mathmatrixcairo

Why does a Maxtrix rotation produce "wrong" extents and how do I fix these?


I am using Cairo Graphics along with RichClient6 (which is a wrapper), but I believe this fact is not so important.

I need to get the extents of a path. This works fine, but not when the matrix is rotated. I do not understand what happens in this case, and I have not been able to solve it myself yet.

I would like to ask if anybody see what I need to do differently in order to get the extents reliably even when the matrix is rotated.

Thank you.

Here are some outputs that show how the extents change:

Angle: 1, Path Extents:    -2,8         -6     343,8         169 
Angle: 2, Path Extents:    -5,7         -11,9   346,7        174,9 
Angle: 3, Path Extents:    -8,5         -17,8   349,5        180,8 
Angle: 4, Path Extents:    -11,3         -23,7  352,3        186,7 
Angle: 5, Path Extents:    -14,2         -29,6  355,2        192,6 
Angle: 6, Path Extents:    -16,9         -35,4  357,9        198,4 
Angle: 7, Path Extents:    -19,7         -41,2  360,7        204,2 
Angle: 8, Path Extents:    -22,5         -47    363,5        210 
Angle: 9, Path Extents:    -25,2         -52,7  366,2        215,7 
Angle: 10, Path Extents:   -27,9         -58,3  368,9       221,3 
Angle: 11, Path Extents:   -30,5         -63,9  371,5       226,9 
Angle: 12, Path Extents:   -33,2         -69,4  374,1       232,3 
Angle: 13, Path Extents:   -35,7         -74,7  376,7       237,7 
Angle: 14, Path Extents:   -38,3         -80    379,3        243 
Angle: 15, Path Extents:   -40,7         -85,2  381,7       248,3 
Angle: 16, Path Extents:   -43,2         -90,4  384,2       253,4 
Angle: 17, Path Extents:   -45,6         -95,3  386,6       258,3 
Angle: 18, Path Extents:   -47,9         -100,2           388,9  263,2 
Angle: 19, Path Extents:   -50,2         -105  391,2        268 
Angle: 20, Path Extents:   -52,4         -109,6           393,4  272,6 
Angle: 21, Path Extents:   -54,5         -114,1           395,5  277,1 
Angle: 22, Path Extents:   -56,6         -118,4           397,6  281,4 
Angle: 23, Path Extents:   -58,6         -122,6           399,6  285,6 
Angle: 24, Path Extents:   -60,6         -126,7           401,6  289,7 
Angle: 25, Path Extents:   -62,4         -130,6           403,4  293,6 
Angle: 26, Path Extents:   -64,2         -134,4           405,2  297,4 
Angle: 27, Path Extents:   -65,9         -137,9           406,9  300,9 
Angle: 28, Path Extents:   -67,6         -141,4           408,6  304,4 
Angle: 29, Path Extents:   -69,1         -144,6           410,1  307,6 
Angle: 30, Path Extents:   -70,6         -147,7           411,6  310,7 
Angle: 31, Path Extents:   -72          -150,5  413        313,5 
Angle: 32, Path Extents:   -73,3         -153,2           414,3  316,2 
Angle: 33, Path Extents:   -74,5         -155,8           415,5  318,8 
Angle: 34, Path Extents:   -75,6         -158,1           416,6  321,1 
Angle: 35, Path Extents:   -76,6         -160,2           417,6  323,2 
Angle: 36, Path Extents:   -77,5         -162,2           418,5  325,2 
Angle: 37, Path Extents:   -78,3         -163,9           419,3  326,9 
Angle: 38, Path Extents:   -79,1         -165,4           420,1  328,4 
Angle: 39, Path Extents:   -79,7         -166,8           420,7  329,8 
Angle: 40, Path Extents:   -80,3         -167,9           421,3  330,9 
Angle: 41, Path Extents:   -80,7         -168,8           421,7  331,8 
Angle: 42, Path Extents:   -81,1         -169,6           422,1  332,6 
Angle: 43, Path Extents:   -81,3         -170,1           422,3  333,1 
Angle: 44, Path Extents:   -81,5         -170,4           422,5  333,4 
Angle: 45, Path Extents:   -81,5         -170,5           422,5  333,5 
Angle: 46, Path Extents:   -81,5         -170,4           422,5  333,4 
Angle: 47, Path Extents:   -81,3         -170,1           422,3  333,1 
Angle: 48, Path Extents:   -81,1         -169,6           422,1  332,6 
Angle: 49, Path Extents:   -80,7         -168,8           421,7  331,8 
Angle: 50, Path Extents:   -80,3         -167,9           421,3  330,9 
Angle: 51, Path Extents:   -79,7         -166,8           420,7  329,8 
Angle: 52, Path Extents:   -79,1         -165,4           420,1  328,4 
Angle: 53, Path Extents:   -78,3         -163,9           419,3  326,9 
Angle: 54, Path Extents:   -77,5         -162,2           418,5  325,2 
Angle: 55, Path Extents:   -76,6         -160,2           417,6  323,2 

