Projective Geometry

May 18, 2016

3D Lines

Figure 1 shows the definition with Pl

ucker coordinates of a line L given a direction vector ~e and the moment vector m.
~
 
~e
L=
(1)
m
~

Figure 1 Pl
ucker coordinates for a line include the direction vector ~e and the
moment vector m.
~ The moment vector describes the tangential velocity on a
spinning disk at a distance ~r from the line, with unit rotational velocity.

Typically the line is defined as having a direction ~e and passing through a point
P located at ~rP as


~e
L=
(2)
~rP ~e
since ~rP = -~r and m
~ = ~e ~r = -~r ~e = ~rP ~e

3D Points and Planes

Figure 2 shows the definition points, planes using the position vector ~rp = d ~n,
with ~n the normal vector and d the distance from the origin. This nomenclature
1

Projective Geometry - Homogeneous Coordinates

John Alexiou - jalexiou@hotmail.com

is inspired by the Hesse Normal Form. In homogeneous coordinates, a point P

and a plane W are defined as
 
 
~r
~n
P = P
W =
(3)
1
-d
The minus sign in the plane definition is due to the fact the the normal plane is
facing away from the origin. A major feature of Homogeneous coordinates, as
well as Pl
ucker coordinates is that when multiplied by any non-zero scalar, they
still describe the same point, plane or line. Sometimes, in the following pages
you will see the equals sign = being used in expressions when numerically the
elements are all scaled
by
but the resulting definition is identical.

 some
 quantity,

For example P = ~r 1 = ~r .

Figure 2 Point and Plane representation in homogeneous coordinates.

The order of scalar and vector quantities in the point and plane definitions are
chosen such that the dot product between them returns zero when the point is
coincident to the plane
   
d ~n
~n
P W =

= d (~n ~n) d = 0
(4)
1
d
Consider the general (non coincident) case with ~rP 6= d ~n then the dot product
is
   
~r
~n
P W = P
= ~n ~rP d
(5)
1
d
which is the distance of the point to the plane along the normal direction.
The definitions described in the pages that follow are all derived from vector
points, vector normal directions, and scalar distances. The next section shows
how to extract these quantities from existing geometry constructs, and then how
to compose the geometry constructs in homogeneous coordinates from those
quantities.

Projective Geometry - Homogeneous Coordinates

John Alexiou - jalexiou@hotmail.com

Vector Components of Points, Planes and Lines

The table below shows how given the componets of points, planes and lines,
important vectors and distances are extracted using some basic vector algebra.
These are established from the reverse of the the point, plane and line constructs
from vectors seen it table 2
Components

Direction

Normal

Points

 
p~
P =

~e = null(~
p)

~n =

p~
|~
p|

d=

|~
p|

Planes

 
w
~
W =


~e = null(w)
~

~n =

w
~
|w|
~

d=-


|w|
~

Lines

 
f~
L=
m
~

f~
~e =  
f~

f~ m
~
 
~n =
 ~
|m|
~ f 

Distance

 
 
|m|
~ f~
d =    
f~ f~

Position
~r =

~r = -

p~

w
~
|w|
~ |w|
~

f~ m
~
~r =    
f~ f~

Table 1 Definitions for points, planes and lines in homogeneous coordinates.

For points the direction points away from the origin, and distance is the distannce between the point and the origin. For planes the direction is normal to
the plane, and distance is the closest separation from the origin. When negative
the plane is pointing towards the origin, and when positive it is pointing away
from the origin. For lines the direction is along the line, and distance is the
closest separation from
the
~ and f~ are orthogonal to each other

 origin. Since m




by definition then m
~ f~ = |m|
~ f~.
A necessary condition for line coordinates is that m
~ f~ = 0.. When this condition
is lifted then the definition is for a screw instead of a line, with the extra
coordinate describing the screw pitch (distance per revolution).

Projective Geometry - Homogeneous Coordinates

John Alexiou - jalexiou@hotmail.com

Point, Plane and Lines Constructs from Vector Components

To construct points, planes and lines from vectors use the following rules
Construct

Coordinates

Coordinates


Points

 
~r
P =
1


d ~n
P =
1

- w
~
P =
w
~ w
~

point through
position ~r

point along
direction ~n a
distance d from
the origin

Point on
 plane

~ 
W = w
closest to the
origin


Planes

W =

~r
-~r ~r

plane through
position ~r
directed away
from origin

Lines

~e
L=
~r ~e

Line through
position ~r in
direction ~e


W =


~n
~r ~n

Coordinates


#
m
~ f~
P = ~ ~
f f
"

Pointh on line
i
L = f~ m
~
closest to the
origin


W =


~
p
~
p p~

Coordinates


m
~ f~
m
~ m
~


W =

plane through
position ~r with
normal ~n

Plane through
point


P = p~
pointing away
from the origin

Plane through
line
h
i
L = f~ m
~
pointing away
from the origin



~r2 ~r1
L=
~r1 ~r2

 
p~
L= ~
0

 
w
~
L=
0

Line through
two positions ~r1
and ~r2

Line passing
though
 point

P = p~ and
the origin

Line normal to
plane


~ 
W = w
passing through
the origin

Table 2 Point and plane constucts using vector positions and directions, as
well as point, plane and line constructs.

