playmodes

This is my first run into the Max forums, so i hope i can transmit my questions properly... :-)

I'm working on a light and sound show, controlling DMX fixtures like this one: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7A8s6PHLt0

You can watch the simulation of the space in the attached picture

So we also created an array of 16 sound oscillators that we want to position on a 6-speaker array, depending on the distance of the beam to each of the speakers.

As the positioning of the beams is defined by rotation angles of pan and tilt, first thing i thought i had to do is to transform from polar coordinates to cartesian, so i can have the beam line defined in zyx coordinates. This way i can perform the distance calculation from point(speakers) to line(beams) using known formulas (

http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Point-LineDistance3-Dimensional.html),

 and use the result as volume multiplier for each oscillator.

I also found this very useful set of abstractions for performing polar to cartesian, cross product, degrees to radian operations and so on... 

http://www.zacharyseldess.com/z.abstractions.html

I think i managed succesfully some steps of the process (converting from polar to cartesian and applying the formula on 

http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Point-LineDistance3-Dimensional.html...

 but now i get a result which are xyz coordinates.... and don't know how to obtain a "distance" value from that xyz result... any clue?¿?¿

And also... do you know of any abstraction or patch that can help me in solving this? basically, positioning sound sources which are "lines" but not "points".... maybe there is something already done??

I'm working on a light and sound show, controlling DMX fixtures like this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7A8s6PHLt0

As the positioning of the beams is defined by rotation angles of pan and tilt, first thing i thought i had to do is to transform from polar coordinates to cartesian, so i can have the beam line defined in zyx coordinates. This way i can perform the distance calculation from point(speakers) to line(beams) using known formulas (http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Point-LineDistance3-Dimensional.html), and use the result as volume multiplier for each oscillator.  

I also found this very useful set of abstractions for performing polar to cartesian, cross product, degrees to radian operations and so on... http://www.zacharyseldess.com/z.abstractions.html

So, now, here comes the question:
I think i managed succesfully some steps of the process (converting from polar to cartesian and applying the formula on http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Point-LineDistance3-Dimensional.html... but now i get a result which are xyz coordinates.... and don't know how to obtain a "distance" value from that xyz result... any clue?¿?¿

sound-positioning-dmx-light-beams-in-3d-space

In the future, you should consider setting up a stripped-down example patch with sample data.

My first thought: try using three "slider" objects to visualize the 3 axis of movement.

My second thought: What you requested is impossible...You can't get a "distance value" from a single "xyz result". The distance formula requires two points in any dimension (2d, 3d, etc). Meaning, you could find the distance between one "xyz vertex" and another "xyz vertex" using a distance formula. Or, you could find the distance between one "xy vertex" and another "xy vertex" using a distance formula. Or you could find the distance between one "x vertex" and another "x vertex" using a distance formula, and so on. The one-dimensional distance formula for two points is simple subtraction!

Let me know if I'm misunderstanding this problem.

My first thought: try using three "slider" objects to visualize the 3 axis of movement. 

sound-positioning DMX light beams in 3D space