Collision detection actually has nothing at all to do with matrices in regards to meshes. All you do is make bounding spheres/boxes around the meshes you want to check and use a simple geometry formula to calculate if the spheres or boxes collide. Here's a basic sphere collision detection function written in C++:
Code:
BOOL CheckSphereCollision( float XCenter1, float YCenter1, float ZCenter1, float Radius1,
float XCenter2, float YCenter2, float ZCenter2, float Radius2 )
{
float XDifference, YDifference, ZDifference, Distance;
XDifference = (float)fabs(XCenter2 - XCenter1);
YDifference = (float)fabs(YCenter2 - YCenter1);
ZDifference = (float)fabs(ZCenter2 - ZCenter1);
Distance = (float)sqrt(XDifference*XDifference+YDifference*YDifference+ZDifference*ZDifference);
if( Distance <= (Radius1+Radius2))
return TRUE; // INTERSECTION HAPPENED
return FALSE; // NO INTERSECTION
}
Conclusion: Google.com is packed and packed full of information about everything. Use it to your advantage.