Normalize both of the new vectors:
\$vec = unit(\$vec);
\$dir = unit(\$dir);
Next, the dot product will be used.
7.2.13 The dot Command
The dot command returns a scalar value that is the product of two
vectors. This is a verbatim definition, so I will quickly demonstrate
the actual math that takes place to calculate a scalar value.
Multiply each component of each vector to one another, and add
the products together:
print ((\$vec.x * \$dir.x) + (\$vec.y * \$dir.y) + (\$vec.z * \$dir.z));
-0.884532
The dot command performs the exact same function, with less
work:
dot(\$vec, \$dir);
// Result: -0.884532 //
Now that I have covered exactly what the dot command does, let’s
tion that looks as follows:
return \$vec-2*dot(\$vec, \$dir) * \$dir;
To demonstrate this final step in the procedure, take the formula
above and store it into a vector variable called
\$return:
vector \$return = \$vec - 2 * dot(\$vec,\$dir) * \$dir;
// Result: <<0.398039, 0.884532, 0.243246>> //
The next step is not part of the current procedure, and occurs later
in the tree() procedure. Not to confuse you, but I do not want to end
this demonstration without letting you see a final result. Add the
two vectors in
\$return and \$base together:
vector \$end = \$return + \$base;
// Result: <<1.398039, 1.884532, 1.243246>> //
Chapter 7
412
Now create another curve using the new vector values:
curve
-degree 1
-point (\$base.x) (\$base.y) (\$base.z)
-point (\$end.x) (\$end.y) (\$end.z);
A shorter branch is positioned, reflecting the direction of the origi-
nal branch.
The final procedure returns a vector and takes two vectors as
arguments:
proc vector reflect(vector \$vec, vector \$dir)
{
// Create a normalized vector from the
// first argument passed from tree()
\$vec = unit(\$vec);
// Create a normalized vector from the
// second argument passed from tree()
\$dir = unit(\$dir);
Recursion
413
Chapter 7
Figure 7-36

Get Professional MEL Solutions for Production now with O’Reilly online learning.

O’Reilly members experience live online training, plus books, videos, and digital content from 200+ publishers.
{"found_math": false, "script_math_tex": 0, "script_math_asciimath": 0, "math_annotations": 0, "math_alttext": 0, "mathml": 0, "mathjax_tag": 0, "mathjax_inline_tex": 0, "mathjax_display_tex": 0, "mathjax_asciimath": 0, "img_math": 0, "codecogs_latex": 0, "wp_latex": 0, "mimetex.cgi": 0, "/images/math/codecogs": 0, "mathtex.cgi": 0, "katex": 0, "math-container": 0, "wp-katex-eq": 0, "align": 0, "equation": 0, "x-ck12": 0, "texerror": 0}