Emulating gluLookAt with glm::Quat(ernions) - c++

Question

I've been trying to emulate gluLookAt functionality, but with Quaternions. Each of my game object have a TranslationComponent. This component stores the object's position (glm::vec3), rotation (glm::quat) and scale (glm::vec3). The camera calculates its position each tick doing the following:
// UP = glm::vec3(0,1,0);
//FORWARD = glm::vec3(0,0,1);
cameraPosition = playerPosition - (UP * distanceUP) - (FORWARD * distanceAway);
This position code works as expexted, the camera is place 3 metres behind the player and 1 metre up. Now, the camera's Quaternion is set to the follow:
//Looking at the player's feet
cameraRotation = quatFromToRotation(FORWARD, playerPosition);
The rendering engine now takes these values and generates the ViewMatrix (camera) and the ModelMatrix (player) and then renders the scene. The code looks like this:
glm::mat4 viewTranslationMatrix =
glm::translate(glm::mat4(1.0f), cameraTransform->getPosition());
glm::mat4 viewScaleMatrix =
glm::scale(glm::mat4(1.0f), cameraTransform->getScale());
glm::mat4 viewRotationMatrix =
glm::mat4_cast(cameraTransform->getRotation());
viewMatrix = viewTranslationMatrix * viewRotationMatrix * viewScaleMatrix;
quatFromToRotation(glm::vec3 from, glm::vec3 to) is defined as the following:
glm::quat quatFromToRotation(glm::vec3 from, glm::vec3 to)
{
from = glm::normalize(from); to = glm::normalize(to);
float cosTheta = glm::dot(from, to);
glm::vec3 rotationAxis;
if (cosTheta < -1 + 0.001f)
{
rotationAxis = glm::cross(glm::vec3(0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f), from);
if (glm::length2(rotationAxis) < 0.01f)
rotationAxis = glm::cross(glm::vec3(1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f), from);
rotationAxis = glm::normalize(rotationAxis);
return glm::angleAxis(180.0f, rotationAxis);
}
rotationAxis = glm::cross(from, to);
float s = sqrt((1.0f + cosTheta) * 2.0f);
float invis = 1.0f / s;
return glm::quat(
s * 0.5f,
rotationAxis.x * invis,
rotationAxis.y * invis,
rotationAxis.z * invis
);
}
What I'm having troubles with is the fact the cameraRotation isn't being set correctly. No matter where the player is, the camera's forward is always (0,0,-1)

Answer 1

Your problem is in the line
//Looking at the player's feet
cameraRotation = quatToFromRotation(FORWARD, playerPosition);
You need to look from the camera position to the player's feet - not from "one meter above the player" (assuming the player is at (0,0,0) when you initially do this). Replace FORWARD with cameraPosition:
cameraRotation = quatToFromRotation(cameraPosition, playerPosition);
EDIT I believe you have an error in your quatToFromRotation function as well. See https://stackoverflow.com/a/11741520/1967396 for a very nice explanation (and some pseudo code) of quaternion rotation.