CODEWITHSUNDEEP
mathangleradiansatan2
Qqwy
Qqwy

Reputation: 5629

How to use atan2() in combination with other Radian angle systems

I am struggling with this in JavaScript, but this problem applies to many other languages/environments as well.

I want to have one object rotating towards the position of another object, and I use:

atan2(obj1.dy, obj1.dx) - obj2.getRotation()

to check if the second object should rotate clockwise or counterclockwise at a given time.

In KineticJS, the JS/HTML5/Canvas programming environment I am using, the angle is specified in radians from 0 to 2 pi starting at the positive Y axis and going clockwise. This behaviour is seen in many other programming environments as well.

However, when calculating the angle of movement from the second object with the Math.atan2(y,x) function, the angle is specified from -pi to pi, starting at the positive X axis, going counterclockwise.

To clarify:

Difference between normal radians and atan2()

The question:

How can I calculate an angle in normal radians from the result of the atan2() function?

Upvotes: 6

Views: 5104

Answers (5)

Ербұлан Алшыбаев
Ербұлан Алшыбаев

Reputation: 1

float getAngle(float x, float y)
{
    float TAU=PI*2;
    return (atan2(x,y)+TAU)%TAU;
}

Upvotes: 0

dzanis
dzanis

Reputation: 519

Just use the condition

 var radians = Math.atan2(e.y - cy, e.x - cx);
 if(radians < 0 ) {radians += 2*Math.PI;}


var canvas = document.getElementById('canvas');
var ctx = canvas.getContext("2d");
canvas.onmousedown = function(e){
var rect = canvas.getBoundingClientRect();
var cx = rect.left + rect.width / 2, cy = rect.top + rect.height / 2;
var radians = Math.atan2(e.y - cy, e.x - cx);
if(radians < 0 ) {radians += 2*Math.PI;}
ctx.moveTo(cx,cy);
ctx.lineTo(cx + 100 * Math.cos(radians), cy + 100* Math.sin(radians));
ctx.stroke();
};
<canvas id="canvas" width="200px" height="200px" style="background-color: gold;"></canvas>

Upvotes: 0

Lajos Arpad
Lajos Arpad

Reputation: 76508

If your result is between 0 and Pi, then the result is pretty straight-forward. If your result is between -Pi and 0, then add 2*Pi to your result, this way you will have your result in the interval of 0, 2*Pi.

Of course, it would be nice if you would implement a separate function for this type of conversion, to not duplicate your code every now and then.

Upvotes: 1

dmuir
dmuir

Reputation: 4431

If you want the angle to increase clockwise from 0 on the y axis, calculate the angle as atan2(x,y). This however give negative angles for x<0, so you should add 2*pi in this case.

Upvotes: 2

Paul R
Paul R

Reputation: 212969

The values are the same in both cases, modulo 2*PI, and with an adjustment for the different sign and offset convention. Pseudo-code:

theta = 0.5*M_PI - atan2(y, x); // adjust for required sign/offset
theta = fmod(theta, 2.0*M_PI);  // make result modulo 2*PI

Upvotes: 3

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