Raycasting to the polygon level         Using Ray queries for accurate picking

As developed by gerds in this forum page.

Mogre (.NET) users can use a C# port: Raycasting to the polygon level - Mogre

Introduction

An Ogre ray query generally only detect bounding boxes (-AABBs), like you see on this image. With this code you can avoid this disadvantage.
Rays_and_BoundingBox_1a.gif

Important note

This code only returns correct results for polygons defined by rendertype OT_TRIANGLE_LIST. If a mesh contains other rendertypes (different triangle definition), lines or points, you will get wrong results or even a crash. For more details and improvement suggestions look here.

Code for initialization

// create the ray scene query object
    m_pray_scene_query = m_pscene_manager->createRayQuery(Ogre::Ray(), Ogre::SceneManager::WORLD_GEOMETRY_TYPE_MASK);
    if (NULL == m_pray_scene_query)
    {
        LOG_ERROR << "Failed to create Ogre::RaySceneQuery instance" << ENDLOG;
      return (false);
    }
    m_pray_scene_query->setSortByDistance(true);

Method for raycast

// raycast from a point in to the scene.
// returns success or failure.
// on success the point is returned in the result.
bool OgreVisionEngine::RaycastFromPoint(const Vector3 &point,
                                        const Vector3 &normal,
                                        Vector3 &result)
{
    // create the ray to test
    Ogre::Ray ray(Ogre::Vector3(point.x, point.y, point.z),
                  Ogre::Vector3(normal.x, normal.y, normal.z));

    // check we are initialised
    if (m_pray_scene_query != NULL)
    {
        // create a query object
        m_pray_scene_query->setRay(ray);

        // execute the query, returns a vector of hits
        if (m_pray_scene_query->execute().size() <= 0)
        {
            // raycast did not hit an objects bounding box
            return (false);
        }
    }
    else
    {
        LOG_ERROR << "Cannot raycast without RaySceneQuery instance" << ENDLOG;
        return (false);
    }   

    // at this point we have raycast to a series of different objects bounding boxes.
    // we need to test these different objects to see which is the first polygon hit.
    // there are some minor optimizations (distance based) that mean we wont have to
    // check all of the objects most of the time, but the worst case scenario is that
    // we need to test every triangle of every object.
    Ogre::Real closest_distance = -1.0f;
    Ogre::Vector3 closest_result;
    Ogre::RaySceneQueryResult &query_result = m_pray_scene_query->getLastResults();
    for (size_t qr_idx = 0; qr_idx < query_result.size(); qr_idx++)
    {
        // stop checking if we have found a raycast hit that is closer
        // than all remaining entities
        if ((closest_distance >= 0.0f) &&
            (closest_distance < query_result[qr_idx].distance))
        {
             break;
        }
       
        // only check this result if its a hit against an entity
        if ((query_result[qr_idx].movable != NULL) &&
            (query_result[qr_idx].movable->getMovableType().compare("Entity") == 0))
        {
            // get the entity to check
            Ogre::Entity *pentity = static_cast<Ogre::Entity*>(query_result[qr_idx].movable);           

            // mesh data to retrieve         
            size_t vertex_count;
            size_t index_count;
            Ogre::Vector3 *vertices;
            unsigned long *indices;

            // get the mesh information
         OgreVE::GetMeshInformation(pentity->getMesh(), vertex_count, vertices, index_count, indices,             
                              pentity->getParentNode()->getWorldPosition(),
                              pentity->getParentNode()->getWorldOrientation(),
                              pentity->getParentNode()->_getDerivedScale());

            // test for hitting individual triangles on the mesh
            bool new_closest_found = false;
            for (int i = 0; i < static_cast<int>(index_count); i += 3)
            {
                // check for a hit against this triangle
                std::pair<bool, Ogre::Real> hit = Ogre::Math::intersects(ray, vertices[indices[i]],
                    vertices[indices[i+1]], vertices[indices[i+2]], true, false);

                // if it was a hit check if its the closest
                if (hit.first)
                {
                    if ((closest_distance < 0.0f) ||
                        (hit.second < closest_distance))
                    {
                        // this is the closest so far, save it off
                        closest_distance = hit.second;
                        new_closest_found = true;
                    }
                }
            }

         // free the verticies and indicies memory
            delete[] vertices;
            delete[] indices;

            // if we found a new closest raycast for this object, update the
            // closest_result before moving on to the next object.
            if (new_closest_found)
            {
                closest_result = ray.getPoint(closest_distance);               
            }
        }       
    }

    // return the result
    if (closest_distance >= 0.0f)
    {
        // raycast success
        result = closest_result;
        return (true);
    }
    else
    {
        // raycast failed
        return (false);
    } 
}

GetMeshInformation

This code is a copy of RetrieveVertexData.(Optimized version)

Original version

// Get the mesh information for the given mesh.
// Code found in Wiki: www.ogre3d.org/wiki/index.php/RetrieveVertexData
void OgreVE::GetMeshInformation(const Ogre::MeshPtr mesh,
                                size_t &vertex_count,
                                Ogre::Vector3* &vertices,
                                size_t &index_count,
                                unsigned long* &indices,
                                const Ogre::Vector3 &position,
                                const Ogre::Quaternion &orient,
                                const Ogre::Vector3 &scale)
{
    bool added_shared = false;
    size_t current_offset = 0;
    size_t shared_offset = 0;
    size_t next_offset = 0;
    size_t index_offset = 0;

    vertex_count = index_count = 0;

