Rotation

Hello everyone…I just wanted to clarify a small thing regarding rotation in OpenGL…

Now if we want to rotate an object about a fixed point,say Xf,Yf,Zf, we translate it to origin, rotate and translate it back…

But why is it that the order we give is opposite??
i mean,why do we give it as:

glTranslatef(Xf,Yf,Zf);
glRotatef();//whatever rotation is required
glTranslatef(-Xf,-Yf,-Zf);

Is this because the new point generated, a product of matrices in the reverse order??
ie

P’ = p(-T)®(T) where(-T) is translation to origin
is this how it is done when it is given in the above mentioned order??

Pls help im getting really confused about this concept.
Thanks in advance

Consider that in OpenGL you change the camera, not the object.

Now im even more confused!! can u please suggest a book which decribes these things in detail??
I started off with COMPUTER GRAPHICS by FS HILL…Now im finding hard to understand the exact concept behind the OpenGL functions…
Pls help…

If you’re translating around a point, you’re moving the object such that the point you’re rotating around is the origin.

Say I have a sphere at (10,10,0). I want to rotate it around (0,10,0). I need to move my sphere to the system of that point, where that point is the origin.

glTranslate(0,-10,0); // A - new point of sphere becomes (10,0,0)
glRotate(degrees); // B - do your rotation
glTranslate(0,10,0); // C - move it back to the original space
drawSphere();

The points for the sphere are multiplied like this

C * B * A * points

@strattonbrazil…Thanks a lot for clarifying my doubt…Now i got the concept… :slight_smile:

One more thing, for the example yoy just gave,can this be done??

glTranslatef(-10,0,0);//Move to that point
glTranslatef(0,-10,0);//Move to origin of coordinate system
glRotate();
glTranslatef(0,10,0);//MOve back to the required point…

Can this be done??

Can this be done to do what? The same thing? No. If you add on that first line, you’re obviously going to get a different result.

glTranslate(10,10); // sphere will appear at (10,10) if it’s object coordinates are centered at (0,0)
glTranslatef(0,-10,0); // move to coordinate space of rotation point so rotation point is at (0,0)
glRotate();
glTranslatef(0,10,0); // move back by doing a translation in the opposite direction

Yeah now i get it…Thank you.