Surface32.find_limbs

giant.ray_tracer.shapes.surface:

Surface32.find_limbs(self, scan_center_dir, scan_dirs, observer_position=None)

This method determines the limb points for a surface (visible edge of the surface) that would be visible for an observer located at observer_position looking toward scan_center_dir along the directions given by scan_dirs.

Typically it is assumed that the location of the observer is at the origin of the current frame and therefore observer_position can be left as None.

This method operates iteratively, as described by find_limbs_surface(). To have more control over the accuracy of the limb points you should use the find_limbs_surface() function directly.

The returned limbs are expressed as vectors from the observer to the limb point in the current frame as a 3xn numpy array.

Parameters
  • scan_center_dir (ARRAY_LIKE) – the unit vector which the scan is to begin at in the current frame as a length 3 array A ray cast along this unit vector from the observer_position should be guaranteed to strike the surface and ideally should be towards the center of figure of the surface

  • scan_dirs (ARRAY_LIKE) – the unit vectors along with the scan is to proceed as a 3xn array in the current frame where each column represents a new limb point we wish to find (should be nearly orthogonal to the scan_center_dir in most cases).

  • observer_position (Optional[ARRAY_LIKE]) – The location of the observer in the current frame. If None then it is assumed the observer is at the origin of the current frame

Returns

the vectors from the observer to the limbs in the current frame as a 3xn array

Return type

numpy.ndarray