Circle line-segment collision detection algorithm?

Question

I have a line from A to B and a circle positioned at C with the radius R.

What is a good alg

Answer 1

Here's an implementation in Javascript. My approach is to first convert the line segment into an infinite line then find the intersection point(s). From there I check if the point(s) found are on the line segment. The code is well documented, you should be able to follow along.

You can try out the code here on this live demo. The code was taken from my algorithms repo.

// Small epsilon value
var EPS = 0.0000001;

// point (x, y)
function Point(x, y) {
  this.x = x;
  this.y = y;
}

// Circle with center at (x,y) and radius r
function Circle(x, y, r) {
  this.x = x;
  this.y = y;
  this.r = r;
}

// A line segment (x1, y1), (x2, y2)
function LineSegment(x1, y1, x2, y2) {
  var d = Math.sqrt( (x1-x2)*(x1-x2) + (y1-y2)*(y1-y2) );
  if (d < EPS) throw 'A point is not a line segment';
  this.x1 = x1; this.y1 = y1;
  this.x2 = x2; this.y2 = y2;
}

// An infinite line defined as: ax + by = c
function Line(a, b, c) {
  this.a = a; this.b = b; this.c = c;
  // Normalize line for good measure
  if (Math.abs(b) < EPS) {
    c /= a; a = 1; b = 0;
  } else { 
    a = (Math.abs(a) < EPS) ? 0 : a / b;
    c /= b; b = 1; 
  }
}

// Given a line in standard form: ax + by = c and a circle with 
// a center at (x,y) with radius r this method finds the intersection
// of the line and the circle (if any). 
function circleLineIntersection(circle, line) {

  var a = line.a, b = line.b, c = line.c;
  var x = circle.x, y = circle.y, r = circle.r;

  // Solve for the variable x with the formulas: ax + by = c (equation of line)
  // and (x-X)^2 + (y-Y)^2 = r^2 (equation of circle where X,Y are known) and expand to obtain quadratic:
  // (a^2 + b^2)x^2 + (2abY - 2ac + - 2b^2X)x + (b^2X^2 + b^2Y^2 - 2bcY + c^2 - b^2r^2) = 0
  // Then use quadratic formula X = (-b +- sqrt(a^2 - 4ac))/2a to find the 
  // roots of the equation (if they exist) and this will tell us the intersection points

  // In general a quadratic is written as: Ax^2 + Bx + C = 0
  // (a^2 + b^2)x^2 + (2abY - 2ac + - 2b^2X)x + (b^2X^2 + b^2Y^2 - 2bcY + c^2 - b^2r^2) = 0
  var A = a*a + b*b;
  var B = 2*a*b*y - 2*a*c - 2*b*b*x;
  var C = b*b*x*x + b*b*y*y - 2*b*c*y + c*c - b*b*r*r;

  // Use quadratic formula x = (-b +- sqrt(a^2 - 4ac))/2a to find the 
  // roots of the equation (if they exist).

  var D = B*B - 4*A*C;
  var x1,y1,x2,y2;

  // Handle vertical line case with b = 0
  if (Math.abs(b) < EPS) {

    // Line equation is ax + by = c, but b = 0, so x = c/a
    x1 = c/a;

    // No intersection
    if (Math.abs(x-x1) > r) return [];

    // Vertical line is tangent to circle
    if (Math.abs((x1-r)-x) < EPS || Math.abs((x1+r)-x) < EPS)
      return [new Point(x1, y)];

    var dx = Math.abs(x1 - x);
    var dy = Math.sqrt(r*r-dx*dx);

    // Vertical line cuts through circle
    return [
      new Point(x1,y+dy),
      new Point(x1,y-dy)
    ];

  // Line is tangent to circle
  } else if (Math.abs(D) < EPS) {

    x1 = -B/(2*A);
    y1 = (c - a*x1)/b;

    return [new Point(x1,y1)];

  // No intersection
  } else if (D < 0) {

    return [];

  } else {

    D = Math.sqrt(D);

    x1 = (-B+D)/(2*A);
    y1 = (c - a*x1)/b;

    x2 = (-B-D)/(2*A);
    y2 = (c - a*x2)/b;

    return [
      new Point(x1, y1),
      new Point(x2, y2)
    ];

  }

}

// Converts a line segment to a line in general form
function segmentToGeneralForm(x1,y1,x2,y2) {
  var a = y1 - y2;
  var b = x2 - x1;
  var c = x2*y1 - x1*y2;
  return new Line(a,b,c);
}

// Checks if a point 'pt' is inside the rect defined by (x1,y1), (x2,y2)
function pointInRectangle(pt,x1,y1,x2,y2) {
  var x = Math.min(x1,x2), X = Math.max(x1,x2);
  var y = Math.min(y1,y2), Y = Math.max(y1,y2);
  return x - EPS <= pt.x && pt.x <= X + EPS &&
         y - EPS <= pt.y && pt.y <= Y + EPS;
}

// Finds the intersection(s) of a line segment and a circle
function lineSegmentCircleIntersection(segment, circle) {

  var x1 = segment.x1, y1 = segment.y1, x2 = segment.x2, y2 = segment.y2;
  var line = segmentToGeneralForm(x1,y1,x2,y2);
  var pts = circleLineIntersection(circle, line);

  // No intersection
  if (pts.length === 0) return [];

  var pt1 = pts[0];
  var includePt1 = pointInRectangle(pt1,x1,y1,x2,y2);

  // Check for unique intersection
  if (pts.length === 1) {
    if (includePt1) return [pt1];
    return [];
  }

  var pt2 = pts[1];
  var includePt2 = pointInRectangle(pt2,x1,y1,x2,y2);

  // Check for remaining intersections
  if (includePt1 && includePt2) return [pt1, pt2];
  if (includePt1) return [pt1];
  if (includePt2) return [pt2];
  return [];

}