The distance between a point and a plane is easily computed from the dot
product
p~ w
~ +
P W
 
(6)
h =     =
P W
~
w

Projective Geometry - Homogeneous Coordinates

John Alexiou - jalexiou@hotmail.com

Binary Constructs Between Points, Planes and

Lines

To construct points, planes and lines by combining two elements use the following rules
Points

Planes

Lines



f~ w
~ + m
~
P =
-m
~ w
~



-f~ p~ d m
~
W =
m
~ p~



2 p~1 1 p~2
L=
p~2 p~1

h
i
Point where line L = f~ m
~


~  (*)
meets plane W = w

Planehthrough
i line
~
L= f m
~ and


point P = p~ (*)

Line through

points
P1 = p~1 1 and

P2 = p~2 2


1 m
~ f~ + f~ f~ p~1



P =
1 f~ f~
h
i
Point on line L = f~ m
~


closest to point P1 = p~1 1

 
?
W =
?

w
~2 w
~1
L=
2 w
~ 1 1 w
~2

Plane through
h
iline
~
L= f m
~
perpendicular
 to
~ 
plane W = w
(*)

Line through
planes


~ 1 1 and
W1 = w


~ 2 2
W2 = w

Table 3 Point, plane and line binary constructs

Composite Constructs

Additional more complex constuctions are possible by considering perpendicularity and colinearity constraints

Projective Geometry - Homogeneous Coordinates

John Alexiou - jalexiou@hotmail.com

Construct

Coordinates

Plane through line L normal to plane P


w
~2
~
pw
~2
w
~ 1 = f~ p~ m
~
w
~ 2 = f~ w
~1



~  closest to
Point on plane W =
 w
point P1 = p~1 1 (*)



w
~ (w
~ p~1 ) + 1  w
~
P =
1 |w|
~ |w|
~

W =

Table 4 Advanced point, plane and line constructs

Projective Geometry - Homogeneous Coordinates

John Alexiou - jalexiou@hotmail.com

Appendix

Triple product identities

m
~ = ~rP ~e is what is needed and this
is calculated from the following.

The following vector identities are used

for simplifications in this paper

m
~ = ~rP (~n1 ~n2 )

(13)

= (~rP ~n2 ) ~n1 (~rP ~n1 ) ~n2 (14)


 h
i
simplifications occur when it is realized
~a ~b ~c ~a ~b ~c
(7) that ~rP is projected along ~n1 and ~n2 as




such
~a ~b ~c (~a ~c) ~b ~a ~b ~c (8)
~rP n~1 = ~r1 n~1 ~rP n~2 = ~r2 n~1




~a ~b ~c (~a ~c) ~b ~b ~c ~a (9)
(15)
and thus the moment vector becomes
~ = (~r2 ~n2 ) ~n1 (~r1 ~n1 ) ~n2 . Towhere ~a ~b is the outer product ~a ~b> m
>~
~
gether
the line is defined by
and ~a b is the inner product ~a b and


~
~a b is the vector cross-product.
~n1 ~n2
L=
(~r2 ~n2 ) ~n1 (~r1 ~n1 ) ~n2

Line joining two points

Using the vector properties from Table

1 the line is defined in terms of componets as

w
~2
w
~1

~ 1| 
|w
~ 2|


 |w

L=
-2 w
~2
w
~1
-1 w
~1
w
~2
w
~2
w
~1

|w
~ 2 | |w
~ 2 | |w
~ 2 | |w
~ 1|
|w
~ 1 | |w
~ 1 | |w
~ 1 | |w
~ 2|
(16)

w
~2
w
~1

w
~ 1 | |w
~ 2|
(17)
= - |w
-1 w
~2
2 ~1

|w
~ 2 | |w
~ 1 | |w
~ 1 | |w
~ 2|

 

w
~1 w
~2
-w
~1 w
~2
L=
=
1 w
~ 2 2 w
~1
2 w
~ 1 1 w
~2
(18)



Given two points
P1 = p~1 1 and

P2 = p~2 2 with positions ~r1 and
~r2 respectively, the line joining them is
described by the direction vector ~e =
~r2 ~r1 and moment vector m
~ = ~r1 ~e


~r2 ~r1
L=
(10)
~r1 (~r2 ~r1 )

p~1
p~2

1
(11)
= p~2
p~2
1

2
 1

1 p~2 2 p~1
L=
(12)
p~1 p~2

The choice in the end depends on

which is considered the direction of the
line.

