Generalize transforms (translation, rotation, scaling) · Issue #1571 · dimforge/nalgebra · GitHub
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Generalize transforms (translation, rotation, scaling) #1571

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Generalize transforms (translation, rotation, scaling)#1571

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@Caellian
Caellian
opened on Nov 5, 2025

There's room left for generalization with respect to dimensionality when it comes to transforms in nalgebra.

Most:

Some of these are relatively easy to generalize. Some are not that useful (like projections), but it would be cool to have code that just works no matter the dimension. Rotation might be useful for topology and scientific applications (beyond just rendering) - implementing this and generalizing Transform was the main motivator for opening this issues.

However, I don't personally need this right now. I just wanted to propose this as I don't see any good alternatives.

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  1. Caellian commented on Nov 5, 2025

    @Caellian
    Caellian
    on Nov 5, 2025
    Author

    Orthographic projection formula from Wikipedia:

    $$ P = ST = \begin{bmatrix} \frac{2}{\text{max}_x-\text{min}_x} & 0 & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & \frac{2}{\text{max}_y-\text{min}_y} & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & \frac{2}{\text{max}_z-\text{min}_z} & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 0 & 1 \end{bmatrix} \begin{bmatrix} 1 & 0 & 0 & -\frac{\text{min}_x+\text{min}_x}{2} \\ 0 & 1 & 0 & -\frac{\text{min}_y+\text{max}_y}{2} \\ 0 & 0 & -1 & -\frac{\text{min}_z+\text{max}_z}{2} \\ 0 & 0 & 0 & 1 \end{bmatrix} $$

    This is easily generalized for arbitrary slicing planes. z-axis (self.matrix[(2, 2)]) is flipped because camera looks towards -Z in graphics APIs, though correctness of that depends on use case I guess.

  2. Caellian commented on Nov 6, 2025

    @Caellian
    Caellian
    on Nov 6, 2025
    Author

    Related to PR #1366.

  3. muzammil35 commented on Nov 27, 2025

    @muzammil35
    muzammil35
    on Nov 27, 2025

    Can I give this issue a try?

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