Camera movement issue with pitch and yaw angles

Question

I'm trying to implement a simple first person camera using pitch and yaw angles (no quaternions, I want a simple camera for debugging purposes). An Input class processes mouse input and translate the x and y position in the window into angles. Here's the code:

#define SENSITIVITY 0.01f

void Input::ProcessMouseInput(int x, int y, Camera &camera)
{
    /* pitch and yaw angles */
    static float pitch = 0;
    static float yaw = 0;

    /* initialize initial mouse position */
    static int prev_x = x;
    static int prev_y = y;

    int offset_x = x - prev_x;
    int offset_y = y - prev_y;

    pitch += offset_y * SENSITIVITY;
    yaw += offset_x * SENSITIVITY;

    /* compute transformation matrix */
    XMMATRIX pitchTransform = XMMatrixRotationX(pitch);
    XMMATRIX yawTransform = XMMatrixRotationY(yaw);
    XMMATRIX transform = XMMatrixMultiply(pitchTransform, yawTransform);    // fps-like  
    //XMMATRIX transform = XMMatrixMultiply(yawTransform, pitchTransform);  // airplane-like

    /* transform camera direction - rotate camera */
    XMVECTOR oldDirection = XMVectorSet(0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 1.0);
    XMVECTOR newCameraDirection_ = XMVector3Transform(oldDirection, transform);
    XMMATRIX oldView = XMLoadFloat4x4(&camera.GetInitialViewMatrix());
    XMVECTOR det = XMMatrixDeterminant(oldView);
    XMMATRIX inverse = XMMatrixInverse(&det, oldView);
    XMVECTOR v = XMVector3TransformNormal(newCameraDirection_, inverse);
    XMFLOAT3 newCameraDirection;
    XMStoreFloat3(&newCameraDirection, v);
    camera.SetDirection(newCameraDirection);

    /* store current mouse position */
    prev_x = x;
    prev_y = y;
}

What I do is I calculate the direction vector in the view space and transform it with pitch/yaw rotations. Then I tranform the resulting vector in world space coordinates and update the camera direction. All works fine if the camera space x-z plane initial position is parallel to the world space x-z plane. If the camera is initially tilted downwards or upwards the movement is off (moving along the yaw direction causes a wobbling and the movement is incorrect). I can't find the problem as I think the calculations are correct (but they obviously aren't).

EDIT

what I mean with odd behaviour is that when I create a camera that has starting position with a pitch wich is not zero I get mixed movements (pitch when yawing and yawing when pitching)

Sorry, I'd initially marked this as a duplicate of "I'm rotating an object on two axes, so why does it keep twisting around the third axis?", but I think this may be a distinct issue. Can you clarify, when you start with the camera's horizontal plane not parallel to the world's, are you initializing your pitch variable accordingly? Or just modifying your oldDirection value? — DMGregory, Apr 10 '18 at 22:51
I don't do neither, my pitch and yaw starts at 0.0. I want to move the camera starting from my initial direction/position. — Luca, Apr 10 '18 at 22:59
"If the camera is initially tilted downwards or upwards" - how do you create this initial tilt, if not by changing either the pitch variable or oldDirection? Do you initialize its matrix elsewhere? — DMGregory, Apr 10 '18 at 23:16
@DMGregory I initialize it into the camera constructor by setting the initial view matrix that is returned by Camera::GetInitialViewMatrix method — Luca, Apr 10 '18 at 23:54
You might consider the simple yaw/pitch model as implemented here. For some DirectXMath usage, see this sample — Chuck Walbourn, Apr 11 '18 at 16:50

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 11 '18 at 10:50

This block of code here:

XMVECTOR det = XMMatrixDeterminant(oldView);
XMMATRIX inverse = XMMatrixInverse(&det, oldView);
XMVECTOR v = XMVector3TransformNormal(newCameraDirection_, inverse);
XMFLOAT3 newCameraDirection;
XMStoreFloat3(&newCameraDirection, v);
camera.SetDirection(newCameraDirection);

says "always rotate with regard to the initial camera orientation." That means if the initial camera orientation was inclined downwards, all future yaw should happen in that inclined horizontal plane - leading to the wobble you describe.

If you don't want that, I'd recommend not using the camera's initial orientation matrix as a basis for future updates. Instead, initialize your pitch & yaw to match the initial rotation so you start from the right place, and rotate with regard to the identity matrix instead.

but how can I find the initial yaw and pitch angles from the starting position? I know that: x = cosP * sinY, y = -sinP and z = cosP * cosY. Should I invert these parametric relations? — Luca, Apr 12 '18 at 09:08
Bingo. Inverting those relationships is called converting to spherical coordinates, so you can find formulas already-worked out. Just note that the input is your camera's forward direction, not its position. — DMGregory, Apr 12 '18 at 12:05

Camera movement issue with pitch and yaw angles

1 Answers1