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Topic: Rotating a vector abut a new origin
Replies: 0

 wrdeever Posts: 5 Registered: 11/13/10
Rotating a vector abut a new origin
Posted: Jan 12, 2011 9:33 PM

Even if you don't know LaTeX, you can probably understand my notation.

transform is just a rotation. Let's name the unit direction vectors of
each frame as g_1, g_2, and g_3 and p_1, p_2, and p_3. Then a vector
q_p in the purple frame is rotated to the vector q_g in the green
frame by the rule q_g = R q_p, where R is the rotation matrix whose i-
th column is p_i written as a vector in the green frame, i.e. ,
R_{row,col} = the g_{row} coordinate of p_{col}.

You probably have the rotation expressed as two rotations in sequence.
First rotate by \alpha in the green 1-2 plane (1 towards 2 is a
positive rotation), yielding let's say the yellow frame. Then rotate
\beta in the yellow 2-3 plane (2 towards 3 being positive). If you're
a pilot, think of \alpha as yaw and \beta as pitch.

So we can write a rotation vector R_1 from green to yellow by using
the plane rotation rules (see the CRC tables, p 515 in the 14th ed,
for instance): (x,y) rotated by \theta to (x',y') is
x' = x \cos{\theta} + y \sin{\theta} and y' = y \cos{\theta} - x
\sin{\theta}, which makes R_1

\cos{\alpha} \sin{\alpha} 0

-\sin{\alpha} \cos{\alpha} 0

0 0 1

and an R_2 from yellow to purple by a \beta rotation is

1 0 0

0 \cos{\beta} \sin{\beta}

0 -\sin{\beta} \cos{\beta}

We want to multiply R_1 and R_2 to get R, but which way?
We want green = R purple, so that indicates that we take it in steps

yellow = (R_2^T) purple
green = (R_1^T) yellow = (R_1^T) (R_2^T) purple = (R_2 R_1)^T purple

I'm using the fact that for a rotation matrix, the inverse is
identical to the transpose.

Now to go from green to purple

purple = [ (R_2 R_1)^T]^T green = (R_2 R_1) green

So R = R_2 R_1. I'll leave it to you to multiply the matrices.

From you post, it seems you have the purple origin expressed as a
vector in the green frame, let's call it O. Imagine a red frame with
axes parallel to the green axes, but centered at O.
Now q_r = q_g - O and so finally q_p = R q_r = R (q_g - O).

I notice that I changed my notation a bit as I went along, so I hope