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Lines in Bitbybit

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The Line class in Bitbybit provides tools for working with straight lines and line segments in 3D space.

What is a Line in Bitbybit?

In Bitbybit, a "Line" (specifically, a line segment) is typically defined by two points: a start point and an end point. It's represented as an object: { start: [x, y, z], end: [x, y, z] }

Sometimes, a "segment" might also be represented as a simple array of two points: [[startX, startY, startZ], [endX, endY, endZ]]

The Line class provides methods to work with both these representations and convert between them.

Core Capabilities of the Line Class​

The Line class allows you to define, analyze, and manipulate these line segments. Here's a high-level look at its features. For the exact input parameters (like DTOs) and detailed behavior, please refer to the full Line API documentation or the GitHub source linked above.

1. Creating Lines and Segments​

Defining new lines:

  • From Start and End Points (create()): Create a line object { start, end } by providing its two endpoint coordinates.
  • Segment from Points (createSegment()): Create a segment (an array of two points) from its start and end point coordinates.
  • Lines from a Sequence of Points (linesBetweenPoints()): Given a list of points, create a series of connected line segments (e.g., point A to B, B to C, C to D).
  • Lines from Separate Start/End Point Lists (linesBetweenStartAndEndPoints()): If you have a list of start points and a corresponding list of end points, create a line segment for each pair.

2. Getting Information About Lines​

Accessing properties of a line:

  • Endpoints: Get the start point (getStartPoint()) or end point (getEndPoint()) of a line.
  • Length (length()): Calculate the length of a line segment.
  • Point on Line (getPointOnLine()): Find the coordinates of a point that lies on the line segment at a specific fractional distance (parameter param from 0.0 at the start to 1.0 at the end) between its start and end points.

3. Modifying and Transforming Lines​

Changing existing lines:

  • Reverse (reverse()): Swap the start and end points of a line.
  • Transformations:
    • transformLine(): Apply a 3D transformation (like translation, rotation, scaling) to a single line.
    • transformsForLines(): Apply a unique transformation to each line in a list of lines.

4. Converting Between Line and Segment Formats​

Switching representations:

  • Line to Segment (lineToSegment(), linesToSegments()): Convert a line object (or a list of them) into the segment array format.
  • Segment to Line (segmentToLine(), segmentsToLines()): Convert a segment array (or a list of them) into the line object format.

5. Intersection (Advanced)​

  • Line-Line Intersection (lineLineIntersection()):
    • Determine if two lines (or line segments, if specified) intersect in 3D space.
    • If they do intersect, this method returns the point of intersection.
    • It handles various cases, including parallel, collinear, and skew lines, using a tolerance value.
    • You can specify whether to check for intersection only within the bounds of the line segments or to treat them as infinite lines.