How to use atan2() in combination with other Radian angle systems

Question

I am struggling with this in JavaScript, but this problem applies to many other languages/environments as well.

I want to have one object rotating towards the position of another object, and I use:

atan2(obj1.dy, obj1.dx) - obj2.getRotation()

to check if the second object should rotate clockwise or counterclockwise at a given time.

In KineticJS, the JS/HTML5/Canvas programming environment I am using, the angle is specified in radians from 0 to 2 pi starting at the positive Y axis and going clockwise. This behaviour is seen in many other programming environments as well.

However, when calculating the angle of movement from the second object with the Math.atan2(y,x) function, the angle is specified from -pi to pi, starting at the positive X axis, going counterclockwise.

To clarify:

The question:

How can I calculate an angle in normal radians from the result of the atan2() function?

Answer 1

If you want the angle to increase clockwise from 0 on the y axis, calculate the angle as atan2(x,y). This however give negative angles for x<0, so you should add 2*pi in this case.