Processing

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Class Name

PVector

Description

A class to describe a two or three dimensional vector, specifically a Euclidean (also known as geometric) vector. A vector is an entity that has both magnitude and direction. The datatype, however, stores the components of the vector (x,y for 2D, and x,y,z for 3D). The magnitude and direction can be accessed via the methods mag() and heading().

In many of the Processing examples, you will see PVector used to describe a position, velocity, or acceleration. For example, if you consider a rectangle moving across the screen, at any given instant it has a position (a vector that points from the origin to its location), a velocity (the rate at which the object's position changes per time unit, expressed as a vector), and acceleration (the rate at which the object's velocity changes per time unit, expressed as a vector). Since vectors represent groupings of values, we cannot simply use traditional addition/multiplication/etc. Instead, we'll need to do some "vector" math, which is made easy by the methods inside the PVector class.

Examples

  • PVector v1, v2;

void setup() {
  noLoop();
  v1 = new PVector(40, 20);
  v2 = new PVector(25, 50); 
}

void draw() {
  ellipse(v1.x, v1.y, 12, 12);
  ellipse(v2.x, v2.y, 12, 12);
  v2.add(v1);
  ellipse(v2.x, v2.y, 24, 24);
}

Constructors

  • PVector()
  • PVector(x, y, z)
  • PVector(x, y)

Fields

  • xThe x component of the vector
  • yThe y component of the vector
  • zThe z component of the vector

Parameters

  • x(float)the x coordinate.
  • y(float)the y coordinate.
  • z(float)the z coordinate.

Methods

  • set()Set the components of the vector
  • random2D()Make a new 2D unit vector with a random direction
  • random3D()Make a new 3D unit vector with a random direction
  • fromAngle()Make a new 2D unit vector from an angle
  • copy()Get a copy of the vector
  • mag()Calculate the magnitude of the vector
  • magSq()Calculate the magnitude of the vector, squared
  • add()Adds x, y, and z components to a vector, one vector to another, or two independent vectors
  • sub()Subtract x, y, and z components from a vector, one vector from another, or two independent vectors
  • Ben Fry and Casey Reas. It is developed by a team of contributors around the world.