Quaternions for Computer Graphics

Quaternions for Computer Graphics
Author: John Vince
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 188
Release: 2021-09-02
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 1447175093

If you have ever wondered what quaternions are — then look no further, John Vince will show you how simple and useful they are. This 2nd edition has been completely revised and includes extra detail on the invention of quaternions, a complete review of the text and equations, all figures are in colour, extra worked examples, an expanded index, and a bibliography arranged for each chapter. Quaternions for Computer Graphics includes chapters on number sets and algebra, imaginary and complex numbers, the complex plane, rotation transforms, and a comprehensive description of quaternions in the context of rotation. The book will appeal to students of computer graphics, computer science and mathematics, as well as programmers, researchers, academics and professional practitioners interested in learning about quaternions. John Vince explains in an easy-to-understand language, with the aid of useful figures, how quaternions emerged, gave birth to modern vector analysis, disappeared, and reemerged to be adopted by the flight simulation industry and computer graphics. This book will give you the confidence to use quaternions within your every-day mathematics, and explore more advanced texts.

Visualizing Quaternions

Visualizing Quaternions
Author: Andrew J. Hanson
Publisher: Elsevier
Total Pages: 530
Release: 2006-02-06
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 0080474772

Introduced 160 years ago as an attempt to generalize complex numbers to higher dimensions, quaternions are now recognized as one of the most important concepts in modern computer graphics. They offer a powerful way to represent rotations and compared to rotation matrices they use less memory, compose faster, and are naturally suited for efficient interpolation of rotations. Despite this, many practitioners have avoided quaternions because of the mathematics used to understand them, hoping that some day a more intuitive description will be available.The wait is over. Andrew Hanson's new book is a fresh perspective on quaternions. The first part of the book focuses on visualizing quaternions to provide the intuition necessary to use them, and includes many illustrative examples to motivate why they are important—a beautiful introduction to those wanting to explore quaternions unencumbered by their mathematical aspects. The second part covers the all-important advanced applications, including quaternion curves, surfaces, and volumes. Finally, for those wanting the full story of the mathematics behind quaternions, there is a gentle introduction to their four-dimensional nature and to Clifford Algebras, the all-encompassing framework for vectors and quaternions. - Richly illustrated introduction for the developer, scientist, engineer, or student in computer graphics, visualization, or entertainment computing. - Covers both non-mathematical and mathematical approaches to quaternions.

Quaternions for Computer Graphics

Quaternions for Computer Graphics
Author: John Vince
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 147
Release: 2011-06-11
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 0857297600

Sir William Rowan Hamilton was a genius, and will be remembered for his significant contributions to physics and mathematics. The Hamiltonian, which is used in quantum physics to describe the total energy of a system, would have been a major achievement for anyone, but Hamilton also invented quaternions, which paved the way for modern vector analysis. Quaternions are one of the most documented inventions in the history of mathematics, and this book is about their invention, and how they are used to rotate vectors about an arbitrary axis. Apart from introducing the reader to the features of quaternions and their associated algebra, the book provides valuable historical facts that bring the subject alive. Quaternions for Computer Graphics introduces the reader to quaternion algebra by describing concepts of sets, groups, fields and rings. It also includes chapters on imaginary quantities, complex numbers and the complex plane, which are essential to understanding quaternions. The book contains many illustrations and worked examples, which make it essential reading for students, academics, researchers and professional practitioners.

Rotation Transforms for Computer Graphics

Rotation Transforms for Computer Graphics
Author: John Vince
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2011-01-04
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 0857291548

Rotation transforms are used everywhere in computer graphics from rotating pictures in editing software, to providing an arbitrary view of a 3D virtual environment. Although the former is a trivial operation, the latter can be a challenging task. Rotation Transforms for Computer Graphics covers a wide range of mathematical techniques used for rotating points and frames of reference in the plane and 3D space. It includes many worked examples and over 100 illustrations that make it essential reading for students, academics, researchers and professional practitioners. The book includes introductory chapters on complex numbers, matrices, quaternions and geometric algebra, and further chapters on how these techniques are employed in 2D and 3D computer graphics. In particular, matrix and bivector transforms are developed and evaluated to rotate points in a fixed frame of reference, and vice versa.

Rethinking Quaternions

Rethinking Quaternions
Author: Ron Goldman
Publisher: Morgan & Claypool Publishers
Total Pages: 177
Release: 2010
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 1608454207

In addition to these theoretical issues, we also address some computational questions. We develop straightforward formulas for converting back and forth between quaternion and matrix representations for rotations, reflections, and perspective projections, and we discuss the relative advantages and disadvantages of the quaternion and matrix representations for these transformations. Moreover, we show how to avoid distortions due to floating point computations with rotations by using unit quaternions to represent rotations. We also derive the formula for spherical linear interpolation, and we explain how to apply this formula to interpolate between two rotations for key frame animation. Finally, we explain the role of quaternions in low-dimensional Clifford algebras, and we show how to apply the Clifford algebra for R3 to model rotations, reflections, and perspective projections. To help the reader understand the concepts and formulas presented here, we have incorporated many exercises in order to clarify and elaborate some of the key points in the text."--P. 4 of cover.

