3d Orbit Rotation - Controllable

iam13013 · Post by **iam13013** » Tue Dec 09, 2008 9:16 pm

I'm trying to learn how to make an object rotate around another object as if it is in orbit. I'm not here begging for a snippet, I just want some direction in what I should search for the learn the actual math behind it. Any hints?

cdrwolfe · Post by **cdrwolfe** » Tue Dec 09, 2008 9:19 pm

I believe there is an flyCircle animator, however i'am not sure how powerful it is if you want to change things like the trajectory and ellipse shape etc.

Regards Wolfe

zeroZshadow · Post by **zeroZshadow** » Tue Dec 09, 2008 9:19 pm

yo, well thats pretty simple, you could:

1. parent the orbiting object to the object it orbits around on,
2. add an rotation animator with an offset ?

in opengl its pretty simple
instead of doing translation/rotation
you do rotation first, then translation (then rotation again if needed)

you should read a little about the matrices you use in 3d application if you really want to learn the math

iam13013 · Post by **iam13013** » Tue Dec 09, 2008 9:30 pm

I'm trying to allow the player to enter the vicinity of a planet, then the ship automatically goes into a sort of "Orbit Mode" but the player can still turn left or right and change the altitude. When the altitude is above a certain value, "Orbit Mode" will exit into free-flight mode. Matrices? I'll check that out.