So what I'm trying to make is a function where I input the location of a moving circle and its target location, the location of a stationary circle and both of their radiuses, and I want to return the point at which they intersected if they did and the target location if they didn't.
The starting position of both circles, their radiuses and the end position of the moving circle are all known.
In this example I want to in a single frame move circle A from point Start to point End, if A collides with B I want to return the point where they touch closest to Start. In between Start and End there is a vector that can be calculated through End-Start which I'll call V and use in my attempt at solving this.
I will to refer the point Start as S and the position of B as P, the radius of A as Ra and the radius of B as Rb as seen in this image: variables.
So this is how far I've got:
When the two circles are just about touching the distance between them should be their radiuses combined like in this image: radiuses combined.
Therefore Ra+Rb = length of P-C which becomes (Ra+Rb)² = (P.x-C.x)² + (P.y-C.y)² according to Pythagoras (I squared both sides to remove the square root)
C can be described as the point S plus the vector V scaled by some constant t, C = S + tV so for example the point half way between Start and End could be described as S + 0.5V.
So the equation would then become (Ra+Rb)² = (P.x-(S.x+tV.x))² + (P.y-(S.y+tV.y))² I have not gotten further than that since I cant isolate t which I need to find C
Any help is greatly appreciated! Sorry if I made any mistakes, its my first time posting.
(If anyone has code in Java for this that would be amazing)
You would probably have received a better answer for your question over at math.stackexchange.com, since this really seems to be a question about the maths related to your program. But anyhow, this problem can be solved in a few steps:
1. Projection of a point onto a line:
Let Q be a projected point on V. Is the distance P-Q larger than the sum of Ra and Rb? If so, there is no collision, else proceed:
2. Pythagoras:
You now know the distance P-Q, and as you noted yourself, the circles will intersect at a distance Ra+Rb - if they collide. So, now if we find the distance Q-C, we can find where C is, since we already know where Q is from the projection onto V.
So, what is the distance Q-C: Sqrt((B-Q)^2 - (B-C)^2)
3. Find C by translating Q by distance Q-C
Now, you just need to make sure that you translate Q in the right direction: toward S.
As for the coding part of your problem, there was never a question asked, so there's nothing to respond to...
[Edit: fixed #3 Translate->Find]
