Current File : //usr/share/doc/imath-devel/html/_sources/intro.rst.txt
Overview
########
Imath is a basic, light-weight, and efficient C++ representation of 2D
and 3D vectors and matrices and other simple but useful mathematical
objects, functions, and data types common in computer graphics
applications, including the ``half`` 16-bit floating-point type.
Imath also includes optional python bindings for all types and
functions, including optimized implementations of vector and matrix
arrays.
The Imath library emphasizes simplicity, ease of use, correctness and
verifiability, performance, and breadth of adoption. Imath is not
intended to be a comprehensive linear algebra or numerical analysis
package.
Imath is not `Eigen <https://eigen.tuxfamily.org>`_! It's not a
full-featured linear algebra package, and it doesn't represent vectors
and matrices of arbitrary dimension. Its greatest utility is as a
geometric data representation, primarily for 2D images and 3D scenes
and coordinate transformations, along with an accompanying set of
utility methods and functions.
Example
-------
A basic program:
.. code-block::
#include <Imath/ImathVec.h>
#include <iostream>
int
main()
{
Imath::V3f v (3.0, 4.0, 5.0);
v.normalize();
Imath::M33f M;
M.translate (1.0, 2.0, 3.0);
Imath::V3f p = v * M;
std::cout << "What's your vector, Victor? " << p << std::endl;
return 0;
}
Matrices Are Row-Major
----------------------
Imath stores matrices in row-major layout, originally inspired by
compatibility with OpenGL matrices.
A matrix described as:
.. math::
\begin{bmatrix}
m_{00} & m_{01} & m_{02} & m_{03} \\
m_{10} & m_{11} & m_{12} & m_{13} \\
m_{20} & m_{21} & m_{22} & m_{23} \\
m_{30} & m_{31} & m_{32} & m_{33} \\
\end{bmatrix}
is laid out in memory as:
.. list-table::
:widths: 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10
:header-rows: 1
* - 0
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
* - :math:`m_{00}`
- :math:`m_{01}`
- :math:`m_{02}`
- :math:`m_{03}`
- :math:`m_{10}`
- :math:`m_{11}`
- :math:`m_{12}`
- :math:`m_{13}`
- :math:`m_{20}`
- :math:`m_{21}`
- :math:`m_{22}`
- :math:`m_{23}`
- :math:`m_{30}`
- :math:`m_{31}`
- :math:`m_{32}`
- :math:`m_{33}`
A matrix representing a homogeneous transform has a right-hand column
of :math:`\begin{bmatrix} 0 & 0 & 0 & 1\end{bmatrix}` and the
translation component across the bottom row.
As a result, it is best to think of Imath vectors as row-vectors, and
vector-matrix multiplication with the vector on the left and matrix on
the right:
.. math::
\begin{bmatrix} v_{0}' & v_{1}' & v_{2}' & 1' \end{bmatrix}
=
\begin{bmatrix} v_{0} & v_{1} & v_{2} & 1 \end{bmatrix}
\begin{bmatrix} m_{00} & m_{01} & m_{02} & 0 \\
m_{10} & m_{11} & m_{12} & 0 \\
m_{20} & m_{21} & m_{22} & 0 \\
m_{30} & m_{31} & m_{32} & 1
\end{bmatrix}
This further implies that you should interpret local transformations
as pre-multiplication:
.. code-block::
M44f M;
M.translate (tx, ty, tz);
m.rotate (r, 0, 0);
m.scale (s);
.. math::
\begin{bmatrix}
m_{00} & m_{01} & m_{02} & m_{03} \\
m_{10} & m_{11} & m_{12} & m_{13} \\
m_{20} & m_{21} & m_{22} & m_{23} \\
m_{30} & m_{31} & m_{32} & m_{33} \\
\end{bmatrix}
=
\begin{bmatrix}
s & 0 & 0 & 0 \\
0 & s & 0 & 0 \\
0 & 0 & s & 0 \\
0 & 0 & 0 & 1 \\
\end{bmatrix}
\begin{bmatrix}
1 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\
0 & \cos(r) & \sin(r) & 0 \\
0 & -\sin(r) & \cos(r) & 0 \\
0 & 0 & 0 & 1 \\
\end{bmatrix}
\begin{bmatrix}
1 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\
0 & 1 & 0 & 0 \\
0 & 0 & 1 & 0 \\
tx & ty & tz & 1 \\
\end{bmatrix}
About
-----
Imath originated at Industrial Light & Magic in the late 1990's and
early 2000's, and it was originally distributed publicly as a
component of `OpenEXR
<https:://github.com/AcademySoftwareFoundation/openexr>`_. Imath is
now a project of the `Academy Software Foundation
<https://www.aswf.io>`_ and is still maintained by the OpenEXR
project.
Imath is Version 3 because it was previously distributed as a
component of OpenEXR v1 and v2.
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