Category Archives: Math

for loop Fun

By Zevan | June 1, 2009
CLICK HERE TO COPY
Actionscript:
  1. var leng:int = 10;
  2. for (var i:int = 0, j:int = leng;  i <leng; i++, j = leng - i){
  3.     trace(i, j);
  4. }
  5.  
  6. /*outputs
  7. 0 10
  8. 1 9
  9. 2 8
  10. 3 7
  11. 4 6
  12. 5 5
  13. 6 4
  14. 7 3
  15. 8 2
  16. 9 1
  17. */

Looping backwards and forwards.

Also posted in misc, one-liners | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Polygon Triangulation

By Zevan | May 29, 2009
CLICK HERE TO COPY
Actionscript:
  1. var triangulate:Triangulate = new Triangulate();
  2.  
  3. var poly:Array=[];
  4.  
  5. stage.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_DOWN, onDown);
  6. function onDown(evt:MouseEvent):void {
  7.     poly.push(new Pnt(mouseX, mouseY));
  8. }
  9.  
  10. addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, onLoop);
  11. function onLoop(evt:Event):void {
  12.     var i:int;
  13.     graphics.clear();
  14.     var verts:Array=triangulate.process(poly);
  15.  
  16.     if (verts==null) {
  17.         // draw a red polygon if there is some kind of error,
  18.         // or if there are too few points on the poly
  19.         if (poly.length>1) {
  20.             graphics.lineStyle(0,0xFF0000);
  21.             graphics.moveTo(poly[0].x, poly[0].y);
  22.             for (i = 1; i<poly.length; i++) {
  23.                 graphics.lineTo(poly[i].x, poly[i].y);
  24.             }
  25.         }
  26.     }else{
  27.         // draw the triangulated polygon
  28.         var tcount:int = verts.length / 3;
  29.         graphics.lineStyle(0,0x000000);
  30.         for (i = 0; i<tcount; i++) {
  31.             var index:int = i * 3;
  32.             var p1:Pnt=verts[index];
  33.             var p2:Pnt=verts[index+1];
  34.             var p3:Pnt=verts[index+2];
  35.             graphics.moveTo(p1.x,p1.y);
  36.             graphics.lineTo(p2.x,p2.y);
  37.             graphics.lineTo(p3.x,p3.y);
  38.             graphics.lineTo(p1.x,p1.y);
  39.         }
  40.     }
  41. }

The above demo's a class that triangulates a polygon given a list of points. To test this snippet you'll need the Pnt and Triangulate Classes, which you can download or copy from below.

Polygon triangulation is useful for lots of things... I first found that I needed it back in my Director days. I wanted to be able to draw a polygon and then extrude it into 3D space - in order to do this I needed to triangulate the polygon that was drawn. Luckily there was an undocumented feature in Lingo that did the triangulation. I'll probably do an extrusion demo soon. I've been looking into this to make the QuickBox2D polygon stuff a little easier.


Take a look at the swf here

Download all source and fla here....

Here is the Triangulate class:

