Before this commit, parallel constraints in 3d are fragile:
constraints that are geometrically fine can end up singular anyway
because VectorsParallel() pivots wrong but converges anyway.
After this commit, much like in cc07058, the constraints are written
in a different form: instead of trying to remove two degrees of
freedom out of three, all three are removed, and one added; namely,
the constraint introduces a free parameter, signed length ratio.
Before this commit, pt-on-line constraints are buggy. To reproduce,
extrude a circle, then add a datum point and constrain it to the
axis of the circle, then move it. The cylinder will collapse.
To quote Jonathan:
> On investigation, I (a) confirm that the problem is
> the unconstrained extrusion depth going to zero, and (b) retract
> my earlier statement blaming extrude and other similar non-entity
> parameter treatment for this problem; you can easily reproduce it
> with a point in 3d constrained to lie on any line whose length
> is free.
>
> PT_ON_LINE is written using VectorsParallel, for no obvious reason.
> Rewriting that constraint to work on two projected distances (using
> any two basis vectors perpendicular to the line) should fix that
> problem, since replacing the "point on line in 3d" constraint with
> two "point on line in 2d" constraints works. That still has
> the hairy ball problem of choosing the basis vectors, which you
> can't do with a continuous function; you'd need Vector::Normal()
> or equivalent.
>
> You could write three equations and make the constraint itself
> introduce one new parameter for t. I don't know how well that
> would work numerically, but it would avoid the hairy ball problem,
> perhaps elegant at the cost of speed.
Indeed, this commit implements the latter solution: it introduces
an additional free parameter. The point being coincident with
the start of the line corresponds to the parameter being zero, and
point being coincident with the end corresponds to one).
In effect, instead of constraining two of three degrees of freedom
(for which the equations do not exist because of the hairy ball
theorem), it constrains three and adds one more.
This is a bit slow, but more importantly creates a race condition
where e.g. a failing "normal" test will be overwritten by
a succeeding "normal_migrate_from_v20".
This shouldn't ever be a problem since saving dumps the entire
internal state, or is supposed to, at least.
The check was actually half-broken from the beginning and
until df83ee4; the thick red line was rendered properly but
the error text was rendered with width 0, which by chance worked
on some GL implementations. That commit has fixed the underlying
bug but left the text line width at 0 to avoid test breakage.
This commit fixes the bug, turns off the check completely, and
updates the tests to account for breakage.
EvilSpirit
whitequark