Re: [eigen] Rigid Transformations in eigen: discussion thread

[Benoit Jacob <jacob.benoit.1@xxxxxxxxx>]

Sorry, I've had too many things to handle at once :) I haven't yet
looked at your email.

I promise a reply for later today.

Benoit

2009/9/17 Rohit Garg <rpg.314@xxxxxxxxx>:
> What do others here think about this. Is the API, the unit tests etc.
> good enough for inclusion in eigen?
>
> On Wed, Sep 16, 2009 at 4:06 PM, Rohit Garg <rpg.314@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>>> a) This heavily depends on fast quaternion multiplication, I think it
>>>> will likely come out somewhat behind in benches.
>>>
>>> OK, so it would definitely be nice to know how much behind. I haven't peeked
>>> into the internals of the Quaternion class, but would this difference be due
>>> to the current implementation, or rather inherent to the involved operations
>>> and their efficient vectorization?
>> Quaternion multiplication is vectorized, and is ~2x faster than it's
>> scalar equivalent. I dont know how to speed it up, apart from
>> scheduling instructions by hand. Suggestions most welcome. Multiplying
>> dual quaternions takes 3 quaternion multiplications and one addition.
>>
>> Off the top of my head, Matrix4f multiplication takes 28 SSE
>> instructions at the minimum. A quaternion multiplication takes 7 and
>> addition just one. So theoretically, it may be faster, but modern
>> Intel CPU's can dual issue a mul and an add per clock, so by careful
>> ordering, it may be possible to do the matrix multiplication in lesser
>> (~half) cycles. The only real way to know for sure is to bench it. And
>> I dont have time for it now, but I'd be interested in the benchmarks.
>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>> b) How does eigen do say, 4D rotations? I thought it did only 2D and
>>>> 3D rotations.
>>>
>>>
>>> In the Transform class, a higher-dimensional rotation would be the linear
>>> part set to a square nD orthonormal matrix
>> But you will have to manage the orthonormal matrix yourselves right? I
>> mean is there an angle axis or its equivalent for 4D? Any support for
>> composing 4d rotations in eigen?
>>
>>>> I don't know if rigid transformations make sense for 2D.
>>>
>>> They do :) , rigid transformations make sense in nD
>> That's interesting.
>>
>>> Sure. The main point is that a specialization for rigid transformations
>>> could be very useful. The Transform class already takes isometries into
>>> account up to a certain extent (as a hint when computing the inverse), but
>>> it would be nice to have a way of creating isometries, and guaranteeing that
>>> they stay that way. With the current Transform class, you could for example
>>> compose multiple isometries and because of roundoff errors end up with
>>> something that is not an isometry, and restoring orthonormality of the
>>> linear part is not trivial. For 3D isometries, renormalizing a quaternion is
>>> all you need (or similar for dual quaternions). This is why your
>>> contribution seems worth exploring :).
>>
>> The thing is a Transform object could also contain a scaling/shearing
>> transformation, which is unacceptable for a rigid transformation. The
>> transform class is suitable for opengl transform matrices, but not for
>> rigid objects.
>>
>> The biggest advantage, the raison d'etre of this class, is
>> interpolation of rigid transformations, essential in animations.
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> --
>> Rohit Garg
>>
>> http://rpg-314.blogspot.com/
>>
>> Senior Undergraduate
>> Department of Physics
>> Indian Institute of Technology
>> Bombay
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Rohit Garg
>
> http://rpg-314.blogspot.com/
>
> Senior Undergraduate
> Department of Physics
> Indian Institute of Technology
> Bombay
>
>
>