gluLookAt() function to rotate around drawn object

Hi, i like to use the gluLookAt() function to look around my drawn objects. I have a openGL program that draws 4 cubes and i would like to have them all rotate around 1 center/point. I can not get this to work. I attached the code i have until now, perhaps someone can help me out?

 
/*
 *  cube.c
 */
#include <GL/glut.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <math.h>

static int rotationAngleX = 0;
static int rotationAngleY = 0;
static int rotationAngleZ = 0;

float g_fDistance = -4.5f;
float g_fSpinX = 0.0f;
float g_fSpinY = 0.0f;
float g_fSpinZ = 0.0f;
float zoomFactor = 1.0f;


static void draw3DRectangle(double dMinX_kls, double dMaxX_kls, double dMinY_kls, double dMaxY_kls, double dMinZ_kls, double dMaxZ_kls)
{ // werkt goed!!

  double MinX = fabs(dMinX_kls);
  double MaxX = fabs(dMaxX_kls);
  double MinY = fabs(dMinY_kls);
  double MaxY = fabs(dMaxY_kls);
  double MinZ = fabs(dMinZ_kls);
  double MaxZ = fabs(dMaxZ_kls);

  double sizeX = fabs( fabs(dMaxX_kls)-fabs(dMinX_kls) );
  double sizeY = fabs( fabs(dMaxY_kls)-fabs(dMinY_kls) );
  double sizeZ = fabs( fabs(dMaxZ_kls)-fabs(dMinZ_kls) );

  GLdouble V0[] = { 0.0, 0.0, 0.0};
  GLdouble V1[] = { sizeX, 0.0, 0.0};
  GLdouble V2[] = { sizeX, sizeY, 0.0};
  GLdouble V3[] = { 0.0, sizeY, 0.0};
  GLdouble V4[] = { 0.0, 0.0, sizeZ};
  GLdouble V5[] = { sizeX, 0.0, sizeZ};
  GLdouble V6[] = { sizeX, sizeY, sizeZ};
  GLdouble V7[] = { 0.0, sizeY, sizeZ};

  glPushMatrix();
  glTranslatef(dMinX_kls, dMinY_kls, dMinZ_kls);

  glPolygonMode(GL_FRONT_AND_BACK, GL_LINE);

  glBegin(GL_QUADS);
	glVertex3dv(V0); glVertex3dv(V1); glVertex3dv(V2); glVertex3dv(V3);        // Surface 1
	glVertex3dv(V1); glVertex3dv(V5); glVertex3dv(V6); glVertex3dv(V2);        // Surface 2
	glVertex3dv(V5); glVertex3dv(V4); glVertex3dv(V7); glVertex3dv(V6);        // Surface 3
	glVertex3dv(V4); glVertex3dv(V0); glVertex3dv(V3); glVertex3dv(V7);        // Surface 4
	glVertex3dv(V3); glVertex3dv(V2); glVertex3dv(V6); glVertex3dv(V7);        // Surface 5
	glVertex3dv(V0); glVertex3dv(V4); glVertex3dv(V5); glVertex3dv(V1);        // Surface 6
  glEnd();

  glPopMatrix();

}

void drawaxes(void)
{
    glColor3ub(255, 0, 0);
    glBegin(GL_LINE_STRIP);
    glVertex3f(0.0, 0.0, 0.0);
    glVertex3f(1.0, 0.0, 0.0);
    glVertex3f(0.75, 0.25, 0.0);
    glVertex3f(0.75, -0.25, 0.0);
    glVertex3f(1.0, 0.0, 0.0);
    glVertex3f(0.75, 0.0, 0.25);
    glVertex3f(0.75, 0.0, -0.25);
    glVertex3f(1.0, 0.0, 0.0);
    glEnd();
    glBegin(GL_LINE_STRIP);
    glVertex3f(0.0, 0.0, 0.0);
    glVertex3f(0.0, 1.0, 0.0);
    glVertex3f(0.0, 0.75, 0.25);
    glVertex3f(0.0, 0.75, -0.25);
    glVertex3f(0.0, 1.0, 0.0);
    glVertex3f(0.25, 0.75, 0.0);
    glVertex3f(-0.25, 0.75, 0.0);
    glVertex3f(0.0, 1.0, 0.0);
    glEnd();
    glBegin(GL_LINE_STRIP);
    glVertex3f(0.0, 0.0, 0.0);
    glVertex3f(0.0, 0.0, 1.0);
    glVertex3f(0.25, 0.0, 0.75);
    glVertex3f(-0.25, 0.0, 0.75);
    glVertex3f(0.0, 0.0, 1.0);
    glVertex3f(0.0, 0.25, 0.75);
    glVertex3f(0.0, -0.25, 0.75);
    glVertex3f(0.0, 0.0, 1.0);
    glEnd();