And this is the code:

 Public Sub DrawTo(ByRef uDestCC As cCairoContext, ByVal uLeft As Long, ByVal uTop As Long)

    Dim dblOffx As Double: Dim dblOffy As Double

    ' Calculate offsets based on alignment and scaling
    dblOffx = Me.AlignmentFactorX * ((m_Img.width * Me.ScaleFactorW) / 2)
    dblOffy = Me.AlignmentFactorY * ((m_Img.height * Me.ScaleFactorH) / 2)

    Dim dblNewX1 As Double :  Dim dblNewY1 As Double
    dblNewX1 = (uLeft + dblOffx)
    dblNewY1 = (uTop + dblOffy)
    
    Dim dblNewX2 As Double : Dim dblNewY2 As Double
    dblNewX2 = -(m_Img.width / 2) - (Me.CenterOffsetX / 2)
    dblNewY2 = -(m_Img.height / 2) - (Me.CenterOffsetY / 2)

    m_Matrix.TranslateCoords dblNewX1, dblNewY1
    m_Matrix.RotateCoordsDeg m_sngAngleDeg
    m_Matrix.ScaleCoords Me.ScaleFactorW, Me.ScaleFactorH
    m_Matrix.TranslateCoords dblNewX2, dblNewY2
    
    ' Set the final transformation
    Set uDestCC.Matrix = m_Matrix
    
    ' Now draw the image with the same transformations
    uDestCC.RenderSurfaceContent m_Img, 0, 0

    ' Define a rectangle path representing the image area after rotation is set
    uDestCC.Rectangle 0, 0, m_Img.width, m_Img.height

    ' Get the extents now, with rotation already applied
    uDestCC.GetPathExtents m_dblTopX, m_dblTopY, m_dblBottomRightX, m_dblBottomRightY

    ' Clear the path
    uDestCC.ClearPath False
    
    m_Matrix.ResetToIdentity
    
    Debug.Print "Angle: " & m_sngAngleDeg & ", Path Extents:", Round(m_dblTopX, 1), Round(m_dblTopY, 1), Round(m_dblBottomRightX, 1), Round(m_dblBottomRightY, 1)
    
End Sub

Somebody suggest using CopyPath.

In the wrapper I found this:

Function CopyPath([AsFlatPath As Boolean], [FlatPrecision As Double = 0,1]) As cCairoPath
    Member of RC6.cCairoContext

The class cCairoPath offers the following:

Function CalculateDistances(Distances() As Double) As Double
Property EntriesCount As Long
Function GetPathEntry(IndexZeroBased As Long, EntryType As cairo_path_data_type_enm, [X0 As Double], [Y0 As Double], [X1 As Double], [Y1 As Double], [X2 As Double], [Y2 As Double])
Sub ProjectPathData_Using(FlattenedBasePath As cCairoPath, [ScaleX As Double], [ScaleY As Double])
Sub ProjectPathData_Using(FlattenedBasePath As cCairoPath, [ScaleX As Double], [ScaleY As Double])

Solution

  • I do not speak whatever language this is, so I am just guessing.

    I need to get the extents of a path. This works fine, but not when the matrix is rotated. I do not understand what happens in this case, and I have not been able to solve it myself yet.

    From this description, I guess you are running into a limit of cairo. Internally, cairo always works in surface coordinates (i.e. any rotation from e.g. cairo_rotate() gets immediately applied). Only across the outside API does it apply the rotation.

    Thus, if you add a circle with center 0, 0 and radius 10 to the current path, cairo internally records that the extents of the current path go from -10, -10 to 10, 10. So at this step, a rectangle is put around the circle. If you now ask for the extents of the path, you get -10, -10 to 10, 10.

    Let us repeat this with a rotation of 45°. Cairo applies this rotation immediately when constructing the path, but in this case it does not matter, since a circle at 0, 0 looks the same before and after rotation. However, internally cairo still records the extents as going from -10, -10 to 10, 10 in surface coordinates. If you now ask cairo for the extents, it goes something like this: I do not know the tight extents, but I know that everything is within a rectangle of -10, -10 to 10, 10. However, you want a 45° rotation on this. So I will rotate this rectangle. In user space, the extents of this will be something like -14.14, -14.14 to 14.14.

    So the short version: Cairo tracks the extents in surface coordinates. The user coordinate translation is only computed when you ask for this and at this step a worse-case analysis of "a rectangle is drawn" is made. Thus, you get larger extents.

    I would like to ask if anybody see what I need to do differently in order to get the extents reliably even when the matrix is rotated.

    Quick, spontaneous and untested idea: Use something like cairo_copy_path_flat() to query the current path. I think the coordinates you get will be in user space. Thus, you can compute its extents yourself with a min and max over all the coordinates.