Transformation.x/y/zaxis and transformation.axes

oajfh

Silly question, but...

Why do the transformation.xaxis,transformation.yaxis and transformation.zaxis methods return points, whereas the transformation.axes asks for vectors as input ?

To be honest, I don't see any instance where I would use an axis as a point rather than a vector. That might just be me. But the fact that I have to convert points back into vectors afterwards does seem counter-intuitive to me.

(it's not something that's bothering me, I'm just curious as to why things are so)

slbaumgartner

Error in the Ruby API documentation. They return Vector3d objects. If t is a Transformation, try t.xaxis.class

oajfh

Is that so ?

I'll have to check some of the code I wrote then, because I made the conversions and it worked as I expected to. Perhaps there's an implicit point to vector conversion or vice-versa, but in that case the API makes no mention of it.

Dan Rathbun

@oajfh said:

Perhaps there's an implicit point to vector conversion or vice-versa, but in that case the API makes no mention of it.

In mathematics, both are represented as arrays.

@unknownuser said:

** class](http://www.sketchup.com/intl/en/developer/docs/ourdoc/array.php)":1hykbm7x]

Introduction

The SketchUp Array class adds additional methods to the standard Ruby Array class. Specifically, it contains methods allowing an array to behave just as a Vector3d or Point3d object (which can be thought of as arrays of 3 coordinate values.) Therefore, you can use the Array class in place of a Point3d or Vector3d as a way to pass coordinate values.

The opposite is also often true, as well.

The API docs need updating in regard to allowable parameter types.

P.S. - The docs are misleading when it says "The SketchUp Array class ..."
There is only one Array class. The SketchUp API just modifies the Ruby Array base class.