Add Camera::viewport_to_world (#6126)

# Objective

Add a method for getting a world space ray from a viewport position.

Opted to add a `Ray` type to `bevy_math` instead of returning a tuple of `Vec3`'s as this is clearer and easier to document
The docs on `viewport_to_world` are okay, but I'm not super happy with them.

## Changelog
* Add `Camera::viewport_to_world`
* Add `Camera::ndc_to_world`
* Add `Ray` to `bevy_math`
* Some doc tweaks

Co-authored-by: devil-ira <[email protected]>

crates/bevy_math/src/lib.rs

@@ -6,16 +6,18 @@
 
 #![warn(missing_docs)]
 
+mod ray;
 mod rect;
 
+pub use ray::Ray;
 pub use rect::Rect;
 
 /// The `bevy_math` prelude.
 pub mod prelude {
     #[doc(hidden)]
     pub use crate::{
-        BVec2, BVec3, BVec4, EulerRot, IVec2, IVec3, IVec4, Mat2, Mat3, Mat4, Quat, Rect, UVec2,
-        UVec3, UVec4, Vec2, Vec3, Vec4,
+        BVec2, BVec3, BVec4, EulerRot, IVec2, IVec3, IVec4, Mat2, Mat3, Mat4, Quat, Ray, Rect,
+        UVec2, UVec3, UVec4, Vec2, Vec3, Vec4,
     };
 }
 

crates/bevy_math/src/ray.rs

@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+use crate::Vec3;
+use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
+
+/// A ray is an infinite line starting at `origin`, going in `direction`.
+#[derive(Default, Clone, Copy, Debug, Serialize, Deserialize, PartialEq)]
+pub struct Ray {
+    /// The origin of the ray.
+    pub origin: Vec3,
+    /// The direction of the ray.
+    pub direction: Vec3,
+}

crates/bevy_render/src/camera/camera.rs

@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ use bevy_ecs::{
     reflect::ReflectComponent,
     system::{Commands, ParamSet, Query, Res},
 };
-use bevy_math::{Mat4, UVec2, UVec4, Vec2, Vec3};
+use bevy_math::{Mat4, Ray, UVec2, UVec4, Vec2, Vec3};
 use bevy_reflect::prelude::*;
 use bevy_reflect::FromReflect;
 use bevy_transform::components::GlobalTransform;
@@ -212,26 +212,66 @@ impl Camera {
         Some((ndc_space_coords.truncate() + Vec2::ONE) / 2.0 * target_size)
     }
 
+    /// Returns a ray originating from the camera, that passes through everything beyond `viewport_position`.
+    ///
+    /// The resulting ray starts on the near plane of the camera.
+    ///
+    /// If the camera's projection is orthographic the direction of the ray is always equal to `camera_transform.forward()`.
+    ///
+    /// To get the world space coordinates with Normalized Device Coordinates, you should use
+    /// [`ndc_to_world`](Self::ndc_to_world).
+    pub fn viewport_to_world(
+        &self,
+        camera_transform: &GlobalTransform,
+        viewport_position: Vec2,
+    ) -> Option<Ray> {
+        let target_size = self.logical_viewport_size()?;
+        let ndc = viewport_position * 2. / target_size - Vec2::ONE;
+
+        let world_near_plane = self.ndc_to_world(camera_transform, ndc.extend(1.))?;
+        // Using EPSILON because passing an ndc with Z = 0 returns NaNs.
+        let world_far_plane = self.ndc_to_world(camera_transform, ndc.extend(f32::EPSILON))?;
+
+        Some(Ray {
+            origin: world_near_plane,
+            direction: (world_far_plane - world_near_plane).normalize(),
+        })
+    }
+
     /// Given a position in world space, use the camera's viewport to compute the Normalized Device Coordinates.
     ///
-    /// Values returned will be between -1.0 and 1.0 when the position is within the viewport.
+    /// When the position is within the viewport the values returned will be between -1.0 and 1.0 on the X and Y axes,
+    /// and between 0.0 and 1.0 on the Z axis.
     /// To get the coordinates in the render target's viewport dimensions, you should use
     /// [`world_to_viewport`](Self::world_to_viewport).
     pub fn world_to_ndc(
         &self,
         camera_transform: &GlobalTransform,
         world_position: Vec3,
     ) -> Option<Vec3> {
-        // Build a transform to convert from world to NDC using camera data
+        // Build a transformation matrix to convert from world space to NDC using camera data
         let world_to_ndc: Mat4 =
             self.computed.projection_matrix * camera_transform.compute_matrix().inverse();
         let ndc_space_coords: Vec3 = world_to_ndc.project_point3(world_position);
 
-        if !ndc_space_coords.is_nan() {
-            Some(ndc_space_coords)
-        } else {
-            None
-        }
+        (!ndc_space_coords.is_nan()).then_some(ndc_space_coords)
+    }
+
+    /// Given a position in Normalized Device Coordinates,
+    /// use the camera's viewport to compute the world space position.
+    ///
+    /// When the position is within the viewport the values returned will be between -1.0 and 1.0 on the X and Y axes,
+    /// and between 0.0 and 1.0 on the Z axis.
+    /// To get the world space coordinates with the viewport position, you should use
+    /// [`world_to_viewport`](Self::world_to_viewport).
+    pub fn ndc_to_world(&self, camera_transform: &GlobalTransform, ndc: Vec3) -> Option<Vec3> {
+        // Build a transformation matrix to convert from NDC to world space using camera data
+        let ndc_to_world =
+            camera_transform.compute_matrix() * self.computed.projection_matrix.inverse();
+
+        let world_space_coords = ndc_to_world.project_point3(ndc);
+
+        (!world_space_coords.is_nan()).then_some(world_space_coords)
     }
 }