Thread: Projecting/transforming 3d cartesian coordinates to a 2d plane?

Hi

I have a 3-d software package that can spit out x, y, z coordinates to a csv file. At the moment in order to get a drawing out I put all the objects as close to the x z plane as possible and simply delete the y values. What I want to be able to do is define a plane for a drawing and project/transform the 3-d values to 2-d values on that plane?

I'm guessing this must be how a graphics card renders its images and so there must be text book answer but I can't find it! Can any one shed any light?

Ian

I was actually employed to work on this exact problem over ten years ago: before such 3D packages etc. were commercially available.
I'm afraid I cant tell you the equations- it was too long ago. And yes, it sounds like it should be text book but it wasn't when I worked on it.
Sorry I'm not much help- all I suggest is that you look up Affine Transformations.
The projective equations are actually quite simple, but rendering of the graphics is more of an art form.