Exploring the relationship between angles and vectors

The angles that are made from intersecting two vectors can best be explored by considering how a game character facing one vector should turn to be facing another. In this section, we will explore how such a game character might turn toward the desired object.

At the end of Chapter 8, Reviewing Our Knowledge of Triangles, you added a mesh loading class to your project and used it to display a teapot in the graphics window. How much did you want to turn this teapot around to get a better look at it? Besides translation, rotation is another primary transformation used in graphics. Rotations require angles; these angles are measured between vectors using the principles we explored in Chapter 8.

For example, let’s consider the case shown in Figure 9.7, in which the game character, Chomper, would like to turn and face the jar of Vegemite. A vector is used to represent the direction Chomper is facing, as well as the direction...