    // Calculate how many vertices and indices we're going to need
    for (unsigned short i = 0; i < mesh->getNumSubMeshes(); ++i)
    {
        Ogre::SubMesh* submesh = mesh->getSubMesh( i );

        // We only need to add the shared vertices once
        if(submesh->useSharedVertices)
        {
            if( !added_shared )
            {
                vertex_count += mesh->sharedVertexData->vertexCount;
                added_shared = true;
            }
        }
        else
        {
            vertex_count += submesh->vertexData->vertexCount;
        }

        // Add the indices
        index_count += submesh->indexData->indexCount;
    }


    // Allocate space for the vertices and indices
    vertices = new Ogre::Vector3[vertex_count];
    indices = new unsigned long[index_count];

    added_shared = false;

    // Run through the submeshes again, adding the data into the arrays
    for ( unsigned short i = 0; i < mesh->getNumSubMeshes(); ++i)
    {
        Ogre::SubMesh* submesh = mesh->getSubMesh(i);

        Ogre::VertexData* vertex_data = submesh->useSharedVertices ? mesh->sharedVertexData : submesh->vertexData;

        if((!submesh->useSharedVertices)||(submesh->useSharedVertices && !added_shared))
        {
            if(submesh->useSharedVertices)
            {
                added_shared = true;
                shared_offset = current_offset;
            }

            const Ogre::VertexElement* posElem =
                vertex_data->vertexDeclaration->findElementBySemantic(Ogre::VES_POSITION);

            Ogre::HardwareVertexBufferSharedPtr vbuf =
                vertex_data->vertexBufferBinding->getBuffer(posElem->getSource());

            unsigned char* vertex =
                static_cast<unsigned char*>(vbuf->lock(Ogre::HardwareBuffer::HBL_READ_ONLY));

            // There is _no_ baseVertexPointerToElement() which takes an Ogre::Real or a double
            //  as second argument. So make it float, to avoid trouble when Ogre::Real will
            //  be comiled/typedefed as double:
            //      Ogre::Real* pReal;
            float* pReal;

            for( size_t j = 0; j < vertex_data->vertexCount; ++j, vertex += vbuf->getVertexSize())
            {
                posElem->baseVertexPointerToElement(vertex, &pReal);

                Ogre::Vector3 pt(pReal[0], pReal[1], pReal[2]);

                vertices[current_offset + j] = (orient * (pt * scale)) + position;
            }

            vbuf->unlock();
            next_offset += vertex_data->vertexCount;
        }


        Ogre::IndexData* index_data = submesh->indexData;
        size_t numTris = index_data->indexCount / 3;
        Ogre::HardwareIndexBufferSharedPtr ibuf = index_data->indexBuffer;
        if( ibuf.isNull() ) continue; // need to check if index buffer is valid (which will be not if the mesh doesn't have triangles like a pointcloud)

        bool use32bitindexes = (ibuf->getType() == Ogre::HardwareIndexBuffer::IT_32BIT);

        unsigned long*  pLong = static_cast<unsigned long*>(ibuf->lock(Ogre::HardwareBuffer::HBL_READ_ONLY));
        unsigned short* pShort = reinterpret_cast<unsigned short*>(pLong);


        size_t offset = (submesh->useSharedVertices)? shared_offset : current_offset;
        size_t index_start = index_data->indexStart;
        size_t last_index = numTris*3 + index_start;

        if (use32bitindexes)
            for (size_t k = index_start; k < last_index; ++k)
            {
                indices[index_offset++] = pLong[k] + static_cast<unsigned long>( offset );
            }

        else
            for (size_t k = index_start; k < last_index; ++k)
            {
                indices[ index_offset++ ] = static_cast<unsigned long>( pShort[k] ) +
                    static_cast<unsigned long>( offset );
            }

        ibuf->unlock();
        current_offset = next_offset;
    }
}

Adapted version

The following is an adapted version of GetMeshInformation() that takes into account the entity in its currently animated state.
It's a modified version from OgreOpcode and it has worked flawlessly since many years.
(Thanks to jacmoe, Baxissimo and KingPrawnVindaloo)


Note:
This code can cause problems, if the animated model uses hardware skinning.
Look to this forum topic for details.

void GetMeshInformation(const Entity *entity,
                                size_t &vertex_count,
                                Ogre::Vector3* &vertices,
                                size_t &index_count,
                                unsigned long* &indices,
                                const Ogre::Vector3 &position,
                                const Ogre::Quaternion &orient,
                                const Ogre::Vector3 &scale)
{
    bool added_shared = false;
    size_t current_offset = 0;
    size_t shared_offset = 0;
    size_t next_offset = 0;
    size_t index_offset = 0;
    vertex_count = index_count = 0;

   Ogre::MeshPtr mesh = entity->getMesh();


   bool useSoftwareBlendingVertices = entity->hasSkeleton();

   if (useSoftwareBlendingVertices)
   {
      entity->_updateAnimation();
   }

    // Calculate how many vertices and indices we're going to need
    for (unsigned short i = 0; i < mesh->getNumSubMeshes(); ++i)
    {
        Ogre::SubMesh* submesh = mesh->getSubMesh( i );

        // We only need to add the shared vertices once
        if(submesh->useSharedVertices)
        {
            if( !added_shared )
            {
                vertex_count += mesh->sharedVertexData->vertexCount;
                added_shared = true;
            }
        }
        else
        {
            vertex_count += submesh->vertexData->vertexCount;
        }

        // Add the indices
        index_count += submesh->indexData->indexCount;
    }


    // Allocate space for the vertices and indices
    vertices = new Ogre::Vector3[vertex_count];
    indices = new unsigned long[index_count];

    added_shared = false;

