How to determine if a point is in a 2D triangle? [closed]

Answer 1

I needed point in triangle check in "controlable environment" when you're absolutely sure that triangles will be clockwise. So, I took Perro Azul's jsfiddle and modified it as suggested by coproc for such cases; also removed redundant 0.5 and 2 multiplications because they're just cancel each other.

http://jsfiddle.net/dog_funtom/H7D7g/

var ctx = $("canvas")[0].getContext("2d");
var W = 500;
var H = 500;

var point = {
    x: W / 2,
    y: H / 2
};
var triangle = randomTriangle();

$("canvas").click(function (evt) {
    point.x = evt.pageX - $(this).offset().left;
    point.y = evt.pageY - $(this).offset().top;
    test();
});

$("canvas").dblclick(function (evt) {
    triangle = randomTriangle();
    test();
});

test();

function test() {
    var result = ptInTriangle(point, triangle.a, triangle.b, triangle.c);

    var info = "point = (" + point.x + "," + point.y + ")\n";
    info += "triangle.a = (" + triangle.a.x + "," + triangle.a.y + ")\n";
    info += "triangle.b = (" + triangle.b.x + "," + triangle.b.y + ")\n";
    info += "triangle.c = (" + triangle.c.x + "," + triangle.c.y + ")\n";
    info += "result = " + (result ? "true" : "false");

    $("#result").text(info);
    render();
}

function ptInTriangle(p, p0, p1, p2) {
    var s = (p0.y * p2.x - p0.x * p2.y + (p2.y - p0.y) * p.x + (p0.x - p2.x) * p.y);
    var t = (p0.x * p1.y - p0.y * p1.x + (p0.y - p1.y) * p.x + (p1.x - p0.x) * p.y);

    if (s <= 0 || t <= 0) return false;

    var A = (-p1.y * p2.x + p0.y * (-p1.x + p2.x) + p0.x * (p1.y - p2.y) + p1.x * p2.y);

    return (s + t) < A;
}

function checkClockwise(p0, p1, p2) {
    var A = (-p1.y * p2.x + p0.y * (-p1.x + p2.x) + p0.x * (p1.y - p2.y) + p1.x * p2.y);
    return A > 0;
}

function render() {
    ctx.fillStyle = "#CCC";
    ctx.fillRect(0, 0, 500, 500);
    drawTriangle(triangle.a, triangle.b, triangle.c);
    drawPoint(point);
}

function drawTriangle(p0, p1, p2) {
    ctx.fillStyle = "#999";
    ctx.beginPath();
    ctx.moveTo(p0.x, p0.y);
    ctx.lineTo(p1.x, p1.y);
    ctx.lineTo(p2.x, p2.y);
    ctx.closePath();
    ctx.fill();
    ctx.fillStyle = "#000";
    ctx.font = "12px monospace";
    ctx.fillText("1", p0.x, p0.y);
    ctx.fillText("2", p1.x, p1.y);
    ctx.fillText("3", p2.x, p2.y);
}

function drawPoint(p) {
    ctx.fillStyle = "#F00";
    ctx.beginPath();
    ctx.arc(p.x, p.y, 5, 0, 2 * Math.PI);
    ctx.fill();
}

function rand(min, max) {
    return Math.floor(Math.random() * (max - min + 1)) + min;
}

function randomTriangle() {
    while (true) {
        var result = {
            a: {
                x: rand(0, W),
                y: rand(0, H)
            },
            b: {
                x: rand(0, W),
                y: rand(0, H)
            },
            c: {
                x: rand(0, W),
                y: rand(0, H)
            }
        };
        if (checkClockwise(result.a, result.b, result.c)) return result;
    }
}

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.9.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<pre>Click: place the point.
Double click: random triangle.</pre>

<pre id="result"></pre>

<canvas width="500" height="500"></canvas>

Here is equivalent C# code for Unity:

public static bool IsPointInClockwiseTriangle(Vector2 p, Vector2 p0, Vector2 p1, Vector2 p2)
{
    var s = (p0.y * p2.x - p0.x * p2.y + (p2.y - p0.y) * p.x + (p0.x - p2.x) * p.y);
    var t = (p0.x * p1.y - p0.y * p1.x + (p0.y - p1.y) * p.x + (p1.x - p0.x) * p.y);

    if (s <= 0 || t <= 0)
        return false;

    var A = (-p1.y * p2.x + p0.y * (-p1.x + p2.x) + p0.x * (p1.y - p2.y) + p1.x * p2.y);

    return (s + t) < A;
}

Answer 2

If you know the co-ordinates of the three vertices and the co-ordinates of the specific point, then you can get the area of the complete triangle. Afterwards, calculate the area of the three triangle segments (one point being the point given and the other two being any two vertices of the triangle). Thus, you will get the area of the three triangle segments. If the sum of these areas are equal to the total area (that you got previously), then, the point should be inside the triangle. Otherwise, the point is not inside the triangle. This should work. If there are any issues, let me know. Thank you.

