Can model be rotated by quaternion (Lua) ?

[risecreature]

I have models animation data with quaternions of rotation.

How can I rotate model using this quaternion using Lua ?

[beo6]

Entity:SetRotation(quat)

[risecreature]

How can I create quat?

[james1943]

go toFlowgraph Editor tutorial

[beo6]

Not sure what that tutorial tells about. Quaternions. But i thought you already have your quat.

 

You can create a Quat with:

local quat = Quat()

 

Too bad that Quaternions are undocumented.

[Admin]

Quaternions are used internally for rotations, and are not meant to be a front-facing user feature. They're far too complicated for the user to have to deal with.

 

The built-in functions like Entity:Turn() will allow you to rotate objects smoothly without problems with gimbal lock.

[beo6]

even if i agree that they might be too complicated, i struggled with them myself a bit. However sometimes they are necessary.

Look at my script for rotating a model according to the terrain slopes. Entity:Turn will not help there. So they should be accessible.

 

I don't like if things are unaccessible just because someone thinks they are too complicated.

That just sounds like anyone else is just stupid. (really sorry for the harsh wording. don't want to be aggressive)

[Josh]

Wouldn't AlignToVector() be the appropriate command for that case?

 

I don't really understand quaternions. They can't be easily visualized. I just copied the math out of a book and did a ton of testing.

 

Quats have a constructor like this: Quat(x,y,z,w). You might have to flip the w coordinate or others depending on how they are stored.

[Christian Clavet]

I (think ) I understand two things about Quaternions :

- They don't suffer gimbal lock like it happen with euler angles

- It work based on an offset angle.

 

From what I understand of doing a rotation using euler angles will require 3 mathematical operations (rotateX then, RotateY then finally RotateZ), while a Quaternion rotation is done from a single pass. (directional vector (x,y,z), offset)

 

If you are using euler angle rotations and and if you are only manipulating 2 axes won't really cause gimbal lock. It's only when you are rotating using the 3 axes that it will happen. So it will mostly happen if you really need to rotate something on 3 axis (airplanes, spaceships, etc)

 

Do we have functions to convert a euler angle to a quat and the reverse?

 

Still trying to figure out how they work, it would be really usefull to move spaceships (rotating all angles) or rotating something with the mouse so it doesn't gimbal lock.

EDIT: Just seen that, thanks Josh!

The built-in functions like Entity:Turn() will allow you to rotate objects smoothly without problems with gimbal lock.

[beo6]

Nope. AlignToVector didn't worked in that case because i need to take the model rotation into account and ignore the terrain vector rotation or else it works only on one side of a hill.

 

I am no expert in that. I just copied from another engine and it worked where everything else i tried failed.

[Josh]

Nope. AlignToVector didn't worked in that case because i need to take the model rotation into account and ignore the terrain vector rotation or else it works only on one side of a hill.

AlignToVector has an optional value for the rotation around the vector you are aligning the entity to.

 

I (think) understand 2 things about Quaternions:

- They don't suffer gimbal lock like it happen with euler angles

- It work based on a offset angle.

 

Still trying to figure out how they work, it would really usefull to move spaceships (rotating all angles) or rotating something with the mouse so it doesn't gimbal lock. I've heard that some use transformation matrices with them to do the proper rotation.

Leadwerk is designed so that you don't need to deal with complicated math like that. TurnEntity and AlignToVector will handle gradual rotation without Gimbal Lock. Both use spherical linear interpolation to perform an error-free rotation.

[beo6]

AlignToVector has an optional value for the rotation around the vector you are aligning the entity to.

 

I don't think that is exactly what is needed for an entity that should rotate according to the terrain slope and also rotate in the direction it is moving since both are different axis the entity need to align to. But maybe i am just too stupid for it.

local world = World:GetCurrent()
local pickinfo = PickInfo()
local pivotPos = self.pivot:GetPosition()
local rayStart = Vec3(pivotPos.x, pivotPos.y+1, pivotPos.z)
local rayEnd = Vec3(rayStart.x, rayStart.y-50, rayStart.z)
if (world:Pick(rayStart,rayEnd,pickinfo,0.1,true,Collision.Scene)) then
 local terrainNormal = pickinfo.normal
 local pivotRotation = self.pivot:GetRotation(true)
 self.entity:AlignToVector(terrainNormal, 1, 0.5, pivotRotation.y)
end

 

It seems no one else had an idea when i opened a forum post with that problem so i was stuck and searched for a different solution and found a more complicated one which worked for me.