You can add as many vectors as you’d like, and the result will always point from the start to the end if you stack them together. I can change either vector to any set of three numbers and that will always be the case. Check out how the resulting vector C points to the end of vector B. Look what happens if I start vectors A and C at the origin but start Vector B at the end of vector A. So, if we can place these wherever we want, we may as well move them into whatever configuration is most helpful for understanding the result. The sizes and the directions of the arrows are the same regardless of where they are. Even if I move the start points around, vector A plus vector B still equals vector C. In my mesh arrow nodes, all of the start points are currently, but we can change that to whatever we’d like and that does not affect the vector itself. To visualize it, we have to give it some point in space to start from. In math class, you might have learned that a vector has just a size and a direction. The result lies somewhere in between the first two, and I don’t find it immediately intuitive until we do a little trick. Now, I’ll use a vector math node to add the two vectors together and visualize that as vector C. What do you think the resulting arrow will look like when we add the two vectors? I’ll create an arrow for vector A, another arrow for vector B, and then join them together. Here I’ve used Blender’s geometry nodes to create a mesh arrow that starts at some point and shows us the direction and length of any vector. If you can just connect the name of the math operation to the effect that it has on the arrow that represents the vector, you’ll be able to start intuitively using it right away. In the same way, I want you to think about these operations in terms of learning a new tool. I’m sure you had to learn what a bevel and an extrusion was at some point while you were new to 3d modeling, but of course you didn’t have to know the algorithms behind the tools in order to use them - that would be ridiculous. If you feel the same, I don’t want you to think about this in terms of numbers and equations. I did too for a long time, because I just assumed that it was for people who were smarter or more technically inclined. Both the point and the arrow are valid ways of visualizing the vector, but the arrow is going to be much more intuitive to think about.Ī lot of people shy away from using math operations in Blender. You can also think about a vector as an arrow which points from the origin to that point in space. If you chart these three numbers on a 3D graph, you'll get a point in space. In the context of Blender and 3D graphics, we’re usually talking about a set of three numbers - one for each dimension. Let's talk about what vectors are, why they’re so crucial to understanding 3D applications, and how to use the most important vector math operations in a visual and intuitive way that I don’t think you’ll forget.Ī vector is just a set of numbers.
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