[Math] Prove that perspective projection of circle is ellipse

analytic geometrycirclesprojection-matricesprojective-geometry

How to prove that perspective projection of a circle is an ellipse?

I start with the parametric equation of circle and ellipse:

Circle:

$x = r\cos t$

$y = r\sin t$

Ellipse:

$x = a\cos(t)$

$y = b\sin(t)$

Then I have perspective projection matrix:
$$
\begin{pmatrix}
a_{11} & a_{12} & a_{13} \\
a_{21} & a_{22} & a_{23} \\
a_{31} & a_{32} & 1 \\
\end{pmatrix}
$$

And obtain projected coordinates (affine transform for simplicity):
$$
\begin{pmatrix}
a_{11} & a_{12} & a_{13} \\
a_{21} & a_{22} & a_{23} \\
0 & 0 & 1 \\
\end{pmatrix}
\begin{pmatrix}
x \\
y \\
1 \\
\end{pmatrix}
=
\begin{pmatrix}
u \\
v \\
1 \\
\end{pmatrix}
$$
If we convert this to equations:

$u = a_{11}x+a_{12}y+a_{13}$

$v = a_{21}x+a_{22}y+a_{23}$

Substituting $x,y$ with parametric equations:

$a\cos t = a_{11}\,r\, \cos t + a_{12}\, r \,\sin t + a_{13}$

$b \sin t = a_{21}\,r \,\cos t + a_{22}\, r \,\sin t + a_{23}$

What to do next? I can't see how these equations can be equal.

Best Answer

As noted in the answer of @rfabbri ( +1), the perspective projection of a circle is not always an ellipse, but it is in general a conic section (maybe degenerate).

If you want a matrix that transform the circle in an ellipse by projection, than note that teh general equation of a conic: $$ Ax^2+Bxy+Cy^2+Dx+Ey+F=0$ $$

can be written in the form (see here): $$ \begin{pmatrix} x&y&1 \end{pmatrix} \begin{pmatrix} A&\frac{B}{2}&\frac{D}{2}\\ \frac{B}{2}&C&\frac{E}{2}\\ \frac{D}{2}&\frac{E}{2}&F\\ \end{pmatrix} \begin{pmatrix} x\\y\\1 \end{pmatrix}=0 $$

so, for $A=C=1$ and $B,D,E=0$ and $F=-r^2$ we have the circle center at the origin and radius $r$, that becomes an ellipse if the matrix is such that $B^2-4AC <0$ and the conic is not degenerate, i.e. the determinat of the matrix is not null.