    glColor3ub(255, 255, 0);
    glRasterPos3f(1.1, 0.0, 0.0);
    glutBitmapCharacter(GLUT_BITMAP_HELVETICA_12, 'x');
    glRasterPos3f(0.0, 1.1, 0.0);
    glutBitmapCharacter(GLUT_BITMAP_HELVETICA_12, 'y');
    glRasterPos3f(0.0, 0.0, 1.1);
    glutBitmapCharacter(GLUT_BITMAP_HELVETICA_12, 'z');
}


void Display(void)
{
    glClear(GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT | GL_DEPTH_BUFFER_BIT);
    glLoadIdentity();
    //gluLookAt(3.0, 2.0, 1.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0);
	//gluLookAt(3.0, 2.0, 8.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0);
	//gluLookAt(0.0, 0.0, 3.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0);
	gluLookAt(0.0, 0.0, 3.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 1.0, 0.0);
    glColor3f(0.0, 1.0, 0.0);

	// rotate complete axis system
	glRotatef(-90, 1.0, 0.0, 0.0); // rotate around x axis
    glRotatef(90, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0); // rotate around z axis

	// cabinets
	glColor3f(0.5, 0.5, 0.5); // grey
    draw3DRectangle(0.684, 1.528, 0.75, 2, 0.0, 2.980);
	draw3DRectangle(0.684, 1.528, -2, -0.75, 0.0, 2.980);
    draw3DRectangle(1.883, 2.727, -2, -0.75, 0.0, 2.980);
    draw3DRectangle(1.883, 2.727, 0.75, 2, 0.0, 2.980);

	drawaxes();

    glutSwapBuffers();
}

void Init(void)
{
    glClearColor(0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0);
}

void Resize(int width, int height)
{
    glViewport(0, 0, width, height);
    glMatrixMode(GL_PROJECTION);
    glLoadIdentity();
    //gluPerspective(60.0, width/height, 0.1, 10.0);

	glOrtho(-4, 4, -0.5, 4, 0.1, 1000.0);
	glMatrixMode(GL_MODELVIEW);
    glLoadIdentity();
}

int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
    glutInit(&argc, argv);
    glutInitDisplayMode(GLUT_DOUBLE | GLUT_RGB);
    glutInitWindowSize(400, 400);
    glutInitWindowPosition(200, 200);
    glutCreateWindow("3D Object in OpenGL");
    Init();
    glutDisplayFunc(Display);
    glutReshapeFunc(Resize);
    glutMainLoop();
    return 0;
}

Welcome…

Here’s a good tutorial that will explain this better than I can…
http://www.lighthouse3d.com/opengl/glut/index.php?6

If you just need to rotate around a point you can perform global rotation of your scene then a translation to the camera position. It looks like something like this:

glMatrixMode( GL_MODELVIEW );
glLoadIdentity();
glTranslatef( cam.x, cam.y, cam.z );
glRotate( ... );

// draw the scene

...

Ok and under // draw the scene i have to call glMatrixMode(GL_PROJECTION) right?

glMatrixMode simply affects which matrix is affected by matrix manipulation commands.

You normally only affect the projection matrix when you are setting up the view.
Take a look at the example I posted and you’ll see it’s typicaly in the “reshape” or view setup functions only.

By posting your code you make it MUCH easier for people to help you. Instead of asking some vague question that would probably be misinterpreted, you have given us something specific to work with. I took your code, compiled and ran it on my PC. It did not generate any ‘cubes’ as you state. It generated two rectangles and a flattened set of axes. The screen capture is here

<http://imagebin.ca/view/iRvciZ.html&gt;.

I can help you further when you post a version of your code that actually displays 4 cubes. Sorry to be so anal.

ok, by setting the following value in the gluLookAt() function i get the 4 rectangular cubes.

gluLookAt(1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0); 

Now i would like to know how to rotate the 4 cubes around a point (or the Z axis as drawn).

Now you’re talking. I’ve posted a solution at

http://pastebin.com/m1095b123

This is your code with some minor reformatting done to make it more paletable to my eye. All that was really necessary was to put in a glRotate command just before you draw the cubes and axes. This is done on line 146 of my code. I’ve added the ability to interactively rotate your cubes using the left and right arrow keys using a function called ‘Special_Keys’ referenced at line 187, and defined on lines 110-124. Note that we are simply rotating the cubes here, not fooling around with the LookAt function (because that is a little messier). Good luck.

Thank you very much for your time and effort MaxH, it works great!