Difference between revisions of "GEF3D Coordinate Systems"

Revision as of 11:56, 30 June 2009

In GEF, there usually is one global coordinate system and figure-local coordinate systems to deal with. Generally, mouse coordinates can be translate to the global coordinate system and the figure-local coordinate systems in a simple and straightforward fashion, and users of the framework seldomly have to deal with these issues. In GEF3D however, there are more coordinate systems involved and dealing with those can become cumbersome. This article aims to describe the concepts of coordinate systems and coordinate system conversion in GEF3D.

Coordinate Systems

Mouse Coordinates

Mouse coordinates are used to specify the location of the mouse cursor relative to a control. In the case of GEF3D, the control is the OpenGL canvas, in which the OpenGL viewport is rendered.

The origin of the mouse coordinate system is in the top left corner of the viewport, so mouse coordinates are always positive integers. In the picture, the current mouse coordinates are (147,105), and these are the same values that are contained in the mouse events that the GEF lightweight system receives and dispatches to figures and tools. In GEF3D however, these coordinates are handled a bit differently in order to allow seamless integration of embedded 2D editors (see below.

World Coordinates

3D coordinates in world space

Inverted Coordinate System

origin seems to be in the upper left / front corner

Figure-local 3D Coordinates

Virtual Coordinates

When a GEF 2D editor is embedded in GEF3D, its root figure is added to a 3D host figure, usually a cuboid shape. The 2D figures are drawn on the front face of the cuboid, which we will call drawing surface. Since an embedded GEF editor cannot handle 3D coordinates, it must be supplied virtual 2D coordinates. This virtual coordinate system has its origin in the upper left corner of the drawing surface and the virtual coordinates are integers which may be negative.

Coordinate Conversion

Virtual Coordinates to 3D world Coordinates

To convert virtual coordinates to 3D world coordinates, a reference 3D figure is needed, which is usually the host figure of the embedded 2D editor that uses the virtual coordinates. The IFigure2DHost3D interface contains two methods that allow conversion of virtual to world coordinates using the implementing figure as the reference:

/**
 * Converts the given virtual 2D coordinates to 3D world coordinates.
 * 
 * @param i_vX
 *            the virtual X coordinate
 * @param i_vY
 *            the virtual Y coordinate
 * @param io_result
 *            the result vector, if <code>null</code>, a new vector will be
 *            created
 * 
 * @return the 3D world coordinates of the given virtual coordinates
 */
public IVector3f getLocation3D(int i_vX, int i_vY, Vector3f io_result);
 
/**
 * Converts the given virtual 2D coordinates to 3D world coordinates.
 * 
 * @param i_vCoords
 *            the virtual coordinates
 * @param io_result
 *            the result vector, if <code>null</code>, a new vector will be
 *            created
 * 
 * @return the 3D world coordinates of the given point
 */
public IVector3f getLocation3D(Point i_vCoords, Vector3f io_result);

The first method is a convenience method which takes a point with virtual coordinates and the second method takes two integer coordinates.

3D World Coordinates to Virtual Coordinates

The same as above applies to the opposite direction: A host figure is needed as a reference, so IFigure2DHost3D contains two methods to convert 3D world coordinates to virtual coordinates

/**
 * Converts the given 3D world coordinates to 2D virtual coordinates. The
 * virtual point is specified by the intersection of a line that is
 * perpendicular to the figure's surface and that contains the given point.
 * 
 * @param i_wX
 *            the world X coordinate
 * @param i_wY
 *            the world Y coordinate
 * @param i_wZ
 *            the world Z coordinate
 * @param io_result
 *            the result point, if <code>null</code>, a new point will be
 *            created
 * @return the 2D virtual coordinates of the given 3D point
 */
public Point getLocation2D(float i_wX, float i_wY, float i_wZ, Point io_result);
 
/**
 * Converts the given 3D world coordinates to 2D virtual coordinates. The
 * virtual point is specified by the intersection of a line that is
 * perpendicular to the figure's surface and that contains the given point.
 * 
 * @param i_wCoords
 *            the 3D world coordinates
 * @param io_result
 *            the result point, if <code>null</code>, a new point will be
 *            created
 * @return the 2D virtual coordinates of the given 3D point
 */
public Point getLocation2D(IVector3f i_wCoords, Point io_result);

Note that the 3D coordinates to not have to be on the host figure's drawing surface. The given 3D point is projected onto the surface before the virtual coordinates are calculated.

• global world coordinates <-> figure-local 3D coordinates
• surface coordinates <-> global world coordinates
• screen coordinates + depth value -> global world coordinates
• screen coordinates -> figure-local 3D coordinates
• screen coordinates -> surface coordinates

Embedded 2D GEF Editors

Make Yourself at Home: Creating a Fake 2D Environment

Coordinate conversion, Virtual picking, modified SWT events