    // Run through the submeshes again, adding the data into the arrays
    for ( unsigned short i = 0; i < mesh->getNumSubMeshes(); ++i)
    {
        Ogre::SubMesh* submesh = mesh->getSubMesh(i);

      //----------------------------------------------------------------
      // GET VERTEXDATA
      //----------------------------------------------------------------

        //Ogre::VertexData* vertex_data = submesh->useSharedVertices ? mesh->sharedVertexData : submesh->vertexData;
      Ogre::VertexData* vertex_data;

      //When there is animation:
      if(useSoftwareBlendingVertices)
         vertex_data = submesh->useSharedVertices ? entity->_getSkelAnimVertexData() : entity->getSubEntity(i)->_getSkelAnimVertexData();
      else
         vertex_data = submesh->useSharedVertices ? mesh->sharedVertexData : submesh->vertexData;


        if((!submesh->useSharedVertices)||(submesh->useSharedVertices && !added_shared))
        {
            if(submesh->useSharedVertices)
            {
                added_shared = true;
                shared_offset = current_offset;
            }

            const Ogre::VertexElement* posElem =
                vertex_data->vertexDeclaration->findElementBySemantic(Ogre::VES_POSITION);

            Ogre::HardwareVertexBufferSharedPtr vbuf =
                vertex_data->vertexBufferBinding->getBuffer(posElem->getSource());

            unsigned char* vertex =
                static_cast<unsigned char*>(vbuf->lock(Ogre::HardwareBuffer::HBL_READ_ONLY));

            // There is _no_ baseVertexPointerToElement() which takes an Ogre::Real or a double
            //  as second argument. So make it float, to avoid trouble when Ogre::Real will
            //  be comiled/typedefed as double:
            //      Ogre::Real* pReal;
            float* pReal;

            for( size_t j = 0; j < vertex_data->vertexCount; ++j, vertex += vbuf->getVertexSize())
            {
                posElem->baseVertexPointerToElement(vertex, &pReal);

                Ogre::Vector3 pt(pReal[0], pReal[1], pReal[2]);

                vertices[current_offset + j] = (orient * (pt * scale)) + position;
            }

            vbuf->unlock();
            next_offset += vertex_data->vertexCount;
        }


        Ogre::IndexData* index_data = submesh->indexData;
        size_t numTris = index_data->indexCount / 3;
        Ogre::HardwareIndexBufferSharedPtr ibuf = index_data->indexBuffer;

        bool use32bitindexes = (ibuf->getType() == Ogre::HardwareIndexBuffer::IT_32BIT);

        unsigned long*  pLong = static_cast<unsigned long*>(ibuf->lock(Ogre::HardwareBuffer::HBL_READ_ONLY));
        unsigned short* pShort = reinterpret_cast<unsigned short*>(pLong);


        size_t offset = (submesh->useSharedVertices)? shared_offset : current_offset;
        size_t index_start = index_data->indexStart;
        size_t last_index = numTris*3 + index_start;

        if (use32bitindexes)
            for (size_t k = index_start; k < last_index; ++k)
            {
                indices[index_offset++] = pLong[k] + static_cast<unsigned long>( offset );
            }

        else
            for (size_t k = index_start; k < last_index; ++k)
            {
                indices[ index_offset++ ] = static_cast<unsigned long>( pShort[k] ) +
                    static_cast<unsigned long>( offset );
            }

        ibuf->unlock();
        current_offset = next_offset;
    }
}


Adapted version 2

The versions of GetMeshInformation() fails on 64 bit machines using GCC. The following version, adapted from Rumi's version, solves this issue for me:

Difference:

  • Changed type of "indices" from long (uint64) to uint32

Important:

  • Every sub mesh can contain up to 2^32 indices.
  • If the whole mesh has more than 2^32 indices, the code will crash at: indices = new Ogre::uint32[index_count]
  • In this code is no security check or special treatment for "uint32 overflow".
  • Suggestion: Use this modified code only if really needed.


void RayCastUtils::GetMeshInformation(Entity *entity,
									size_t &vertex_count,
									Ogre::Vector3* &vertices,
									size_t &index_count,
									Ogre::uint32* &indices,
									const Ogre::Vector3 &position,
									const Ogre::Quaternion &orient,
									const Ogre::Vector3 &scale)
{
	bool added_shared = false;
	size_t current_offset = 0;
	size_t shared_offset = 0;
	size_t next_offset = 0;
	size_t index_offset = 0;
	vertex_count = index_count = 0;

	Ogre::MeshPtr mesh = entity->getMesh();


	bool useSoftwareBlendingVertices = entity->hasSkeleton();

	if (useSoftwareBlendingVertices)
	{
	  entity->_updateAnimation();
	}

	// Calculate how many vertices and indices we're going to need
	for (unsigned short i = 0; i < mesh->getNumSubMeshes(); ++i)
	{
		Ogre::SubMesh* submesh = mesh->getSubMesh( i );

		// We only need to add the shared vertices once
		if(submesh->useSharedVertices)
		{
			if( !added_shared )
			{
				vertex_count += mesh->sharedVertexData->vertexCount;
				added_shared = true;
			}
		}
		else
		{
			vertex_count += submesh->vertexData->vertexCount;
		}

		// Add the indices
		index_count += submesh->indexData->indexCount;
	}


	// Allocate space for the vertices and indices
	vertices = new Ogre::Vector3[vertex_count];
	indices = new Ogre::uint32[index_count];

	added_shared = false;

