html5-canvas Transformations A Transformation Matrix to track translated, rotated & scaled shape(s)

Example

Canvas allows you to context.translate, context.rotate and context.scale in order to draw your shape in the position & size you require.

Canvas itself uses a transformation matrix to efficiently track transformations.

• You can change Canvas's matrix with context.transform
• You can change Canvas's matrix with individual translate, rotate & scale commands
• You can completely overwrite Canvas's matrix with context.setTransform,
• But you can't read Canvas's internal transformation matrix -- it's write-only.

Why use a transformation matrix?

A transformation matrix allows you to aggregate many individual translations, rotations & scalings into a single, easily reapplied matrix.

During complex animations you might apply dozens (or hundreds) of transformations to a shape. By using a transformation matrix you can (almost) instantly reapply those dozens of transformations with a single line of code.

Some Example uses:

• Test if the mouse is inside a shape that you have translated, rotated & scaled

  There is a built-in context.isPointInPath that tests if a point (eg the mouse) is inside a path-shape, but this built-in test is very slow compared to testing using a matrix.

  Efficiently testing if the mouse is inside a shape involves taking the mouse position reported by the browser and transforming it in the same way that the shape was transformed. Then you can apply hit-testing as if the shape was not transformed.

• Redraw a shape that has been extensively translated, rotated & scaled.

  Instead of reapplying individual transformations with multiple .translate, .rotate, .scale you can apply all the aggregated transformations in a single line of code.

• Collision test shapes that have been translated, rotated & scaled

  You can use geometry & trigonometry to calculate the points that make up transformed shapes, but it's faster to use a transformation matrix to calculate those points.

A Transformation Matrix "Class"

This code mirrors the native context.translate, context.rotate, context.scale transformation commands. Unlike the native canvas matrix, this matrix is readable and reusable.

Methods:

• translate, rotate, scale mirror the context transformation commands and allow you to feed transformations into the matrix. The matrix efficiently holds the aggregated transformations.

• setContextTransform takes a context and sets that context's matrix equal to this transformation matrix. This efficiently reapplies all transformations stored in this matrix to the context.

• resetContextTransform resets the context's transformation to it's default state (==untransformed).

• getTransformedPoint takes an untransformed coordinate point and converts it into a transformed point.

• getScreenPoint takes a transformed coordinate point and converts it into an untransformed point.

• getMatrix returns the aggregated transformations in the form of a matrix array.

Code:

var TransformationMatrix=( function(){
    // private
    var self;
    var m=[1,0,0,1,0,0];
    var reset=function(){ var m=[1,0,0,1,0,0]; }
    var multiply=function(mat){
        var m0=m[0]*mat[0]+m[2]*mat[1];
        var m1=m[1]*mat[0]+m[3]*mat[1];
        var m2=m[0]*mat[2]+m[2]*mat[3];
        var m3=m[1]*mat[2]+m[3]*mat[3];
        var m4=m[0]*mat[4]+m[2]*mat[5]+m[4];
        var m5=m[1]*mat[4]+m[3]*mat[5]+m[5];
        m=[m0,m1,m2,m3,m4,m5];
    }
    var screenPoint=function(transformedX,transformedY){
        // invert
        var d =1/(m[0]*m[3]-m[1]*m[2]);
        im=[ m[3]*d, -m[1]*d, -m[2]*d, m[0]*d, d*(m[2]*m[5]-m[3]*m[4]), d*(m[1]*m[4]-m[0]*m[5]) ];
        // point
        return({
            x:transformedX*im[0]+transformedY*im[2]+im[4],
            y:transformedX*im[1]+transformedY*im[3]+im[5]
        });
    }
    var transformedPoint=function(screenX,screenY){
        return({
            x:screenX*m[0] + screenY*m[2] + m[4],
            y:screenX*m[1] + screenY*m[3] + m[5]
        });    
    }
    // public
    function TransformationMatrix(){
        self=this;
    }
    // shared methods
    TransformationMatrix.prototype.translate=function(x,y){
        var mat=[ 1, 0, 0, 1, x, y ];
        multiply(mat);
    };
    TransformationMatrix.prototype.rotate=function(rAngle){
        var c = Math.cos(rAngle);
        var s = Math.sin(rAngle);
        var mat=[ c, s, -s, c, 0, 0 ];    
        multiply(mat);
    };
    TransformationMatrix.prototype.scale=function(x,y){
        var mat=[ x, 0, 0, y, 0, 0 ];        
        multiply(mat);
    };
    TransformationMatrix.prototype.skew=function(radianX,radianY){
        var mat=[ 1, Math.tan(radianY), Math.tan(radianX), 1, 0, 0 ];
        multiply(mat);
    };
    TransformationMatrix.prototype.reset=function(){
        reset();
    }
    TransformationMatrix.prototype.setContextTransform=function(ctx){
        ctx.setTransform(m[0],m[1],m[2],m[3],m[4],m[5]);
    }
    TransformationMatrix.prototype.resetContextTransform=function(ctx){
        ctx.setTransform(1,0,0,1,0,0);
    }
    TransformationMatrix.prototype.getTransformedPoint=function(screenX,screenY){
        return(transformedPoint(screenX,screenY));
    }
    TransformationMatrix.prototype.getScreenPoint=function(transformedX,transformedY){
        return(screenPoint(transformedX,transformedY));
    }
    TransformationMatrix.prototype.getMatrix=function(){
        var clone=[m[0],m[1],m[2],m[3],m[4],m[5]];
        return(clone);
    }
    // return public
    return(TransformationMatrix);
})();

