quat

This class represents a quaternion (x, y, z, and w). Quaternions are often used to represent rotations in 3D space.

Constructor: quat(xyz, w) or quat(x, y, z, w)

Use this constructor to create new quat instances.

-- Create a quaternion with the same x, y, z values and w = 1
local myQuat = quat(1, 1)

-- Create a quaternion with individual x, y, z, w values
local myQuat2 = quat(0.5, 0.2, 0.8, 1.0)

Properties

quat has four properties: x, y, z, and w.

Example:

local myQuat = quat(0.5, 0.2, 0.8, 1.0)
print(myQuat.x) -- Prints 0.5
print(myQuat.y) -- Prints 0.2
print(myQuat.z) -- Prints 0.8
print(myQuat.w) -- Prints 1.0

Instance Methods

quat:normalize

quat:normalize(): quat

Returns a normalized version of the quaternion (unit quaternion).

Returns: quat - A new normalized quaternion

Example:

local myQuat = quat(1, 2, 3, 4)
local normalizedQuat = myQuat:normalize()
print("Normalized: " .. tostring(normalizedQuat))

Multiplication Operations

quat supports multiplication operations with other quaternions and vectors:

Quaternion Multiplication

local quat1 = quat(1, 0, 0, 1)
local quat2 = quat(0, 1, 0, 1)
local result = quat1 * quat2 -- Combines the rotations

Multiplication by vec3

local myQuat = quat(0, 0, 0, 1) -- Identity quaternion
local myVec = vec3(1, 0, 0)
local rotatedVec = myQuat * myVec -- Applies rotation to vector

Multiplication by vec4

local myQuat = quat(0, 0, 0, 1) -- Identity quaternion
local myVec4 = vec4(1, 0, 0, 1)
local rotatedVec4 = myQuat * myVec4 -- Applies rotation to vec4