Quaternions and Rotation Sequences

Quaternions and Rotation Sequences
Author: J. B. Kuipers
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 396
Release: 2020-03-31
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 0691211701

Ever since the Irish mathematician William Rowan Hamilton introduced quaternions in the nineteenth century--a feat he celebrated by carving the founding equations into a stone bridge--mathematicians and engineers have been fascinated by these mathematical objects. Today, they are used in applications as various as describing the geometry of spacetime, guiding the Space Shuttle, and developing computer applications in virtual reality. In this book, J. B. Kuipers introduces quaternions for scientists and engineers who have not encountered them before and shows how they can be used in a variety of practical situations. The book is primarily an exposition of the quaternion, a 4-tuple, and its primary application in a rotation operator. But Kuipers also presents the more conventional and familiar 3 x 3 (9-element) matrix rotation operator. These parallel presentations allow the reader to judge which approaches are preferable for specific applications. The volume is divided into three main parts. The opening chapters present introductory material and establish the book's terminology and notation. The next part presents the mathematical properties of quaternions, including quaternion algebra and geometry. It includes more advanced special topics in spherical trigonometry, along with an introduction to quaternion calculus and perturbation theory, required in many situations involving dynamics and kinematics. In the final section, Kuipers discusses state-of-the-art applications. He presents a six degree-of-freedom electromagnetic position and orientation transducer and concludes by discussing the computer graphics necessary for the development of applications in virtual reality.

Understanding Quaternions

Understanding Quaternions
Author: Peng Du
Publisher: Nova Science Publishers
Total Pages: 197
Release: 2020
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 9781536185539

"Quaternions are members of a noncommutative division algebra first invented by William Rowan Hamilton. They form an interesting algebra where each object contains 4 scalar variables, instead of Euler angles, which is useful to overcome the gimbal lock phenomenon when treating the rotation of objects. This book is about the mathematical basics and applications of quaternions. The first four chapters mainly concerns the mathematical theories, while the latter three chapters are related with three application aspects. It is expected to provide useful clues for researchers and engineers in the related area. In detail, this book is organized as follows: In Chapter 1, mathematical basics including the quaternion algebra and operations with quaternions, as well as the relationships of quaternions with other mathematical parameters and representations are demonstrated. In Chapter 2, how quaternions are formulated in Clifford Algebra, how it is used in explaining rotation group in symplectic vector space and parallel transformation in holonomic dynamics are presented. In Chapter 3, the wave equation for a spin 3/2 particle, described by 16-component vector-bispinor, is investigated in spherical coordinates. In Chapter 4, hyperbolic Lobachevsky and spherical Riemann models, parameterized coordinates with spherical and cylindric symmetry are studied. In Chapter 5, ship hydrodynamics with allowance of trim and sinkage is investigated and validated with experiments. In Chapter 6, the ballast flying phenomenon based on Discrete Discontinuous Analysis is presented. In Chapter 7, a numerical study is proposed to analyze the effect of the caisson sliding subjected to a hydrodynamic loading in the stability of the rear side of the rubble mound breakwater"--

New Trends in Computer Graphics

New Trends in Computer Graphics
Author: Nadia Magnenat-Thalmann
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 683
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 3642834922

New Trends in Computer Graphics contains a selection of research papers submitted to Computer Graphics International '88 (COl '88). COl '88 is the Official Annual Conference of the Computer Graphics Society. Since 1982, this conference ha~ been held in Tokyo. This year, it is taking place in Geneva, Switzerland. In 1989, it will be held in Leeds, U. K. , in 1990 in Singapore, in 1991 in U. S. A. and in 1992 in Montreal, Canada. Over 100 papers were submitted to CGI '88 and 61 papers were selected by the International Program Committee. Papers have been grouped into 6 chapters. The flrst chapter is dedicated to Computer Animation because it deals with all topics presented in the other chapters. Several animation systems are described as well as speciflc subjects like 3D character animation, quaternions and splines. The second chapter is dedicated to papers on Image Synthesis, il1 particular new shading models and new algorithms for ray tracing are presented. Chapter 3 presents several algorithms for geometric modeling and new techniques for the creation and manipulation of curves, surfaces and solids and their applications to CAD. In Chapter 4, an important topic is presented: the specification of graphics systems and images using l~nguages and user-interfaces. The last two chapters are devoted to applications in sciences, medicine, engineering, art and business.

Applied Geometry for Computer Graphics and CAD

Applied Geometry for Computer Graphics and CAD
Author: Duncan Marsh
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 361
Release: 2006-03-30
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 1846281091

Focusing on the manipulation and representation of geometrical objects, this book explores the application of geometry to computer graphics and computer-aided design (CAD). Over 300 exercises are included, some new to this edition, and many of which encourage the reader to implement the techniques and algorithms discussed through the use of a computer package with graphing and computer algebra capabilities. A dedicated website also offers further resources and useful links.

Mathematics for Computer Graphics

Mathematics for Computer Graphics
Author: John Vince
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 268
Release: 2005-11-09
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 9781846280344

This is a concise and informal introductory book on the mathematical concepts that underpin computer graphics. The author, John Vince, makes the concepts easy to understand, enabling non-experts to come to terms with computer animation work. The book complements the author's other works and is written in the same accessible and easy-to-read style. It is also a useful reference book for programmers working in the field of computer graphics, virtual reality, computer animation, as well as students on digital media courses, and even mathematics courses.