Line where two planes meet



w
~ 1 1 and
Given two
planes
W
=
1


~ 2 2 with normal vectors
W2 = w
Point where Line and Plane
~n1 and ~n2 respectibely, and positions
~r1 and ~r2 , the line intersecting the two Meet
h
i
planes is defined by the direction vec~ m
Given
a
line
L
=
with position
f
~
tor ~e = ~n1 ~n2 and the position vec

~ 
tor ~rP . Actually the moment vector ~r1 direction ~e and a plane W = w
7

Projective Geometry - Homogeneous Coordinates

John Alexiou - jalexiou@hotmail.com

with normal ~n2 and distance d2 their Plane where Line and Point
intersection is at a position along the Join
line ~rP = ~r1 +t ~e and through the plane
h
i
d2 = ~rP ~n2 . These two equations Given a line L = f~ m
~ with position
are combined to solve for the distplace- ~r direction ~e and a point P = p~ 
1
ment t
with position ~r2 the plane they define
has normal along ~n = ~e (~r2 ~r1 ) and
d2 = (~r1 + t ~e) ~n2
(19)
passing through ~r2 . The normal is cald2 ~r1 ~n2 = t (~e ~n2 )
(20) culated from the vector properties of
Table 1 as
d2 ~r1 ~n2
!
t=
(21)
~e ~n2
f~
~
p~ f~ m
~n =  

(29)

f~ f~
and thus the point position is
f~




d2 ~r1 ~n2
f~ f~ p~ f~ m
~
~
f
~e
(22)
~rP = ~r1 +


=  
~e ~n2
f~
f~ f~

(~e ~n2 ) ~r1 (~r1 ~n2 ) ~e + d2 ~e
=
(30)
~e ~n2




(23)
f~ f~ f~ p~ f~ f~ m
~

 
~n2 (~r1 ~e) + d2 ~e
=
 
(24)
=
f~ f~ f~
~e ~n2
(31)



 
 
~
~
~
~
~
~
~

f f f p~
f m
~ f f f m
~
  
=
 
f~ f~ f~

Using the vector properties of Table 1

the above is expressed in terms of the
line and plane components


(32)
f~m
~
f~
w
~
 f~

+ |-w|
|w|
~
~ |f~|
f~f~
|f~|
~
f p~ + m
~
~rP =
 
~n =
(33)
f~
w
~



~
f~
|f~| |w|
(25)
The distance of the plane with normal
~ )f~
(f~m
~
w
~


f
~
n to the origin passing through point
~
~
f f
=
(26) ~r is
2
f~ w
~

~
~
~
~

~ 
~ f )f
(f f )m
(m
d = ~r2 ~n
(34)
w
~
 f~
f~f~
(27)
=
p~ f~ p~ + m
~
 
=
(35)
f~ w
~



f~
~
w
~ m
~ f


~rP =
(28)
p~ + (~
~

~
p
~

p m)
~
f m
~

 
=
(36)
 
f~
so the point is defined by


p~ m
~
d =  
~
f 

"
#
w
~ m
~  f~
P =
f~ m
~
8

(37)

Projective Geometry - Homogeneous Coordinates

John Alexiou - jalexiou@hotmail.com

so the plane is defined by

Plane through Line with
  
 

normal vector
~n
f~ p~ + m
~
-f~ p~ specified
m
~
W =
=
=
d
-~
pm
~
p~ m
~
(38)
h
i
Given a line L = f~ m
~ and a diPoint on Plane closes to rection ~n (with ~n f~ = 0), the plane
through the line with normal ~n is
other Point


~ 1 1 with
Given a plane W1 = w
normal vector
 ~n1 and
 position ~r1 and
a pont P2 = p~2 2 with position ~r2

  
  
  
~n f~ f~
f~

 =
(40)
=
m
~
~n f~ m
~

Point on Line closest to

other Point
Point on Line a specified distance from origin

h
i
Given a line L = f~ m
~ with position


~r1 direction ~e and a point P = p~2 2
with position ~r2

h
i
Given a line L = f~ m
~ , the point
P located a distance d from the line
origin is

Line through Point with direction



Given a point P = p~ and a direc"
f~ m
~ +d
tion ~e, the line is
P =


f~ f~
~e
L=
(39)
p~ ~e

  #
 ~ ~
f  f

"  
# 
d f~ f~ f~
=
m
~
f~>
0
(41)