TITLE: extracting rotation, scale values from 2d transformation matrix
QUESTION [25 upvotes]: How can I extract rotation and scale values from a 2D transformation matrix?
matrix = [1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0]

matrix.rotate(45 / 180 * PI)
matrix.scale(3, 4)
matrix.translate(50, 100)
matrix.rotate(30 / 180 * PI)
matrix.scale(-2, 4)

Now my matrix have values [a, b, c, d, tx, ty]. Lets forget about the processes above and imagine that we have only the values a, b, c, d, tx, and ty. How can I find final rotation and scale values?

REPLY [2 votes]: The term for this is matrix decomposition. Here is a solution that includes skew as described by Frédéric Wang.
It operates on a 2d matrix defined as such:
$$\left[\begin{array}{ccc}
\mathrm{a} & \mathrm{c} & \mathrm{tx}\\
\mathrm{b} & \mathrm{d} & \mathrm{ty}\end{array}\right]$$
function decompose_2d_matrix(mat) {
  var a = mat[0];
  var b = mat[1];
  var c = mat[2];
  var d = mat[3];
  var e = mat[4];
  var f = mat[5];

  var delta = a * d - b * c;

  let result = {
    translation: [e, f],
    rotation: 0,
    scale: [0, 0],
    skew: [0, 0],
  };

  // Apply the QR-like decomposition.
  if (a != 0 || b != 0) {
    var r = Math.sqrt(a * a + b * b);
    result.rotation = b > 0 ? Math.acos(a / r) : -Math.acos(a / r);
    result.scale = [r, delta / r];
    result.skew = [Math.atan((a * c + b * d) / (r * r)), 0];
  } else if (c != 0 || d != 0) {
    var s = Math.sqrt(c * c + d * d);
    result.rotation =
      Math.PI / 2 - (d > 0 ? Math.acos(-c / s) : -Math.acos(c / s));
    result.scale = [delta / s, s];
    result.skew = [0, Math.atan((a * c + b * d) / (s * s))];
  } else {
    // a = b = c = d = 0
  }

  return result;
}