Image Processing and Computer Graphics

Projections and
Transformations in OpenGL
Matthias Teschner

Computer Science Department

University of Freiburg
Motivation
for the rendering of objects in 3D space,
a planar view has to be generated
3D space is projected onto a 2D plane considering
external and internal camera parameters
position, orientation, focal length
in homogeneous notation, 3D projections can be
represented with a 4x4 transformation matrix

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Examples
left images
3D scene with
a view volume
right images
projections onto
the viewplane
top-right
parallel projection
top-bottom
perspective projection
[Song Ho Ahn]

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Outline
2D projection
3D projection
OpenGL projection matrix
OpenGL transformation matrices

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Projection in 2D
a 2D projection from v onto
l maps a point p onto p'
p' is the intersection of
the line through p
and v with line l
v is the viewpoint,
center of perspectivity
l is the viewline
the line through p
and v is a projector
v is not on the line l, p v
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Projection in 2D
if the homogeneous component of the viewpoint v
is not equal to zero, we have a perspective projection
projectors are not parallel
if v is at infinity, we have a parallel projection
projectors are parallel

perspective projection parallel projection

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Classification
location of viewpoint and orientation of the viewline
determine the type of projection
parallel (viewpoint at infinity, parallel projectors)
orthographic (viewline orthogonal to the projectors)
oblique (viewline not orthogonal to the projectors)
perspective (non-parallel projectors)
one-point
(viewline intersects one principal axis,
i.e. viewline is parallel to a principal axis, one vanishing point)
two-point
(viewline intersects two principal axis, two vanishing points)

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General Case
a 2D projection is
represented by matrix

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Example

e.g. d=-1, (1,2)T is mapped to (0,1)T

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Discussion
matrices M and M represent the same
transformation
therefore, and represent

the same transformation

x is mapped to zero, y is scaled depending on x

moving d to infinity results in parallel projection

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Discussion
parallel projection

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Discussion

maps p to p'x = 0
maps p to p'y = -d py
maps p with pw=1 to p'w = px - d

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Discussion
2D transformation in homogeneous form

wx and wy map the homogeneous component w

of a point to a value w' that depends on x and y
therefore, the scaling of a point depends on x and / or y
in perspective 3D projections, this is generally employed
to scale the x- and y- component with respect to z,
its distance to the viewer

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Outline
2D projection
3D projection
OpenGL projection matrix
OpenGL transformation matrices

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Projection in 3D
a 3D projection from v onto
n maps a point p onto p'
p' is the intersection of
the line through p
and v with plane n
v is the viewpoint,
center of perspectivity
n is the viewplane
the line through p
and v is a projector
v is not on the plane n, p v
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General Case
a 3D projection is
represented by
a matrix

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Example

e.g. d=-1, (1,2,0)T is mapped to (0,1,0)T

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Example
parallel projection onto the plane z = 0 with
viewpoint / viewing direction v = (0,0,1,0)T

x- and y-component are unchanged, z is mapped to zero

remember that M and M with, e. g., =-1 represent
the same transformation
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Outline
2D projection
3D projection
OpenGL projection matrix
perspective projection
parallel projection
OpenGL transformation matrices

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 View Volume
in OpenGL, the projection transformation maps
a view volume to the canonical view volume
the view volume is specified by its boundary
left, right, bottom, top, near far
the canonical view volume is a cube from (-1,-1,-1) to
(1,1,1) (x, y, f)
(l, t, f)

[Song Ho Ahn]

this transformation implements this transformation implements

orthographic projection perspective projection
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OpenGL Projection Transform
the projection transform maps
from eye coordinates
to clip coordinates (w-component is not necessarily one)
to normalized device coordinates NDC
(x and y are normalized with respect to w,
w is preserved for further processing)
the projection transform maps
the x-component of a point from (left, right) to (-1, 1)
the y-component of a point from (bottom, top) to (-1, 1)
the z-component of a point from (near, far) to (-1, 1)
in OpenGL, near and far are negative, so the mapping
incorporates a reflection (change of right-handed to left-handed)
however, in OpenGL functions, usually the negative
of near and far is specified which is positive

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Perspective Projection
to obtain x- and y-component of a projected point, the
point is first projected onto the near plane (viewplane)

[Song Ho Ahn]

note that n and f denote the

negative near and far values
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Mapping of xp and yp to (-1, 1)

[Song Ho Ahn]

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Projection Matrix
from

we get

clip coordinates

with

normalized device
coordinates

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Mapping of ze to (-1, 1)
ze is mapped from (near, far) or (-n, -f) to (-1, 1)
the transform does not depend on xe and ye
so, we have to solve for A and B in

