quaternions

OpenGL
1

Hello everybody

I was wondering why quaternions have not been implemented as part of gl. Its fairly expencive to convert a quaternion to a matrix. Is there a chance this could be move into gl.

Ben

2

Originally posted by zander76:
Is there a chance this could be move into gl.

Actually I don’t think so. Granted that you use quaternions for rotations, you just have to convert the quaternion quadruplet to angle+axis then call glRotate and you’re done.

3

Actually I don’t think so. Granted that you use quaternions for rotations, you just have to convert the quaternion quadruplet to angle+axis then call glRotate and you’re done.

Oddly, many, if not most, implmenetations of glRotate convert the angle-axis into a quaternion first. It tends to be easier and more efficient that way. So, it isn’t unreasonable to request a direct glMatrixQuat function.

Granted, I wouldn’t place it as a high priority, especially with vertex programs where you can just upload and use the quats directly.

4

Thanks guys…

Ben