	// Run through the submeshes again, adding the data into the arrays
	for ( unsigned short i = 0; i < mesh->getNumSubMeshes(); ++i)
	{
		Ogre::SubMesh* submesh = mesh->getSubMesh(i);

		//----------------------------------------------------------------
		// GET VERTEXDATA
		//----------------------------------------------------------------
		Ogre::VertexData* vertex_data;

		//When there is animation:
		if(useSoftwareBlendingVertices)
			vertex_data = submesh->useSharedVertices ? entity->_getSkelAnimVertexData() : entity->getSubEntity(i)->_getSkelAnimVertexData();
		else
			vertex_data = submesh->useSharedVertices ? mesh->sharedVertexData : submesh->vertexData;


		if((!submesh->useSharedVertices)||(submesh->useSharedVertices && !added_shared))
		{
			if(submesh->useSharedVertices)
			{
				added_shared = true;
				shared_offset = current_offset;
			}

			const Ogre::VertexElement* posElem =
				vertex_data->vertexDeclaration->findElementBySemantic(Ogre::VES_POSITION);

			Ogre::HardwareVertexBufferSharedPtr vbuf =
				vertex_data->vertexBufferBinding->getBuffer(posElem->getSource());

			unsigned char* vertex =
				static_cast<unsigned char*>(vbuf->lock(Ogre::HardwareBuffer::HBL_READ_ONLY));

			// There is _no_ baseVertexPointerToElement() which takes an Ogre::Real or a double
			//  as second argument. So make it float, to avoid trouble when Ogre::Real will
			//  be comiled/typedefed as double:
			//      Ogre::Real* pReal;
			float* pReal;

			for( size_t j = 0; j < vertex_data->vertexCount; ++j, vertex += vbuf->getVertexSize())
			{
				posElem->baseVertexPointerToElement(vertex, &pReal);

				Ogre::Vector3 pt(pReal[0], pReal[1], pReal[2]);

				vertices[current_offset + j] = (orient * (pt * scale)) + position;
			}

			vbuf->unlock();
			next_offset += vertex_data->vertexCount;
		}


		Ogre::IndexData* index_data = submesh->indexData;
		size_t numTris = index_data->indexCount / 3;
		Ogre::HardwareIndexBufferSharedPtr ibuf = index_data->indexBuffer;

		bool use32bitindexes = (ibuf->getType() == Ogre::HardwareIndexBuffer::IT_32BIT);

		void* hwBuf = ibuf->lock(Ogre::HardwareBuffer::HBL_READ_ONLY);

		size_t offset = (submesh->useSharedVertices)? shared_offset : current_offset;
		size_t index_start = index_data->indexStart;
		size_t last_index = numTris*3 + index_start;

		if (use32bitindexes) {
			Ogre::uint32* hwBuf32 = static_cast<Ogre::uint32*>(hwBuf);
			for (size_t k = index_start; k < last_index; ++k)
			{
				indices[index_offset++] = hwBuf32[k] + static_cast<Ogre::uint32>( offset );
			}
		} else {
			Ogre::uint16* hwBuf16 = static_cast<Ogre::uint16*>(hwBuf);
			for (size_t k = index_start; k < last_index; ++k)
			{
				indices[ index_offset++ ] = static_cast<Ogre::uint32>( hwBuf16[k] ) +
					static_cast<Ogre::uint32>( offset );
			}
		}

		ibuf->unlock();
		current_offset = next_offset;
	}
}


If you're using a newer version of Ogre some of the function names have changed. You'll want to change the call to GetMeshInformation() to this:

GetMeshInformation( pentity, vertex_count, vertices, index_count, indices,
               pentity->getParentNode()->_getDerivedPosition(),
               pentity->getParentNode()->_getDerivedOrientation(),
               pentity->getParentNode()->_getDerivedScale()
               );


ManualObject GetMeshInformation()

You can use this to raycast into ManualObjects too. Half-Written by PickleNinja, Help from Beauty's C# stuff here on getting triangle data from a ManualObject.

void getMeshInformation(Ogre::ManualObject *manual,
					size_t &vertex_count,
					Ogre::Vector3* &vertices,
					size_t &index_count,
					unsigned long* &indices,
					const Ogre::Vector3 &position,
					const Ogre::Quaternion &orient,
					const Ogre::Vector3 &scale)
{
	std::vector<Ogre::Vector3> returnVertices;
	std::vector<unsigned long> returnIndices;
	unsigned long thisSectionStart = 0;
	for (int i=0; i<manual->getNumSections(); i++)
	{
		Ogre::ManualObject::ManualObjectSection * section = manual->getSection(i);
		Ogre::RenderOperation * renderOp = section->getRenderOperation();
		
		std::vector<Ogre::Vector3> pushVertices;
		//Collect the vertices
		{
			const Ogre::VertexElement * vertexElement = renderOp->vertexData->vertexDeclaration->findElementBySemantic(Ogre::VES_POSITION);
			Ogre::HardwareVertexBufferSharedPtr vertexBuffer = renderOp->vertexData->vertexBufferBinding->getBuffer(vertexElement->getSource());
 
			char * verticesBuffer = (char*)vertexBuffer->lock(Ogre::HardwareBuffer::HBL_READ_ONLY);
			float * positionArrayHolder;

			thisSectionStart = returnVertices.size() + pushVertices.size();

			pushVertices.reserve(renderOp->vertexData->vertexCount);

