I haven't used anar myself, so I don't know if this is exactly what you're after, but if you do:

Sounds like what I'm looking for... If you then want that object to move 30 units along its "new" z-axis, would it do that or would it just move vertically (as in with respect to the original coordinate system orientation)?

Also, would those commands be in the same place and added to the same Transform object as the rotations to the box itself?

Thanks for your help!

Hi again,

I just tried it and it doesn't shift the system like I need it to... for example, if I draw a box at the origin, move it 30 along the x axis, and then rotate it by 30 around the y axis, I need it to shift the coordinate system so that it's now xyz- aligned with the orientation of the box...so now the x and z axes are skewed in relation to the original coordinate system by 30 degrees around the y axis.  This then will allow me to move the box along the new x-axis rather than along the default x-axis.

Does that make it any clearer or more confusing?

Well, assuming you changed the rotateZ() call in the code above to a rotateY() it should still work.  Possibly anar defines things differently than processing does?

1. Group g = new Group();
   
   
   void setup(){
         size(800,400,OPENGL);
         Anar.init(this);
         Anar.drawAxis();
   
         Param tr = new Param(30,0,100).addToSlidersMain();
         Param r1 = new Param(1,1,6).addToSlidersMain();
         Param r2 = new Param(0,0,6).addToSlidersMain();
   
         Obj box1 = new Box(10).rotateZ(r1).translateX(tr);
         g.add(box1);
   
         Obj box2 = new Box(10).fill(255,0,0);
         Transform t = new Transform(box1.face(0).pt(1),box1.face(0).pt(0),box1.face(0).pt(2));
         t.rotateX(r2);
         t.postTransform = false;
         box2.apply(t);
   
         g.add(box2);
   }
   
   void draw(){
         background(255);
         g.draw();
   }
   

Thanks so much for all your help!

I'm doing something similar to what gllllll mentioned, but am trying to get the orientation of an object and then setting the new coordinate system to that orientation, as follows

1.     XYZ xyz = object .boundCenter(); //gets the center point of the object
2.     float p = xyz.x();
3.     float q= xyz.y();
   
4.     float r= xyz.z();
5. 
   
6.     Transform tempTform = new Transform(Anar.Pt(xyz),Anar.Pt(xyz),Anar.Pt(xyz));
   
7.     //supposed to have changed the reference point of the coordinate system here
   
8.     //but only does so for the point of the origin, not the orientation of the axes
9. 
   
10.     tempTform.rotateX(radians(float(cmd[1])));
    
11.     rotateX(radians(float(cmd[1])));
    
12.     transforms.add(tempTform);
    
13.     object.apply(tempTform);

Are XYZ points the only way of doing this or can you recommend a better way of getting the orientation and position of an object and then applying it to the coordinate system?  The Anar javadoc isn't exactly complete in this area....

Thanks so much!

1. t.translate(center.minus(ao));
2. t.rotateZ(...);

Thanks!  That helps a lot...but I think might only work for boxes.  I also have spheres and other shapes being drawn and still need to be able to orient the reference frame with this object, so doing the points on the object like how you did with the boxes might not work... is there a way to do the same thing as what you did here

1. Transform t = new Transform(box1.face(0).pt(1),box1.face(0).pt(0),box1.face(0).pt(2));

but with any object (so that it's not box-specific)?

Thanks!

Is there a simpler way of getting the orientation of an object, say if you were to draw a 3D arrow and then rotate and translate it, and apply that orientation as a new reference frame for the axes?