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Mapping of ze to (-1, 1)
ze=-n with we=1 is mapped to zn=-1
ze=-f with we=1 is mapped to zf=1

the complete matrix is

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Perspective Projection Matrix
the matrix

transforms the view

volume, the pyramidal
frustum to the
canonical view
volume pyramidal frustum
[Song Ho Ahn]
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Perspective Projection Matrix
projection matrix for negated values for n and f (OpenGL)

projection matrix for actual values for n and f

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Symmetric Setting
the matrix simplifies for r = -l and t = -b

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Near Plane
nonlinear mapping of ze :
varying resolution / accuracy due to fix-point
representation of depth values in the depth buffer

zn zn zn

ze ze ze

do not move the near plane too close to zero

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Far Plane
setting the far plane to infinity is not too critical

zn

ze

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Outline
2D projection
3D projection
OpenGL projection matrix
perspective projection
parallel projection
OpenGL transformation matrices

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Parallel Projection
the view volume is represented by a cuboid
left, right, bottom, top, near, far

[Song Ho Ahn]

the projection transform maps the

cuboid to the canonical view volume

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Mapping of xe, ye, ze to (-1,1)
all components of a point in eye coordinates are
linearly mapped to the range of (-1,1)
[Song Ho Ahn]

linear in xe, ye, ze

combination of scale and translation
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Orthographic Projection Matrix
general form

simplified form for a symmetric view volume

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Outline
2D projection
3D projection
OpenGL projection matrix
OpenGL transformation matrices

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OpenGL Matrices
objects are transformed from object to eye
space with the GL_MODELVIEW matrix

objects are transformed from eye space to

clip space with the GL_PROJECTION matrix

colors are transformed with the color matrix GL_COLOR

texture coordinates are transformed with the texture
matrix GL_TEXTURE

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Matrix Stack
each matrix type has a stack
the matrix on top of the stack is used

glMatrixMode(GL_PROJECTION); choose a matrix stack

glLoadIdentity(); the top element is replaced with I4
glFrustum(left, right, bottom, top, near, far);
projection matrix P is generated
the top element on the stack is
multiplied with P resulting in I4P

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Matrix Stack
glMatrixMode(GL_MODELVIEW); choose a matrix stack
glLoadIdentity(); the top element is replaced with I4
translation matrix T is generated
glTranslatef(x,y,z); the top element on the stack is
multiplied with T resulting in I4T

rotation matrix R is generated

glRotatef(alpha,1,0,0); the top element on the stack is
multiplied with R resulting in I4T R

note that objects are rotated by R,

followed by the translation T

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Matrix Stack
glMatrixMode(GL_MODELVIEW); choose a matrix stack
glLoadIdentity(); the top element is replaced with I4
glTranslatef(x,y,z); the top element is I4T
glRotatef(alpha,1,0,0); the top element is I4TR

glPush(); the top element I4TR

is pushed into the stack
the newly generated top element
is initialized with I4TR

glTranslatef(x,y,z); the top element is I4TRT

glPop(); the top element is replaced by

the previously stored element I4TR

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OpenGL Matrix Functions
glPushMatrix(): push the current matrix into the current matrix stack.
glPopMatrix(): pop the current matrix from the current matrix stack.
glLoadIdentity(): set the current matrix to the identity matrix.
glLoadMatrix{fd}(m): replace the current matrix with the matrix m.
glLoadTransposeMatrix{fd}(m) : replace the current matrix with the row-
major ordered matrix m.
glMultMatrix{fd}(m): multiply the current matrix by the matrix m, and update
the result to the current matrix.
glMultTransposeMatrix{fd}(m): multiply the current matrix by the row-major
ordered matrix m, and update the result to the current matrix.
glGetFloatv(GL_MODELVIEW_MATRIX, m): return 16 values of
GL_MODELVIEW matrix to m.

note that OpenGL functions expect column-major matrices

in contrast to commonly used row-major matrices

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Modelview Example
objects are transformed with V-1M
V=TvRv the camera is oriented and then translated

M1..4=T1..4R1..4 objects are oriented and then translated

implementation
choose the GL_MODELVIEW stack
initialize with I4 I4
M1
rotate with Rv-1 Rv-1 M3 M2
translate with Tv-1 Rv-1 Tv-1 = V-1
push Rv-1 Tv-1
translate with T1 Rv-1 Tv-1 T1
rotate with R1 Rv-1 Tv-1 T1 R1 V M4
render object M1
pop Rv-1 Tv-1
[Akenine-Moeller et al.:
Real-time Rendering]
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Summary
2D projection
3D projection
OpenGL projection matrix
perspective projection
parallel projection
OpenGL transformation matrices

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References
Duncan Marsh: "Applied Geometry for Computer
Graphics and CAD", Springer Verlag, Berlin, 2004.
Song Ho Ahn: "OpenGL", http://www.songho.ca/ .

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