# Accumulating rotations for camera

It seems there are three ways to store a camera's rotation: in angles, view matrix or quaternion. I was using euler angles since when I used a matrix it had a tendency to accumulate rounding errors quickly that threw off everything and quaternions would have the same problem.

The problem I've run into is how do I accumulate the rotation? When the camera is rotated, it's rotated in local space about its local XYZ axes. How would you use the given angles in a rotation to rotate about these arbitrary axes? Usually this operation is done with a matrix but it doesn't make sense to try to extract the new angles out of it.

Or perhaps I should be just storing the rotation in a matrix or quaternion? But can this be done without errors eventually causing problems?

• Your errors came from accumulating rotations, not how they were stored in matrices or quaternions or whatever. Don't accumulate, rebuild every frame. – Patrick Hughes Mar 11 '13 at 1:30
• The errors come from storing in matrices/quaternions BECAUSE they aren't being rebuilt every frame. What I'm asking is how to rebuild with the local XYZ axes. Normally one just accumulates the rotation with matrices. – zenkai Mar 11 '13 at 1:36
• Here's an answer from stackoverflow. In brief, you have to maintain all three of your own axes, and each time you rotate around one, you must update the other two. Question that isn't really about touch, but is about 3D rotation...actually, let me recreate that here. – Seth Battin Mar 11 '13 at 2:47

You must maintain each of your three local axes. When you rotate around one, you must update the other two.

class gameclass
{
Vector3 forward = Vector3.UnitZ;    //persistent orientation variables
Vector3 left    = -1 * Vector3.UnitX;
Vector3 up      = Vector3.UnitY

Matrix world = Matrix.Identitiy;

InputClass inputclass;           //something to get your input data

void Update()
{

Vector3 pitch = inputclass.getpitch();          //vertical swipe/stick
forward = Vector3.transform(forward, Matrix.CreateFromAxisAngle(left, pitch));
up      = Vector3.transform(up, Matrix.CreateFromAxisAngle(left, pitch));

Vector3 yaw = inputclass.getyaw();              //horizontal swipe/stick
forward = Vector3.transform(forward, Matrix.CreateFromAxisAngle(up, yaw));
left    = Vector3.transform(left, Matrix.CreateFromAxisAngle(up, yaw));

forward.Normalize(); left.Normalize(); top.Normalize();  //avoid rounding errors

world = Matrix.CreateWorld(
postition                     //this isn't defined in my code
forward,
up);
}

}


Since you have to have a view matrix to send to the shader, and your camera's rotation already in it, and it's an ortho-normal matrix, why not use it as your 'storage' device?

Assuming whatever framework you are using has methods for transposing matrices, rotations about arbitrary axis, multiplying a vector by a matrix(transforming), & building a matrix from 2 vectors. Here's some xna code but can be thought of as pseudo code.

Vector3 camPosition;
Vector3 camTarget = new Vector3(0, 0, -1);//init to whatever you want. does not need to be unit length
Matrix view = Matrix.Identity;

//these items should be updated each frame before updating camera
float pitchChangeFromLastFrame, yawChangeFromLastFrame;//long names just to clarify meaning
float arcPitchChangeFromLastFrame, arcYawChangeFromLastFrame;
Vector3 strafe;
public void CameraUpdate()
{
Matrix camWorld = Matrix.Transpose(view);

//pitch camera (tilt)
camTarget = Vector3.Transform(camTarget - camPosition, Matrix.CreateFromAxisAngle(camWorld.Right, pitchChangeFromLastFrame)) + camPosition;

//yaw camera (pan)
camTarget = Vector3.Transform(camTarget - camPosition, Matrix.CreateFromAxisAngle(camWorld.Up, yawChangeFromLastFrame)) + camPosition;//often you would use 0,1,0 instead of camWorld.Up

//strafe camera (track)
camPosition += strafe;
camTarget += strafe;

//arc camera (pitch)