AS3 - geometry - perspective projection of a point on a 2D plane - actionscript-3

Question

I'm currently struggling on a problem that seems far beyond my maths capacities (been a long time since I've made some proper maths...) and I would appreciate some help on that.
Here's my setting :
I got some simple shapes (rectangles), and I "project" their bottom points on a line, coming from an Origin point.
Up to this point everything is fine.
But now I'd like to draw the original shape distorted as if it was projected with some perspective on a plane.
Please consider that I have nothing related to any rotation, isometric or any 3D or fake 2D perspective in my code, I'm only trying to draw some shapes using the graphics library to only have a feeling of something real.
Here's a quick drawing of what I'm trying to do :
What I know :
Origin point coordinates
the rect position & sizes
the red line position
the A & B points coordinates
What I want to determine is the coordinates of the C & D points, thing that could be easy if I wasn't struggling to find the "Origin bis" coordinates.
What I'm trying to do is to fake the projection of my rectangle on something that can be considered as a "floor" (related to the plane where my original rectangle is that can be seen as a wall).
Maybe I'm over-complicating the problem or maybe I fail to see any other easier way to do it, but I'm really not good anymore in any geometry or maths thing... :-(
Thanks a lot for your answers !

Answer 1

hmm i don't know if I undestood it correctly but I think you have too few input parameters:
you said the following information is given:
Origin point coordinates
the rect position & sizes
the red line position
the A & B points coordinates
I don't think it is possible to get your projected rectangle with this information alone.
Additionally, I think your green lines and the 'origin Bis' aren't helpful as well.
Perhaps, try this:
Supose, a blue line going through the points C & D is given as well.
Then you could find your projected rectangle by projecting the top of the rectangle onto that blue line.
So in summary:
You define an origin + two parallel lines, a red and a blue one.
Then you can project the top of the rect onto the blue line and the bottom of the rect onto the red line, yielding the points A,B,C,D
I hope this helps.

Answer 2

If I'm right, this code will show what you wanted to see.
First of all, I've ignored your initial setup of objects and information, and focused on the example situation itself; fake-projecting shadow for a "monolith" (any object is possible with the example below, even textured)
My reason was that it's really quite easy with the Matrix class of ActionScript, a handy tool worth learning.
Solution:
You can use the built-in Matrix class to do skew transform on DisplayObjects.
Try this example:
(The "useful" part lies in the _EF EnterFrame handler ;) )
import flash.display.MovieClip;
import flash.geom.Matrix;
import flash.events.Event;
import flash.display.BitmapData;
const PIP180:Number = Math.PI / 180;
const MAX_SHADOW_HEIGHT_MULTIPLIER:Number = 0.25; // you can also calculate this from an angle, like ... = Math.sin(angle * PIP180);
const ANIM_DEG_PER_FRAME:Number = 1.0 * PIP180; // the shadow creeps at a +1 degree per frame rate
var tx:BitmapData = new MonolithTexture(); // define this BitmapData in the library
var skew:Number = -10 * PIP180; // initial
var mono:MovieClip = new MovieClip();
mono.graphics.beginBitmapFill(tx);
// drawn that way the registration point is 0,0, so it's standing on the ground
mono.graphics.drawRect(0, -tx.height, tx.width, tx.height);
mono.graphics.endFill();
// align monolith to the "ground"
mono.x = stage.stageWidth / 2;
mono.y = stage.stageHeight - 100;
// make it be 100x300 pixel
mono.width = 100;
mono.height = 300;
var shad:MovieClip = new MovieClip();
// colored:
shad.graphics.beginFill(0x000000);
// or textured:
//shad.graphics.beginBitmapFill(tx);
shad.graphics.drawRect(0, -tx.height, tx.width, tx.height);
shad.graphics.endFill();
addChild(shad); // shadow first
addChild(mono); // then the caster object
addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, _EF);
function _EF(e:Event):void {
// animate skew on the positive half circle
skew = (skew + ANIM_DEG_PER_FRAME) % Math.PI;
// Matrix takes 6 parameters: a, b, c, d, x, y
// for this shadow trick, use them as follows:
// a = width scaling (as mono and shad are drawn in the same way, copy mono.scaleX for a perfect fit
// b = 0, because we don't want to project the vertical axis of transformation to the horizontal
// c = horizontal skew
// d = height scaling * skew * making it a bit flat using the constant
// x = mono.x, ...
// y = mono.y since originally mono and shad look alike, only the Matrix makes shad render differently
var mtx:Matrix = new Matrix(mono.scaleX, 0, Math.cos(skew), mono.scaleY * Math.sin(skew) * MAX_SHADOW_HEIGHT_MULTIPLIER, mono.x, mono.y);
shad.transform.matrix = mtx;
}
Now all you got to know to utilize this in your case, is the following N factors:
Q1: from what angle you want to project the shadow?
A1: horizontal factor is the skew variable itself, while vertical angle is stored as constant here, called MAX_SHADOW_HEIGHT_MULTIPLIER
Q2: do you want to project shadow only "upwards", or freely?
A2: if "upwards" is fine, keep skew in the positive range, otherwise let it take negative values as well for a "downward" shadow
P.S.: if you render the internals of the objects that they don't snap to 0 y as a base point, you can make them seem float/sink, or offset both objects vertically with a predefined value, with the opposite sign.

Answer 3

You face 1 very simple problem, as you said:
'What I want to determine is the coordinates of the C & D points, thing that could be easy if I wasn't struggling to find the "Origin bis" coordinates.'
But these co-ordinates relate to each other, so without one (or another value such as an angle) you cannot have the other. If you are to try this in 3D you are simply allowing the 3D engine to define 'Origin bis' and do your calculating for C and D itself.
So regardless you will need an 'Original bis', another value relating to the redline or your Rect for which to calculate the placement of C and D.
I remember making stuff like this and sometimes it's better to just stick with simple, you either make an 'Original bis' defines by yourself (it can be either stationary or move with the player/background) and get C and D the way you got A and B only that you use a lower line than the red line, or as I would of done, once you have A and B, simple skew/rotate your projection from those points down a bit further, and you get something the same as an 'Original bis' that follows the player. This works fine at simulating 'feeling of something real' but sadly as has been said, it looking real depends on what you are portraying. We do not know what the areas above or below the red line are (sky/ground, ground/water) and whether 'Origin' and 'Origin bis' is your light source, vanishing point, etc.