			for (unsigned int j=0; j<renderOp->vertexData->vertexCount; j++)
			{
				vertexElement->baseVertexPointerToElement(verticesBuffer + j * vertexBuffer->getVertexSize(), &positionArrayHolder);
				Ogre::Vector3 vertexPos = Ogre::Vector3(positionArrayHolder[0],
													positionArrayHolder[1],
													positionArrayHolder[2]);

				vertexPos = (orient * (vertexPos * scale)) + position;

				pushVertices.push_back(vertexPos);
			}
 
			vertexBuffer->unlock();
		}
		//Collect the indices
		{
			if (renderOp->useIndexes)
			{
				Ogre::HardwareIndexBufferSharedPtr indexBuffer = renderOp->indexData->indexBuffer;

				if (indexBuffer.isNull() || renderOp->operationType != Ogre::RenderOperation::OT_TRIANGLE_LIST)
				{
					//No triangles here, so we just drop the collected vertices and move along to the next section.
					continue;
				}
				else
				{
					returnVertices.reserve(returnVertices.size() + pushVertices.size());
					returnVertices.insert(returnVertices.end(), pushVertices.begin(), pushVertices.end());
				}
 
				unsigned int * pLong = (unsigned int*)indexBuffer->lock(Ogre::HardwareBuffer::HBL_READ_ONLY);
				unsigned short * pShort = (unsigned short*)pLong;

				returnIndices.reserve(returnIndices.size() + renderOp->indexData->indexCount);

				for (int j = 0; j < renderOp->indexData->indexCount; j++)
				{
					unsigned long index;
					//We also have got to remember that for a multi section object, each section has
					//different vertices, so the indices will not be correct. To correct this, we 
					//have to add the position of the first vertex in this section to the index

					//(At least I think so...)
					if (indexBuffer->getType() == Ogre::HardwareIndexBuffer::IT_32BIT)
						index = (unsigned long)pLong[j] + thisSectionStart;
					else
						index = (unsigned long)pShort[j] + thisSectionStart;
 
					returnIndices.push_back(index);
				}
 
				indexBuffer->unlock();
			}
		}
	}

	//Now we simply return the data.
	index_count = returnIndices.size();
	vertex_count = returnVertices.size();
	vertices = new Ogre::Vector3[vertex_count];
	for (unsigned long i = 0; i<vertex_count; i++)
	{
		vertices[i] = returnVertices[i];
	}
	indices = new unsigned long[index_count];
	for (unsigned long i = 0; i<index_count; i++)
	{
		indices[i] = returnIndices[i];
	}

	//All done.
	return;
}

Working version for Ogre v1.7.3: Entity, ManualObject

/***************************************************************************//*!
* @brief Ray Collision Detection
* Usage: (Example with FPS view & cursor style (minecraft, cs, ...))
* @code
* //...
* Ogre::SceneManager* sceneMgr = ...
* //...
* OgreRay ray(sceneMgr);
* //...
*
* 	Ogre::Vector3 result;
* 	if( ray.RaycastFromPoint(m_camera->getPosition(), Ogre::Vector3 direction = m_camera->getDirection(), result) ){
*		printf("Your mouse is over the position %f,%f,%f (witch is textured)\n", result.x, result.y, result.z);
*	}else{
*		printf("No mouse collision\n Are you looking the sky ?\n");
* 	}
* @endcode
*/
class OgreRay
{
	private:
		Ogre::RaySceneQuery* m_raySceneQuery;//!< Ray query

	public:
		OgreRay( Ogre::SceneManager* sceneMgr );
		bool RaycastFromPoint( const Ogre::Vector3& point, const Ogre::Vector3& normal, Ogre::Vector3& result );

	private:
		static void GetMeshInformation( const Ogre::MeshPtr mesh, size_t &vertex_count, Ogre::Vector3*& vertices,  size_t& index_count, unsigned long*& indices, const Ogre::Vector3& position, const Ogre::Quaternion& orient, const Ogre::Vector3& scale );
		static void GetMeshInformation( const Ogre::ManualObject* manual, size_t& vertex_count, Ogre::Vector3*& vertices, size_t& index_count, unsigned long*& indices, const Ogre::Vector3& position, const Ogre::Quaternion& orient, const Ogre::Vector3& scale );
		static void GetMeshInformation( const Ogre::Entity* entity, size_t& vertex_count, Ogre::Vector3*& vertices, size_t& index_count, unsigned long*& indices, const Ogre::Vector3& position, const Ogre::Quaternion& orient, const Ogre::Vector3& scale );
};


/***************************************************************************//*!
* @brief Init
* @param[in] sceneMgr	Scene manager
* @return[NONE]
*/
OgreRay::OgreRay( Ogre::SceneManager* sceneMgr )
{
	m_raySceneQuery = sceneMgr->createRayQuery(Ogre::Ray(), Ogre::SceneManager::WORLD_GEOMETRY_TYPE_MASK);
	if( !m_raySceneQuery )
		printf("["__FILE__"::%u] Failed to create Ogre::RaySceneQuery instance\n", __LINE__);
	m_raySceneQuery->setSortByDistance(true);
}


/***************************************************************************//*!
* @brief Raycast from a point in to the scene.
* @param[in] point		Point to analyse
* @param[in] normal		Direction
* @param[out] result	Result ( ONLY if return TRUE )
* @return TRUE if somethings found => {result} NOT EMPTY
*/
bool OgreRay::RaycastFromPoint( const Ogre::Vector3& point, const Ogre::Vector3& normal, Ogre::Vector3& result )
{
	// create the ray to test
	Ogre::Ray ray(point,normal);

	if( !m_raySceneQuery )
		return false;

	// create a query object
	m_raySceneQuery->setRay(ray);

