of each node: the model node defines static behavior and the presentation node is what's actually involved in dynamic behavior and used on screen. This division mirrors that used in Core Animation, and enables features like implicit animation (where you can do things like set node.position and have it animate to the new value, without other parts of your code that query node.position having to working about intermediate values during the animation).
Physics operates on the presentation node, but in some cases--like this one--takes input in scene space.
However, the only difference between the presentation node and the scene is in terms of coordinate spaces, so all you need to do is convert your vector from presentation space to scene space. (The root node of the scene shouldn't be getting transformed by physics, actions, or inflight animations, so there's no practical difference between model-scene space and presentation-scene space.) To do that, use one of the coordinate conversion methods SceneKit provides, such as convertPosition:fromNode:.
Here's a Swift playground that illustrates your dilemma:
import Cocoa
import SceneKit
import XCPlayground
// Set up a scene for our tests
let scene = SCNScene()
let view = SCNView(frame: NSRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 500, height: 500))
view.autoenablesDefaultLighting = true
view.scene = scene
let cameraNode = SCNNode()
cameraNode.camera = SCNCamera()
cameraNode.position = SCNVector3(x: 0, y: 0, z: 5)
scene.rootNode.addChildNode(cameraNode)
XCPShowView("view", view)
// Make a pyramid to test on
let node = SCNNode(geometry: SCNPyramid(width: 1, height: 1, length: 1))
scene.rootNode.addChildNode(node)
node.physicsBody = SCNPhysicsBody.dynamicBody()
scene.physicsWorld.gravity = SCNVector3Zero // Don't fall off screen
// Rotate around the axis that looks into the screen
node.physicsBody?.applyTorque(SCNVector4(x: 0, y: 0, z: 1, w: 0.1), impulse: true)
// Wait a bit, then try to rotate around the y-axis
node.runAction(SCNAction.waitForDuration(10), completionHandler: {
var axis = SCNVector3(x: 0, y: 1, z: 0)
node.physicsBody?.applyTorque(SCNVector4(x: axis.x, y: axis.y, z: axis.z, w: 1), impulse: true)
})
The second rotation effectively spins the pyramid around the screen's y-axis, not the pyramid's y-axis -- the one that goes through the apex of the pyramid. As you noted, it's spinning around what was the pyramid's y-axis as of before the first rotation; i.e. the y-axis of the scene (which is unaffected by physics), not that of the presentation node (that was rotated through physics).
To fix it, insert the following line (after the one that starts with var axis):
axis = scene.rootNode.convertPosition(axis, fromNode: node.presentationNode())
The call to convertPosition:fromNode: says "give me a vector in scene coordinate space that's equivalent to this one in presentation-node space". When you apply a torque around the converted axis, it effectively converts back to the presentation node's space to simulate physics, so you see it spin around the axis you want.
Update: Had some coordinate spaces wrong, but the end result is pretty much the same.
Unfortunately the solution provided by rickster does not work for me :(
Trying to solve this conundrum I have created (what i believe to be) a very sub-standard solution (more a proof of concept). It involves creating (null) objects on the axis i am trying to find, then I use their position to find the vector aligned to the axes.
As I have a fairly complex scene, I am loading it from a COLLADA file. Within that file i have modelled a simple coordinate tripod: three orthogonal cylinders with cones on top (makes it easer to visualise what is going on).
I then constrain this tripod object to the object I am trying to apply torque to. This way I have objects that allow me to retrieve two points on the axes of the presentationNode of the object I am trying to apply torque to. I can then use these two points to determine the vector to apply the torque from.
// calculate orientation vector in the most unimaginative way possible
// retrieve axis tripod objects. We will be using these as guide objects.
// The tripod is constructed as a cylinder called "Xaxis" with a cone at the top.
// All loaded from an external COLLADA file.
SCNNode *XaxisRoot = [scene.rootNode childNodeWithName:#"XAxis" recursively:YES];
SCNNode *XaxisTip = [XaxisRoot childNodeWithName:#"Cone" recursively:NO];
// To devise the vector we will need two points. One is the root of our tripod,
// the other is at the tip. First, we get their positions. As they are constrained
// to the _rotatingNode, presentationNode.position is always the same .position
// because presentationNode returns position in relation to the parent node.
