How to implement a fixed screen view

Hi all,

I’m tring to add something like a “fixed screen” into an OpenGL game instead of first or third person that already works. To do that I moved my camera with gluLookAt but when I move my character into the scene its movements are wrong (forward is sometimes backward, left is right, and so on…). I guess 9.070 FAQ solve my issue: http://www.opengl.org/resources/faq/technical/transformations.htm but I don’t know how to implement it.
I looked at my CG notes and I read I need to switch coordinate system. To do that I created a inverseMatrix code that computes inverse of a 4x4 matrix param I pass to it. Then I get MODELVIEW matrix, compute the inverse and finally I load the inverse matrix, but this process doesn’t work. Someone here can help me, please? thanks

snippet of my code:


GLvoid angleView(GLvoid)
{
    GLfloat *mat;
    GLfloat m[16];
    GLfloat s[16];

    GLfloat e[3];
    GLfloat n[3];

    resetMatrix(m);
    resetMatrix(s);

    e[0]=0.0f;
    e[1]=world.miny+0.01;
    e[2]=0.0f;

    n[0]=0.0f;
    n[1]=-1.0f;
    n[2]=0.0f;

    glViewport(0,0, status.width, status.height);
    enableLights();
    glClear(GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT | GL_DEPTH_BUFFER_BIT);
    glLoadIdentity();
    /*put eye of view into uppper corner of my room:*/
gluLookAt(world.minx,world.maxy,world.minz,1.0f,0.0f,1.0f,0.0f,1.0f,0.0f);
    /*Movement:*/
    glPushMatrix();
    glTranslatef(-status.xpos, 0.0f, -status.zpos);
    glRotatef(360.0f -status.yrot, 0, 1.0f, 0);
    drawGuido();/*draw my Character*/
    glGetFloatv(GL_MODELVIEW_MATRIX,m);/*get matrix*/
    mat=inverseMatrix(m);/*compute inverse matrix*/
    glLoadMatrixf(mat);/*load inverse matrix*/
    glPopMatrix();
    lightInit();
    draw_lights();
    draw_scene(0,0,0,status.width,status.height);
    /*Draw room*/
    if(!getFlag(&status,FL_DONTDRAW)){
      callWorldList(&world);
    }

    if(getFlag(&status,FL_LIGHTING))/*draw shadow:*/
    {
      drawShadow(s,m,l2_pos,e,n,0);
    }
}

I think you need to explain your issue better. How were you implementing first and third person? Were you using gluLookAt? You shouldn’t have to change your coordinate systems. If you camera isn’t moving, it’s the same as a 3rd person perspective without tracking the character.

Yes, you’re right. I used nehe tutorial for address movement. Infact I’m using the same variable names. I solved changing the sign to translate and rotate. The inverse is unuseful for this issue. Thanks anyway for your help.
so now my code looks like this:


GLvoid angleView(GLvoid)
{
    GLfloat *mat;
    GLfloat m[16];
    GLfloat s[16];

    GLfloat e[3];
    GLfloat n[3];

    resetMatrix(m);
    resetMatrix(s);

    e[0]=0.0f;
    e[1]=world.miny+0.01;
    e[2]=0.0f;

    n[0]=0.0f;
    n[1]=-1.0f;
    n[2]=0.0f;

    glViewport(0,0, status.width, status.height);
    enableLights();
    glClear(GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT | GL_DEPTH_BUFFER_BIT);
    glLoadIdentity();
    /*put eye of view into uppper corner of my room:*/
gluLookAt(world.minx,world.maxy,world.minz,1.0f,0.0f,1.0f,0.0f,1.0f,0.0f);
    /*Movement:*/
    glPushMatrix();
    glTranslatef(status.xpos, 0.0f, status.zpos);
    glRotatef(status.yrot, 0, 1.0f, 0);
    drawGuido();/*draw my Character*/
    glPopMatrix();
    lightInit();
    draw_lights();
    draw_scene(0,0,0,status.width,status.height);
    /*Draw room*/
    if(!getFlag(&status,FL_DONTDRAW)){
      callWorldList(&world);
    }

    if(getFlag(&status,FL_LIGHTING))/*draw shadow:*/
    {
      drawShadow(s,m,l2_pos,e,n,0);
    }
}