	// execute the query, returns a vector of hits
	if( m_raySceneQuery->execute().size() <= 0 )
		// raycast did not hit an objects bounding box
		return false;

	// at this point we have raycast to a series of different objects bounding boxes.
	// we need to test these different objects to see which is the first polygon hit.
	// there are some minor optimizations (distance based) that mean we wont have to
	// check all of the objects most of the time, but the worst case scenario is that
	// we need to test every triangle of every object.
	Ogre::Real closest_distance = -1.0f;
	Ogre::Vector3 closest_result;
	Ogre::RaySceneQueryResult& query_result = m_raySceneQuery->getLastResults();
	for( size_t qr_idx=0, size=query_result.size(); qr_idx<size; ++qr_idx )
	{
		// stop checking if we have found a raycast hit that is closer
		// than all remaining entities
		if( closest_distance >= 0.0f && closest_distance < query_result[qr_idx].distance)
			 break;

		// only check this result if its a hit against an entity
		if( query_result[qr_idx].movable )
		{
			const std::string& movableType = query_result[qr_idx].movable->getMovableType();
			// mesh data to retrieve
			size_t vertex_count;
			size_t index_count;
			Ogre::Vector3* vertices;
			unsigned long* indices;

			if( movableType == "ManualObject" ){
				// get the entity to check
				Ogre::ManualObject* pentity = static_cast<Ogre::ManualObject*>(query_result[qr_idx].movable);
				// get the mesh information
				GetMeshInformation( pentity, vertex_count, vertices, index_count, indices,
							   pentity->getParentNode()->_getDerivedPosition(),
							   pentity->getParentNode()->_getDerivedOrientation(),
							   pentity->getParentNode()->_getDerivedScale()
							   );
			}else if( movableType == "Entity" ){
				// get the entity to check
				Ogre::Entity *pentity = static_cast<Ogre::Entity*>(query_result[qr_idx].movable);
				// get the mesh information
				GetMeshInformation( pentity, vertex_count, vertices, index_count, indices,
							   pentity->getParentNode()->_getDerivedPosition(),
							   pentity->getParentNode()->_getDerivedOrientation(),
							   pentity->getParentNode()->_getDerivedScale()
							   );
			}else{
				continue;
			}

			// test for hitting individual triangles on the mesh
			bool new_closest_found=false;
			for ( int i=0; i<static_cast<int>(index_count); i += 3)
			{
				// check for a hit against this triangle
				std::pair<bool, Ogre::Real> hit = Ogre::Math::intersects(ray, vertices[indices[i]], vertices[indices[i+1]], vertices[indices[i+2]], true, false);

				// if it was a hit check if its the closest
				if( hit.first && (closest_distance < 0.0f || hit.second < closest_distance) )
				{
					// this is the closest so far, save it off
					closest_distance = hit.second;
					new_closest_found = true;
				}
			}

			// free the verticies and indicies memory
			delete[] vertices;
			delete[] indices;

			// if we found a new closest raycast for this object, update the
			// closest_result before moving on to the next object.
			if( new_closest_found )
				closest_result = ray.getPoint(closest_distance);
		}
	}

	// return the result
	if( closest_distance >= 0.0f ){
		// raycast success
		result = closest_result;
		return true;
	}
	// raycast failed
	return false;
}


void OgreRay::GetMeshInformation( const Ogre::Entity* entity, size_t& vertex_count, Ogre::Vector3*& vertices, size_t& index_count, unsigned long*& indices, const Ogre::Vector3& position, const Ogre::Quaternion& orient, const Ogre::Vector3& scale )
{
	bool added_shared = false;
	size_t current_offset = 0;
	size_t shared_offset = 0;
	size_t next_offset = 0;
	size_t index_offset = 0;
	vertex_count = index_count = 0;

	Ogre::MeshPtr mesh = entity->getMesh();


	bool useSoftwareBlendingVertices = entity->hasSkeleton();

	if( useSoftwareBlendingVertices )
		const_cast<Ogre::Entity*>(entity)->_updateAnimation();

	// Calculate how many vertices and indices we're going to need
	for( unsigned short i=0,size=mesh->getNumSubMeshes(); i<size; ++i )
	{
		Ogre::SubMesh* submesh = mesh->getSubMesh(i);

		// We only need to add the shared vertices once
		if( submesh->useSharedVertices ){
			if( !added_shared ){
				vertex_count += mesh->sharedVertexData->vertexCount;
				added_shared = true;
			}
		}else{
			vertex_count += submesh->vertexData->vertexCount;
		}

		// Add the indices
		index_count += submesh->indexData->indexCount;
	}


	// Allocate space for the vertices and indices
	vertices = new Ogre::Vector3[vertex_count];
	indices = new unsigned long[index_count];

	added_shared = false;

	// Run through the submeshes again, adding the data into the arrays
	for( unsigned short i=0, size=mesh->getNumSubMeshes(); i<size; ++i)
	{
		Ogre::SubMesh* submesh = mesh->getSubMesh(i);

		//----------------------------------------------------------------
		// GET VERTEXDATA
		//----------------------------------------------------------------

		//Ogre::VertexData* vertex_data = submesh->useSharedVertices ? mesh->sharedVertexData : submesh->vertexData;
		Ogre::VertexData* vertex_data;