SCNVector3 XaxisRootPos = XaxisRoot.position;
SCNVector3 XaxisTipPos = XaxisTip.position;
// We then convert these two points into _rotatingNode coordinate space. This is
// the coordinate space applyTorque seems to be using.
XaxisRootPos = [_rotatingNode convertPosition:XaxisRootPos fromNode:_rotatingNode.presentationNode];
XaxisTipPos = [_rotatingNode convertPosition:XaxisTipPos fromNode:_rotatingNode.presentationNode];
// Now, we have two *points* in _rotatingNode coordinate space. One is at the center
// of our _rotatingNode, the other is somewhere along it's Xaxis. Subtracting them
// will give us the *vector* aligned to the x axis of our _rotatingNode
GLKVector3 rawXRotationAxes = GLKVector3Subtract(SCNVector3ToGLKVector3(XaxisRootPos), SCNVector3ToGLKVector3(XaxisTipPos));
// we now normalise this vector
GLKVector3 normalisedXRotationAxes = GLKVector3Normalize(rawXRotationAxes);
//finally we are able to apply toque reliably
[_rotatingNode.physicsBody applyTorque:SCNVector4Make(normalisedXRotationAxis.x,normalisedXRotationAxis.y,normalisedXRotationAxis.z, 500) impulse:YES];
As you can probably see, I am quite inexperienced in SceneKit, but even I can see that much easier/optimised solution does exits, but I am unable to find it :(
I recently had this same problem, of how to convert a torque from the local space of the object to the world space required by the applyTorque method. The problem with using the node's convertPosition:toNode and fromNodes methods, is that they are also applying the node's translation to the torque, so this will only work when the node is at 0,0,0. What these methods do is treat the SCNVector3 as if it's a vec4 with a w component of 1.0. We just want to apply the rotation, in other words, we want the w component of the vec4 to be 0. Unlike SceneKit, GLKit gives us 2 options for how we want our vec3s to be multiplied:
GLKMatrix4MultiplyVector3 where
The input vector is treated as it were a 4-component vector with a w-component of 0.0.
and GLKMatrix4MultiplyVector3WithTranslation where
The input vector is treated as it were a 4-component vector with a w-component of 1.0.
What we want here is the former, just the rotation, not the translation.
So, we could roundtrip to GLKit. To convert for instance the local x axis (1,0,0), eg a pitch rotation, to the global axis needed for apply torque, would look like this:
let local = GLKMatrix4MultiplyVector3(SCNMatrix4ToGLKMatrix4(node.presentationNode.worldTransform), GLKVector3(v: (1,0,0)))
node.physicsBody?.applyTorque(SCNVector4(local.x, local.y, local.z, 10), impulse: false)
However, a more Swiftian approach would be to add a * operator for mat4 * vec3 which treats the vec3 like a vec4 with a 0.0 w component. Like this:
func * (left: SCNMatrix4, right: SCNVector3) -> SCNVector3 { //multiply mat4 by vec3 as if w is 0.0
return SCNVector3(
left.m11 * right.x + left.m21 * right.y + left.m31 * right.z,
left.m12 * right.x + left.m22 * right.y + left.m32 * right.z,
left.m13 * right.x + left.m23 * right.y + left.m33 * right.z
)
}
Although this operator makes an assumption about how we want our vec3s to be multiplied, my reasoning here is that as the convertPosition methods already treat w as 1, it would be redundant to have a * operator that also did this.
You could also add a mat4 * SCNVector4 operator that would let the user explicity choose whether or not they want w to be 0 or 1.
So, instead of having to roundtrip from SceneKit to GLKit, we can just write:
let local = node.presentationNode.worldTransform * SCNVector3(1,0,0)
node.physicsBody?.applyTorque(SCNVector4(local.x, local.y, local.z, 10), impulse: false)
You can use this method to apply rotation on multiple axes with one applyTorque call. So say if you have stick input where you want x on the stick to be yaw (local yUp-axis) and y on the stick to be pitch (local x-axis), but with flight-sim style "down to pull back/ up", then you could set it to SCNVector3(input.y, -input.x, 0)

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