How to convert Euler angles to directional vector?

Question

So I have a pitch, roll, and yaw angles... I want to convert these to a directional vector.

Bonus points if you can give me a quaternion and/or matrix representation of this!

Thanks!

Answer 1

I'd probably end up control-c'ing most of this wiki entry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euler%5Fangles

Answer 2

You need to be clear about your definitions here - in particular, what is the vector you want? If it's the direction an aircraft is pointing, the roll doesn't even affect it, and you're just using spherical coordinates (probably with axes/angles permuted).

If on the other hand you want to take a given vector and transform it by these angles, you're looking for a rotation matrix. The wiki article on rotation matrices contains a formula for a yaw-pitch-roll rotation, based on the xyz rotation matrices. I'm not going to attempt to enter it here, given the greek letters and matrices involved.

Answer 3

Unfortunately there are different conventions on how to define these things (and roll, pitch, yaw are not quite the same as Euler angles), so you'll have to be careful.

If we define pitch=0 as horizontal (z=0) and yaw as counter-clockwise from the x axis, then the direction vector will be

x = cos(yaw)*cos(pitch)
y = sin(yaw)*cos(pitch)
z = sin(pitch)

Note that I haven't used roll; this is direction unit vector, it doesn't specify attitude. It's easy enough to write a rotation matrix that will carry things into the frame of the flying object (if you want to know, say, where the left wing-tip is pointing), but it's really a good idea to specify the conventions first. Can you tell us more about the problem?

Answer 4

There are six different ways to convert three Euler Angles into a Matrix depending on the Order that they are applied:

typedef float Matrix[3][3];
struct EulerAngle { float X,Y,Z; };

// Euler Order enum.
enum EEulerOrder
{
    ORDER_XYZ,
    ORDER_YZX,
    ORDER_ZXY,
    ORDER_ZYX,
    ORDER_YXZ,
    ORDER_XZY
};


Matrix EulerAnglesToMatrix(const EulerAngle &inEulerAngle,EEulerOrder EulerOrder)
{
    // Convert Euler Angles passed in a vector of Radians
    // into a rotation matrix.  The individual Euler Angles are
    // processed in the order requested.
    Matrix Mx;

    const FLOAT    Sx    = sinf(inEulerAngle.X);
    const FLOAT    Sy    = sinf(inEulerAngle.Y);
    const FLOAT    Sz    = sinf(inEulerAngle.Z);
    const FLOAT    Cx    = cosf(inEulerAngle.X);
    const FLOAT    Cy    = cosf(inEulerAngle.Y);
    const FLOAT    Cz    = cosf(inEulerAngle.Z);

    switch(EulerOrder)
    {
    case ORDER_XYZ:
        Mx.M[0][0]=Cy*Cz;
        Mx.M[0][1]=-Cy*Sz;
        Mx.M[0][2]=Sy;
        Mx.M[1][0]=Cz*Sx*Sy+Cx*Sz;
        Mx.M[1][1]=Cx*Cz-Sx*Sy*Sz;
        Mx.M[1][2]=-Cy*Sx;
        Mx.M[2][0]=-Cx*Cz*Sy+Sx*Sz;
        Mx.M[2][1]=Cz*Sx+Cx*Sy*Sz;
        Mx.M[2][2]=Cx*Cy;
        break;

    case ORDER_YZX:
        Mx.M[0][0]=Cy*Cz;
        Mx.M[0][1]=Sx*Sy-Cx*Cy*Sz;
        Mx.M[0][2]=Cx*Sy+Cy*Sx*Sz;
        Mx.M[1][0]=Sz;
        Mx.M[1][1]=Cx*Cz;
        Mx.M[1][2]=-Cz*Sx;
        Mx.M[2][0]=-Cz*Sy;
        Mx.M[2][1]=Cy*Sx+Cx*Sy*Sz;
        Mx.M[2][2]=Cx*Cy-Sx*Sy*Sz;
        break;

    case ORDER_ZXY:
        Mx.M[0][0]=Cy*Cz-Sx*Sy*Sz;
        Mx.M[0][1]=-Cx*Sz;
        Mx.M[0][2]=Cz*Sy+Cy*Sx*Sz;
        Mx.M[1][0]=Cz*Sx*Sy+Cy*Sz;
        Mx.M[1][1]=Cx*Cz;
        Mx.M[1][2]=-Cy*Cz*Sx+Sy*Sz;
        Mx.M[2][0]=-Cx*Sy;
        Mx.M[2][1]=Sx;
        Mx.M[2][2]=Cx*Cy;
        break;

    case ORDER_ZYX:
        Mx.M[0][0]=Cy*Cz;
        Mx.M[0][1]=Cz*Sx*Sy-Cx*Sz;
        Mx.M[0][2]=Cx*Cz*Sy+Sx*Sz;
        Mx.M[1][0]=Cy*Sz;
        Mx.M[1][1]=Cx*Cz+Sx*Sy*Sz;
        Mx.M[1][2]=-Cz*Sx+Cx*Sy*Sz;
        Mx.M[2][0]=-Sy;
        Mx.M[2][1]=Cy*Sx;
        Mx.M[2][2]=Cx*Cy;
        break;

    case ORDER_YXZ:
        Mx.M[0][0]=Cy*Cz+Sx*Sy*Sz;
        Mx.M[0][1]=Cz*Sx*Sy-Cy*Sz;
        Mx.M[0][2]=Cx*Sy;
        Mx.M[1][0]=Cx*Sz;
        Mx.M[1][1]=Cx*Cz;
        Mx.M[1][2]=-Sx;
        Mx.M[2][0]=-Cz*Sy+Cy*Sx*Sz;
        Mx.M[2][1]=Cy*Cz*Sx+Sy*Sz;
        Mx.M[2][2]=Cx*Cy;
        break;

    case ORDER_XZY:
        Mx.M[0][0]=Cy*Cz;
        Mx.M[0][1]=-Sz;
        Mx.M[0][2]=Cz*Sy;
        Mx.M[1][0]=Sx*Sy+Cx*Cy*Sz;
        Mx.M[1][1]=Cx*Cz;
        Mx.M[1][2]=-Cy*Sx+Cx*Sy*Sz;
        Mx.M[2][0]=-Cx*Sy+Cy*Sx*Sz;
        Mx.M[2][1]=Cz*Sx;
        Mx.M[2][2]=Cx*Cy+Sx*Sy*Sz;
        break;
    }
    return(Mx);
}

FWIW, some CPU's can compute Sin & Cos simultaneously (for example fsincos on x86). If you do this, you can make it a bit faster with three calls rather than 6 to compute the initial sin & cos values.