		//When there is animation:
		if( useSoftwareBlendingVertices )
			vertex_data = submesh->useSharedVertices ? entity->_getSkelAnimVertexData() : entity->getSubEntity(i)->_getSkelAnimVertexData();
		else
			vertex_data = submesh->useSharedVertices ? mesh->sharedVertexData : submesh->vertexData;


		if( (!submesh->useSharedVertices) || (submesh->useSharedVertices && !added_shared) )
		{
			if( submesh->useSharedVertices ){
				added_shared = true;
				shared_offset = current_offset;
			}

			const Ogre::VertexElement* posElem = vertex_data->vertexDeclaration->findElementBySemantic(Ogre::VES_POSITION);

			Ogre::HardwareVertexBufferSharedPtr vbuf = vertex_data->vertexBufferBinding->getBuffer(posElem->getSource());

			unsigned char* vertex = static_cast<unsigned char*>(vbuf->lock(Ogre::HardwareBuffer::HBL_READ_ONLY));

			// There is _no_ baseVertexPointerToElement() which takes an Ogre::Real or a double
			//  as second argument. So make it float, to avoid trouble when Ogre::Real will
			//  be comiled/typedefed as double:
			//      Ogre::Real* pReal;
			float* pReal = 0;

			for( size_t j=0; j<vertex_data->vertexCount; ++j, vertex += vbuf->getVertexSize())
			{
				posElem->baseVertexPointerToElement(vertex, &pReal);
				Ogre::Vector3 pt(pReal[0], pReal[1], pReal[2]);
				vertices[current_offset + j] = (orient * (pt * scale)) + position;
			}

			vbuf->unlock();
			next_offset += vertex_data->vertexCount;
		}


		Ogre::IndexData* index_data = submesh->indexData;
		size_t numTris = index_data->indexCount / 3;
		Ogre::HardwareIndexBufferSharedPtr ibuf = index_data->indexBuffer;

		bool use32bitindexes = (ibuf->getType() == Ogre::HardwareIndexBuffer::IT_32BIT);

		unsigned long*  pLong = static_cast<unsigned long*>(ibuf->lock(Ogre::HardwareBuffer::HBL_READ_ONLY));
		unsigned short* pShort = reinterpret_cast<unsigned short*>(pLong);


		size_t offset = (submesh->useSharedVertices)? shared_offset : current_offset;
		size_t index_start = index_data->indexStart;
		size_t last_index = numTris*3 + index_start;

		if (use32bitindexes){
			for( size_t k = index_start; k<last_index; ++k )
				indices[index_offset++] = pLong[k] + static_cast<unsigned long>( offset );
		}else{
			for( size_t k=index_start; k<last_index; ++k )
				indices[ index_offset++ ] =
					static_cast<unsigned long>( pShort[k] ) +
					static_cast<unsigned long>( offset );
		}

		ibuf->unlock();
		current_offset = next_offset;
	}
}

// Get the mesh information for the given mesh.
// Code found in Wiki: www.ogre3d.org/wiki/index.php/RetrieveVertexData
void OgreRay::GetMeshInformation( const Ogre::MeshPtr mesh, size_t &vertex_count, Ogre::Vector3*& vertices,  size_t& index_count, unsigned long*& indices, const Ogre::Vector3& position, const Ogre::Quaternion& orient, const Ogre::Vector3& scale )
{
	bool added_shared = false;
	size_t current_offset = 0;
	size_t shared_offset = 0;
	size_t next_offset = 0;
	size_t index_offset = 0;

	vertex_count = index_count = 0;

	// Calculate how many vertices and indices we're going to need
	for( unsigned short i=0, size=mesh->getNumSubMeshes(); i<size; ++i )
	{
		Ogre::SubMesh* submesh = mesh->getSubMesh( i );

		// We only need to add the shared vertices once
		if( submesh->useSharedVertices ){
			if( !added_shared ){
				vertex_count += mesh->sharedVertexData->vertexCount;
				added_shared = true;
			}
		}else{
			vertex_count += submesh->vertexData->vertexCount;
		}

		// Add the indices
		index_count += submesh->indexData->indexCount;
	}


	// Allocate space for the vertices and indices
	vertices = new Ogre::Vector3[vertex_count];
	indices = new unsigned long[index_count];

	added_shared = false;

	// Run through the submeshes again, adding the data into the arrays
	for( unsigned short i=0, size=mesh->getNumSubMeshes(); i<size; ++i )
	{
		Ogre::SubMesh* submesh = mesh->getSubMesh(i);
		Ogre::VertexData* vertex_data = submesh->useSharedVertices ? mesh->sharedVertexData : submesh->vertexData;

		if( (!submesh->useSharedVertices) || (submesh->useSharedVertices && !added_shared) )
		{
			if( submesh->useSharedVertices ){
				added_shared = true;
				shared_offset = current_offset;
			}

			const Ogre::VertexElement* posElem = vertex_data->vertexDeclaration->findElementBySemantic(Ogre::VES_POSITION);
			Ogre::HardwareVertexBufferSharedPtr vbuf = vertex_data->vertexBufferBinding->getBuffer(posElem->getSource());

			unsigned char* vertex =	static_cast<unsigned char*>(vbuf->lock(Ogre::HardwareBuffer::HBL_READ_ONLY));