Demo:

This demo uses the Transformation Matrix "Class" above to:

• Track (==save) a rectangle's transformation matrix.

• Redraw the transformed rectangle without using context transformation commands.

• Test if the mouse has clicked inside the transformed rectangle.

Code:

<!doctype html>
<html>
<head>
<style>
    body{ background-color:white; }
    #canvas{border:1px solid red; }
</style>
<script>
window.onload=(function(){

    var canvas=document.getElementById("canvas");
    var ctx=canvas.getContext("2d");
    var cw=canvas.width;
    var ch=canvas.height;
    function reOffset(){
        var BB=canvas.getBoundingClientRect();
        offsetX=BB.left;
        offsetY=BB.top;        
    }
    var offsetX,offsetY;
    reOffset();
    window.onscroll=function(e){ reOffset(); }
    window.onresize=function(e){ reOffset(); }

    // Transformation Matrix "Class"
    
    var TransformationMatrix=( function(){
        // private
        var self;
        var m=[1,0,0,1,0,0];
        var reset=function(){ var m=[1,0,0,1,0,0]; }
        var multiply=function(mat){
            var m0=m[0]*mat[0]+m[2]*mat[1];
            var m1=m[1]*mat[0]+m[3]*mat[1];
            var m2=m[0]*mat[2]+m[2]*mat[3];
            var m3=m[1]*mat[2]+m[3]*mat[3];
            var m4=m[0]*mat[4]+m[2]*mat[5]+m[4];
            var m5=m[1]*mat[4]+m[3]*mat[5]+m[5];
            m=[m0,m1,m2,m3,m4,m5];
        }
        var screenPoint=function(transformedX,transformedY){
            // invert
            var d =1/(m[0]*m[3]-m[1]*m[2]);
            im=[ m[3]*d, -m[1]*d, -m[2]*d, m[0]*d, d*(m[2]*m[5]-m[3]*m[4]), d*(m[1]*m[4]-m[0]*m[5]) ];
            // point
            return({
                x:transformedX*im[0]+transformedY*im[2]+im[4],
                y:transformedX*im[1]+transformedY*im[3]+im[5]
            });
        }
        var transformedPoint=function(screenX,screenY){
            return({
                x:screenX*m[0] + screenY*m[2] + m[4],
                y:screenX*m[1] + screenY*m[3] + m[5]
            });    
        }
        // public
        function TransformationMatrix(){
            self=this;
        }
        // shared methods
        TransformationMatrix.prototype.translate=function(x,y){
            var mat=[ 1, 0, 0, 1, x, y ];
            multiply(mat);
        };
        TransformationMatrix.prototype.rotate=function(rAngle){
            var c = Math.cos(rAngle);
            var s = Math.sin(rAngle);
            var mat=[ c, s, -s, c, 0, 0 ];    
            multiply(mat);
        };
        TransformationMatrix.prototype.scale=function(x,y){
            var mat=[ x, 0, 0, y, 0, 0 ];        
            multiply(mat);
        };
        TransformationMatrix.prototype.skew=function(radianX,radianY){
            var mat=[ 1, Math.tan(radianY), Math.tan(radianX), 1, 0, 0 ];
            multiply(mat);
        };
        TransformationMatrix.prototype.reset=function(){
            reset();
        }
        TransformationMatrix.prototype.setContextTransform=function(ctx){
            ctx.setTransform(m[0],m[1],m[2],m[3],m[4],m[5]);
        }
        TransformationMatrix.prototype.resetContextTransform=function(ctx){
            ctx.setTransform(1,0,0,1,0,0);
        }
        TransformationMatrix.prototype.getTransformedPoint=function(screenX,screenY){
            return(transformedPoint(screenX,screenY));
        }
        TransformationMatrix.prototype.getScreenPoint=function(transformedX,transformedY){
            return(screenPoint(transformedX,transformedY));
        }
        TransformationMatrix.prototype.getMatrix=function(){
            var clone=[m[0],m[1],m[2],m[3],m[4],m[5]];
            return(clone);
        }
        // return public
        return(TransformationMatrix);
    })();

