Creating, Placing, and Performing Basic Operations on Vectors

This section covers how to create and place vectors, as well as how to perform basic operations on them.

What Is a Vector?

When working in 3D space, it's convenient to treat values in groups of three, like (X, Y, Z).

For example, a position in space is defined by its (X, Y, Z) coordinates. A direction in space is likewise represented by a set of three components (Vx, Vy, Vz), and the displacement of a moving object over a unit of time can be described similarly using (dx, dy, dz).

In this way, a vector is simply a group of three components treated as a single unit in 3D space.

In VCSSL, vectors can be created and placed in coordinate systems, allowing for convenient operations like coordinate transformations, dot products, and cross products.

Creating a Vector

To create a vector, use the newVector(...) function:

- Function Format -

The arguments x, y, and z specify the X, Y, and Z components of the vector.

This function creates a vector with those components and returns a unique ID assigned to it.

You can also create a copy of an existing vector by passing its ID:

- Function Format -

Placing a Vector

Once created, a vector can be placed into a coordinate system, just like models or polygons. To place a vector, use the mountVector(...) function.

- Function Format -

These two variations allow you to:

• Place the vector in the world coordinate system (first form).
• Place the vector in any specified coordinate system (second form).

Arguments:

• vectorID: The ID of the vector to place.
• rendererID: The ID of the renderer.
• coordinateID: The ID of the coordinate system to place the vector in (if omitted, it defaults to the world coordinate system).

Setting Vector Components

To set the components of a vector, use the setVector(...) function:

- Function Format -

Arguments:

• vectorID: The ID of the vector to modify.
• x, y, z: The X, Y, and Z components to assign to the vector.

This function updates the components of an existing vector.

Getting Vector Components

To retrieve the components of a vector, use the getVectorX(...), getVectorY(...), and getVectorZ(...) functions:

- Function Format -

Each function returns the X, Y, or Z component of the vector, respectively.

The "vectorID" argument specifies the target vector.

Dot Product

To calculate the dot product (inner product) of two vectors, use the getVectorInnerProduct(...) function:

- Function Format -

Arguments:

• vectorID1: The ID of the first vector.
• vectorID2: The ID of the second vector.

This function returns the dot product of the two specified vectors.

Cross Product

To calculate the cross product of two vectors, use the getVectorCrossProduct(...) function:

- Function Format -

Arguments:

• vectorID1: The ID of the first vector.
• vectorID2: The ID of the second vector.
• crossVector: The ID of the vector where the result will be stored. This vector must be created in advance, but its contents will be overwritten by this function, so the initial values don't matter.