			// There is _no_ baseVertexPointerToElement() which takes an Ogre::Real or a double
			//  as second argument. So make it float, to avoid trouble when Ogre::Real will
			//  be comiled/typedefed as double:
			//      Ogre::Real* pReal;
			float* pReal;

			for( size_t j=0; j < vertex_data->vertexCount; ++j, vertex += vbuf->getVertexSize() )
			{
				posElem->baseVertexPointerToElement(vertex, &pReal);
				Ogre::Vector3 pt(pReal[0], pReal[1], pReal[2]);
				vertices[current_offset + j] = (orient * (pt * scale)) + position;
			}

			vbuf->unlock();
			next_offset += vertex_data->vertexCount;
		}


		Ogre::IndexData* index_data = submesh->indexData;
		size_t numTris = index_data->indexCount / 3;
		Ogre::HardwareIndexBufferSharedPtr ibuf = index_data->indexBuffer;
		if( ibuf.isNull() ) continue; // need to check if index buffer is valid (which will be not if the mesh doesn't have triangles like a pointcloud)

		bool use32bitindexes = (ibuf->getType() == Ogre::HardwareIndexBuffer::IT_32BIT);

		unsigned long*  pLong = static_cast<unsigned long*>(ibuf->lock(Ogre::HardwareBuffer::HBL_READ_ONLY));
		unsigned short* pShort = reinterpret_cast<unsigned short*>(pLong);


		size_t offset = (submesh->useSharedVertices)? shared_offset : current_offset;
		size_t index_start = index_data->indexStart;
		size_t last_index = numTris*3 + index_start;

		if( use32bitindexes ){
			for( size_t k=index_start; k<last_index; ++k )
			{
				indices[index_offset++] = pLong[k] + static_cast<unsigned long>( offset );
			}

		}else{
			for( size_t k=index_start; k<last_index; ++k )
			{
				indices[ index_offset++ ] =
					static_cast<unsigned long>( pShort[k] ) +
					static_cast<unsigned long>( offset );
			}
		}

		ibuf->unlock();
		current_offset = next_offset;
	}
}


void OgreRay::GetMeshInformation( const Ogre::ManualObject* manual, size_t& vertex_count, Ogre::Vector3*& vertices, size_t& index_count, unsigned long*& indices, const Ogre::Vector3& position, const Ogre::Quaternion& orient, const Ogre::Vector3& scale )
{
	std::vector<Ogre::Vector3> returnVertices;
	std::vector<unsigned long> returnIndices;
	unsigned long thisSectionStart = 0;
	for ( unsigned int i=0,size=manual->getNumSections(); i<size; ++i )
	{
		Ogre::ManualObject::ManualObjectSection* section = manual->getSection(i);
		Ogre::RenderOperation* renderOp = section->getRenderOperation();

		std::vector<Ogre::Vector3> pushVertices;
		//Collect the vertices
		{
			const Ogre::VertexElement* vertexElement = renderOp->vertexData->vertexDeclaration->findElementBySemantic(Ogre::VES_POSITION);
			Ogre::HardwareVertexBufferSharedPtr vertexBuffer = renderOp->vertexData->vertexBufferBinding->getBuffer(vertexElement->getSource());

			char* verticesBuffer = static_cast<char*>(vertexBuffer->lock(Ogre::HardwareBuffer::HBL_READ_ONLY));
			float* positionArrayHolder;

			thisSectionStart = returnVertices.size() + pushVertices.size();

			pushVertices.reserve(renderOp->vertexData->vertexCount);

			for( unsigned int j=0; j<renderOp->vertexData->vertexCount; ++j )
			{
				vertexElement->baseVertexPointerToElement(verticesBuffer + j * vertexBuffer->getVertexSize(), &positionArrayHolder);
				Ogre::Vector3 vertexPos = Ogre::Vector3(positionArrayHolder[0],positionArrayHolder[1],positionArrayHolder[2]);
				vertexPos = (orient * (vertexPos * scale)) + position;
				pushVertices.push_back(vertexPos);
			}

			vertexBuffer->unlock();
		}
		//Collect the indices
		{
			if( renderOp->useIndexes ){
				Ogre::HardwareIndexBufferSharedPtr indexBuffer = renderOp->indexData->indexBuffer;

				if( indexBuffer.isNull() || renderOp->operationType != Ogre::RenderOperation::OT_TRIANGLE_LIST ){
					//No triangles here, so we just drop the collected vertices and move along to the next section.
					continue;
				}else{
					returnVertices.reserve(returnVertices.size() + pushVertices.size());
					returnVertices.insert(returnVertices.end(), pushVertices.begin(), pushVertices.end());
				}

				unsigned int* pLong = static_cast<unsigned int*>(indexBuffer->lock(Ogre::HardwareBuffer::HBL_READ_ONLY));
				unsigned short* pShort = reinterpret_cast<unsigned short*>(pLong);

				returnIndices.reserve(returnIndices.size() + renderOp->indexData->indexCount);

				for( size_t j=0; j<renderOp->indexData->indexCount; ++j )
				{
					unsigned long index;
					//We also have got to remember that for a multi section object, each section has
					//different vertices, so the indices will not be correct. To correct this, we
					//have to add the position of the first vertex in this section to the index

					//(At least I think so...)
					if( indexBuffer->getType() == Ogre::HardwareIndexBuffer::IT_32BIT )
						index = static_cast<unsigned long>(pLong[j]) + thisSectionStart;
					else
						index = static_cast<unsigned long>(pShort[j]) + thisSectionStart;

					returnIndices.push_back(index);
				}

				indexBuffer->unlock();
			}
		}
	}

	//Now we simply return the data.
	index_count = returnIndices.size();
	vertex_count = returnVertices.size();
	vertices = new Ogre::Vector3[vertex_count];
	for( unsigned long i = 0; i<vertex_count; ++i )
		vertices[i] = returnVertices[i];
	indices = new unsigned long[index_count];
	for( unsigned long i = 0; i<index_count; ++i )
		indices[i] = returnIndices[i];

	//All done.
	return;
}

Alias: Raycasting_to_the_polygon_level