CLICK HERE TO COPY
Actionscript:
  1. /**
  2. This code is a quick port of code written in C++ which was submitted to
  3. flipcode.com by John W. Ratcliff  // July 22, 2000
  4. See original code and more information here:
  5. http://www.flipcode.com/archives/Efficient_Polygon_Triangulation.shtml
  6.  
  7. ported to actionscript by Zevan Rosser
  8. www.actionsnippet.com
  9. */
  10.  
  11. package {
  12.    
  13.     public class Triangulate {
  14.        
  15.         private const EPSILON:Number = 0.0000000001;
  16.        
  17.         public function Triangulate(){}
  18.        
  19.         public function process(contour:Array):Array{
  20.             var result:Array = [];
  21.             var n:int = contour.length
  22.             if ( n <3 ) return null
  23.            
  24.             var verts:Array = [];
  25.            
  26.               /* we want a counter-clockwise polygon in verts */
  27.             var v:int
  28.            
  29.               if ( 0.0 <area(contour) ){
  30.                 for (v=0; v<n; v++) verts[v] = v;
  31.               }else{
  32.                 for(v=0; v<n; v++) verts[v] = (n-1)-v;
  33.               }
  34.            
  35.               var nv:int = n;
  36.            
  37.               /*  remove nv-2 vertsertices, creating 1 triangle every time */
  38.               var count:int = 2*nv;   /* error detection */
  39.              var m:int;
  40.               for(m=0, v=nv-1; nv>2; )
  41.               {
  42.                 /* if we loop, it is probably a non-simple polygon */
  43.                 if (0>= (count--)){
  44.                   //** Triangulate: ERROR - probable bad polygon!
  45.                  // trace("bad poly");
  46.                   return null;
  47.                 }
  48.            
  49.                 /* three consecutive vertices in current polygon, <u,v,w> */
  50.                 var u:int = v; if (nv <= u) u = 0;     /* previous */
  51.                 v = u+1; if (nv <= v) v = 0;     /* new v    */
  52.                 var w:int = v+1; if (nv <= w) w = 0;     /* next     */
  53.            
  54.                 if ( snip(contour,u,v,w,nv,verts)){
  55.                   var a:int,b:int,c:int,s:int,t:int;
  56.            
  57.                   /* true names of the vertices */
  58.                   a = verts[u]; b = verts[v]; c = verts[w];
  59.            
  60.                   /* output Triangle */
  61.                   result.push( contour[a] );
  62.                   result.push( contour[b] );
  63.                   result.push( contour[c] );
  64.            
  65.                   m++;
  66.            
  67.                   /* remove v from remaining polygon */
  68.                   for(s=v,t=v+1;t<nv;s++,t++) verts[s] = verts[t]; nv--;
  69.            
  70.                   /* resest error detection counter */
  71.                   count = 2 * nv;
  72.                 }
  73.               }
  74.            
  75.               return result;
  76.         }
  77.        
  78.         // calculate area of the contour polygon
  79.         public function area(contour:Array):Number{
  80.             var n:int = contour.length;
  81.             var a:Number  = 0.0;
  82.            
  83.             for(var p:int=n-1, q:int=0; q<n; p=q++){
  84.                 a += contour[p].x * contour[q].y - contour[q].x * contour[p].y;
  85.             }
  86.             return a * 0.5;
  87.         }
  88.        
  89.         // see if p is inside triangle abc
  90.         public function insideTriangle(ax:Number, ay:Number, bx:Number, by:Number, cx:Number, cy:Number,px:Number,py:Number):Boolean{
  91.                                                            
  92.               var aX:Number, aY:Number, bX:Number, bY:Number
  93.               var cX:Number, cY:Number, apx:Number, apy:Number;
  94.               var bpx:Number, bpy:Number, cpx:Number, cpy:Number;
  95.               var cCROSSap:Number, bCROSScp:Number, aCROSSbp:Number;
  96.            
  97.               aX = cx - bx;  aY = cy - by;
  98.               bX = ax - cx;  bY = ay - cy;
  99.               cX = bx - ax;  cY = by - ay;
  100.               apx= px  -ax;  apy= py - ay;
  101.               bpx= px - bx;  bpy= py - by;
  102.               cpx= px - cx;  cpy= py - cy;
  103.            
  104.               aCROSSbp = aX*bpy - aY*bpx;
  105.               cCROSSap = cX*apy - cY*apx;
  106.               bCROSScp = bX*cpy - bY*cpx;
  107.            
  108.               return ((aCROSSbp>= 0.0) && (bCROSScp>= 0.0) && (cCROSSap>= 0.0));
  109.         }
  110.        
  111.         private function snip(contour:Array, u:int, v:int, w:int, n:int, verts:Array):Boolean{
  112.               var p:int;
  113.               var ax:Number, ay:Number, bx:Number, by:Number;
  114.               var cx:Number, cy:Number, px:Number, py:Number;
  115.            
  116.                   ax = contour[verts[u]].x;
  117.                   ay = contour[verts[u]].y;
  118.                
  119.                   bx = contour[verts[v]].x;
  120.                   by = contour[verts[v]].y;
  121.                
  122.                   cx = contour[verts[w]].x;
  123.                   cy = contour[verts[w]].y;
  124.            
  125.           if ( EPSILON> (((bx-ax)*(cy-ay)) - ((by-ay)*(cx-ax))) ) return false;
  126.            
  127.               for (p=0;p<n;p++){
  128.                     if( (p == u) || (p == v) || (p == w) ) continue;
  129.                     px = contour[verts[p]].x
  130.                     py = contour[verts[p]].y
  131.                     if (insideTriangle(ax,ay,bx,by,cx,cy,px,py)) return false;
  132.               }
  133.               return true;
  134.         }
  135.     }
  136. }

... and the Pnt class:

CLICK HERE TO COPY
Actionscript:
  1. // Point class, no reason to use AS3's build in Point
  2. package{
  3.     public class Pnt {
  4.         public var x:Number;
  5.         public var y:Number;
  6.         public function Pnt(x:Number, y:Number){
  7.             this.x = x;
  8.             this.y = y;
  9.         }
  10.     }
  11. }

I also found a nice description of the basic technique being employed here.

UPDATE:
This should be obvious, but I was targeting fp9 with this... thus the use of Array instead of Vector.

Also posted in 3D, graphics algorithms, misc | Tagged , | 6 Comments

Odd Even Classic

By Zevan | May 28, 2009
CLICK HERE TO COPY
Actionscript:
  1. // from http://www.bit-101.com/blog/?p=729
  2. var number:Number = 10.5;
  3.  
  4. // for numbers
  5. var isEven:Boolean = (number % 2) == 0;
  6. trace(isEven);
  7.  
  8. // for ints
  9. var integer:int = 10;
  10. isEven = (integer & 1) == 0;
  11. trace(isEven);

This is a classic that I've seen all over the place online... found myself needing it today and figured I should post it. It just an easy way to determine if a number is odd or even... I remember originally reading it over at Bit-101.com a few years back...

Two posts today because I think I missed a post recently...

Also posted in Operators | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Difference Between Two Angles

By Zevan | May 28, 2009
CLICK HERE TO COPY
Actionscript:
  1. // from http://codebase.dbp-site.com/code/find-difference-between-two-angles-25
  2. function angleDifference(angle0:Number, angle1:Number):Number{
  3.     return Math.abs((angle0 + 180 -  angle1) % 360 - 180);
  4. }
  5.  
  6. trace("get the angle between:");
  7. trace("350 and 10 =", angleDifference(350, 10));
  8. trace("180 and -1 =", angleDifference(180, -1));
  9. trace("-10 and 5 =", angleDifference(-10, 5));
  10. trace("725 and -45 =", angleDifference(725, -45));
  11. /* outputs:
  12. get the angle between:
  13. 350 and 10 =  20
  14. 180 and -1 =  179
  15. -10 and 5 =  15
  16. 725 and -45 =  50
  17. */

This snippet shows an easy way to find the difference between two angles. The tricky part about doing this is finding the difference between something like 350 and 1 (which should be 11).

Over the years I have done this a few different ways - I needed it for something today and realized that my way was a tad clunky (had a little redundant logic) - So with a quick google search I found a more elegant solution.

Also posted in misc, motion | Tagged , | 9 Comments