Trying to find the relative transformation between to two positions - XNA - math

Question

I have written a simple AR program in XNA and I am now trying to find the relative transformation between my 2 markers.
I have located my markers relative to my camera and have extracted out translation and rotation matrixes for the markers.
What I am trying to do is to find out the relative translation to get to marker 2 from marker 1. For instance if marker 1 and marker 2 were lying on the same Z plane the Z translation component would be 0mm.
The image below is the application working for 2 positions on the same plane:
I assumed that by simply multiplying the matrix of the 2nd marker by the inverse of the 1st marker I can get the translation. However I am getting completely wrong results.
The code I am running is as follows:
posit.EstimatePose(points, out matrix, out trans);
float yaw, pitch, roll;
matrix.ExtractYawPitchRoll(out yaw, out pitch, out roll);
Matrix rotation =
Matrix.CreateFromYawPitchRoll(-yaw, -pitch, roll);
Matrix translation =
Matrix.CreateTranslation(new Vector3(trans.X, trans.Y, -trans.Z));
Matrix complete = rotation * translation;
List<Matrix> all = new List<Matrix>();
all.Add(rotation);
all.Add(translation);
all.Add(complete);
matrixes.Add(all);
}
Matrix res = Matrix.Invert(matrixes[0][2]) * matrixes[1][2];
Vector3 scaleR;
Vector3 translationR;
Quaternion rotationR;
res.Decompose(out scaleR, out rotationR, out translationR);
The result:
TranslationR : {X:-103.4285 Y:-104.1754 Z:104.9243}
I have overlaid 3D axes onto the image as shown above using XNA so I assume the rotation and translation relative to the camera has been worked out correctly.
It seems like I am doing something wrong along the way to calculate the translation. I would definitely not expect the Z to equal 104mm. I was expecting something along the lines of:
{X:0 Y:150 Z:0}

Answer 1

I've done something similar to this before, however it was using 3x3 matrices in a 2D environment (with X,Y Translate, Rotate, Skew). Are the matrices in question 4x4?
Yes you are right, to find the matrix to transform object A with matrix M1 to object B with matrix M2 you can compute M1' * M2 (where M1' is the inverse).
The problem you may be running into is that a Matrix is composed of rotation, translation, scale and other transformations (e.g. skew/perspective). Decomposing the matrix into its component parts often yields a non-deterministic answer. Its like Quadratic equations, there is more than one solution.
Another issue may be that Matrix operations are not commutative and you are simply performing them the wrong way around. If you perform M1' * M2 and M2 * M1' you will get different results.
Please give it a try (switching the matrix order). Also I'd be looking up the matrix decomposition function you used - what value of Rotation & Scaling are you getting at the output? Are your objects rotated or scaled? If not then you should get zero. Note that it is possible to have more than one solution of rotation + translation to get the same end result and the decomposition function doesn't know which it is you are looking for.
To extract just the translation component, you can use the methods form this page:
vt = (M14, M24, M34)T
What do you get when you try that?

Answer 2

What I am trying to do is to find out the relative translation to get
to marker 2 from marker 1.
Vector3 relativeTranslation = Marker2Matrix.Translation - marker1Matrix.Translation;
My answer seems overly simplistic so maybe I'm not grasping your question completely, but it will create a vector that when added to Marker1's location (translation), will get you to Marker 2's location.