    // DEMO starts here

    // create a rect and add a transformation matrix
    // to track it's translations, rotations & scalings
    var rect={x:30,y:30,w:50,h:35,matrix:new TransformationMatrix()};

    // draw the untransformed rect in black
    ctx.strokeRect(rect.x, rect.y, rect.w, rect.h);
    // Demo: label
    ctx.font='11px arial';
    ctx.fillText('Untransformed Rect',rect.x,rect.y-10);

    // transform the canvas & draw the transformed rect in red
    ctx.translate(100,0);
    ctx.scale(2,2);
    ctx.rotate(Math.PI/12);
    // draw the transformed rect
    ctx.strokeStyle='red';
    ctx.strokeRect(rect.x, rect.y, rect.w, rect.h);
    ctx.font='6px arial';
    // Demo: label
    ctx.fillText('Same Rect: Translated, rotated & scaled',rect.x,rect.y-6);
    // reset the context to untransformed state
    ctx.setTransform(1,0,0,1,0,0);

    // record the transformations in the matrix
    var m=rect.matrix;
    m.translate(100,0);
    m.scale(2,2);
    m.rotate(Math.PI/12);

    // use the rect's saved transformation matrix to reposition, 
    //     resize & redraw the rect
    ctx.strokeStyle='blue';
    drawTransformedRect(rect);

    // Demo: instructions
    ctx.font='14px arial';
    ctx.fillText('Demo: click inside the blue rect',30,200);

    // redraw a rect based on it's saved transformation matrix
    function drawTransformedRect(r){
        // set the context transformation matrix using the rect's saved matrix
        m.setContextTransform(ctx);
        // draw the rect (no position or size changes needed!)
        ctx.strokeRect( r.x, r.y, r.w, r.h );
        // reset the context transformation to default (==untransformed);
        m.resetContextTransform(ctx);
    }

    // is the point in the transformed rectangle?
    function isPointInTransformedRect(r,transformedX,transformedY){
        var p=r.matrix.getScreenPoint(transformedX,transformedY);
        var x=p.x;
        var y=p.y;
        return(x>r.x && x<r.x+r.w && y>r.y && y<r.y+r.h);
    } 

    // listen for mousedown events
    canvas.onmousedown=handleMouseDown;
    function handleMouseDown(e){
        // tell the browser we're handling this event
        e.preventDefault();
        e.stopPropagation();
        // get mouse position
        mouseX=parseInt(e.clientX-offsetX);
        mouseY=parseInt(e.clientY-offsetY);
        // is the mouse inside the transformed rect?
        if(isPointInTransformedRect(rect,mouseX,mouseY)){
            alert('You clicked in the transformed Rect');
        }
    }

    // Demo: redraw transformed rect without using
    //       context transformation commands
    function drawTransformedRect(r,color){
        var m=r.matrix;
        var tl=m.getTransformedPoint(r.x,r.y);
        var tr=m.getTransformedPoint(r.x+r.w,r.y);
        var br=m.getTransformedPoint(r.x+r.w,r.y+r.h);
        var bl=m.getTransformedPoint(r.x,r.y+r.h);
        ctx.beginPath();
        ctx.moveTo(tl.x,tl.y);
        ctx.lineTo(tr.x,tr.y);
        ctx.lineTo(br.x,br.y);
        ctx.lineTo(bl.x,bl.y);
        ctx.closePath();
        ctx.strokeStyle=color;
        ctx.stroke();
    }

}); // end window.onload
</script>
</head>
<body>
    <canvas id="canvas" width=512 height=250></canvas>
</body>
</html>