Answer 3

Solve the following equation system:

p = p0 + (p1 - p0) * s + (p2 - p0) * t

The point p is inside the triangle if 0 <= s <= 1 and 0 <= t <= 1 and s + t <= 1.

s,t and 1 - s - t are called the barycentric coordinates of the point p.

Answer 4

The easiest way and it works with all types of triangles is simply determine the angles of the P point A, B , C points angles. If any of the angles are bigger than 180.0 degree then it is outside, if 180.0 then it is on the circumference and if acos cheating on you and less than 180.0 then it is inside.Take a look for understanding http://math-physics-psychology.blogspot.hu/2015/01/earlish-determination-that-point-is.html

Answer 5

This is the simplest concept to determine if a point is inside or outside the triangle or on an arm of a triangle.

Determination of a point is inside a triangle by determinants:

The simplest working code:

#-*- coding: utf-8 -*-

import numpy as np

tri_points = [(1,1),(2,3),(3,1)]

def pisinTri(point,tri_points):
    Dx , Dy = point

    A,B,C = tri_points
    Ax, Ay = A
    Bx, By = B
    Cx, Cy = C

    M1 = np.array([ [Dx - Bx, Dy - By, 0],
                    [Ax - Bx, Ay - By, 0],
                    [1      , 1      , 1]
                  ])

    M2 = np.array([ [Dx - Ax, Dy - Ay, 0],
                    [Cx - Ax, Cy - Ay, 0],
                    [1      , 1      , 1]
                  ])

    M3 = np.array([ [Dx - Cx, Dy - Cy, 0],
                    [Bx - Cx, By - Cy, 0],
                    [1      , 1      , 1]
                  ])

    M1 = np.linalg.det(M1)
    M2 = np.linalg.det(M2)
    M3 = np.linalg.det(M3)
    print(M1,M2,M3)

    if(M1 == 0 or M2 == 0 or M3 ==0):
            print("Point: ",point," lies on the arms of Triangle")
    elif((M1 > 0 and M2 > 0 and M3 > 0)or(M1 < 0 and M2 < 0 and M3 < 0)):
            #if products is non 0 check if all of their sign is same
            print("Point: ",point," lies inside the Triangle")
    else:
            print("Point: ",point," lies outside the Triangle")

print("Vertices of Triangle: ",tri_points)
points = [(0,0),(1,1),(2,3),(3,1),(2,2),(4,4),(1,0),(0,4)]
for c in points:
    pisinTri(c,tri_points)

Answer 6

Honestly it is as simple as Simon P Steven's answer however with that approach you don't have a solid control on whether you want the points on the edges of the triangle to be included or not.

My approach is a little different but very basic. Consider the following triangle;

In order to have the point in the triangle we have to satisfy 3 conditions

1. ACE angle (green) should be smaller than ACB angle (red)
2. ECB angle (blue) should be smaller than ACB angle (red)
3. Point E and Point C shoud have the same sign when their x and y values are applied to the equation of the |AB| line.

In this method you have full control to include or exclude the point on the edges individually. So you may check if a point is in the triangle including only the |AC| edge for instance.

So my solution in JavaScript would be as follows;

function isInTriangle(t,p){

  function isInBorder(a,b,c,p){
    var m = (a.y - b.y) / (a.x - b.x);                     // calculate the slope
    return Math.sign(p.y - m*p.x + m*a.x - a.y) === Math.sign(c.y - m*c.x + m*a.x - a.y);
  }
  
  function findAngle(a,b,c){                               // calculate the C angle from 3 points.
    var ca = Math.hypot(c.x-a.x, c.y-a.y),                 // ca edge length
        cb = Math.hypot(c.x-b.x, c.y-b.y),                 // cb edge length
        ab = Math.hypot(a.x-b.x, a.y-b.y);                 // ab edge length
    return Math.acos((ca*ca + cb*cb - ab*ab) / (2*ca*cb)); // return the C angle
  }

  var pas = t.slice(1)
             .map(tp => findAngle(p,tp,t[0])),             // find the angle between (p,t[0]) with (t[1],t[0]) & (t[2],t[0])
       ta = findAngle(t[1],t[2],t[0]);
  return pas[0] < ta && pas[1] < ta && isInBorder(t[1],t[2],t[0],p);
}

var triangle = [{x:3, y:4},{x:10, y:8},{x:6, y:10}],
      point1 = {x:3, y:9},
      point2 = {x:7, y:9};

console.log(isInTriangle(triangle,point1));
console.log(isInTriangle(triangle,point2));