SoQuadMesh(3)

NAME
SoQuadMesh - The SoQuadMesh class is used to render and optimize a quadrilateral mesh.

SYNOPSIS

#include <Inventor/nodes/SoQuadMesh.h>

Inherits SoNonIndexedShape.

  Public Member Functions
virtual SoType getTypeId (void) const
SoQuadMesh (void)
virtual void GLRender (SoGLRenderAction *action)
virtual void getPrimitiveCount (SoGetPrimitiveCountAction *action)
virtual SbBool generateDefaultNormals (SoState *state, SoNormalBundle *nb)

  Static Public Member Functions
static SoType getClassTypeId (void)
static void initClass (void)

  Public Attributes
SoSFInt32 verticesPerColumn
SoSFInt32 verticesPerRow

  Protected Member Functions
virtual const SoFieldData * getFieldData (void) const
virtual ~SoQuadMesh ()
virtual void generatePrimitives (SoAction *action)
virtual void computeBBox (SoAction *action, SbBox3f &box, SbVec3f &center)
virtual SbBool generateDefaultNormals (SoState *, SoNormalCache *)

  Static Protected Member Functions
static const SoFieldData ** getFieldDataPtr (void)

  Additional Inherited Members

Detailed Description

The SoQuadMesh class is used to render and optimize a quadrilateral mesh. This node uses the coordinates in order, either from the state or from the SoQuadMesh::vertexProperty node, to construct a quadrilateral mesh.

The quads are generated in row major order, using the two fields SoQuadMesh::verticesPerColumn and SoQuadMesh::verticesPerRow to specify the mesh. E.g. if SoQuadMesh::verticesPerColumn is 3 and SoQuadMesh::verticesPerRow is 2, two quads will be generated with the first one using (in order) coordinates 0, 1, 3 and 2, the second one using coordinates 2, 3, 5 and 4 (you get three rows of vertices; the first row uses vertices 0 and 1, the second row 2 and 3, and the third row 4 and 5).

Here's a quick and simple usage example code snippet:

// Vertices for the Quad mesh.
static float vertices[25][3] = {
  // Row 1
  {-11, 0, 1}, {0, 11, 1}, {11, 0, 1}, {0, -11, 1}, {-11, 0, 1},
  // Row 2
  {-9, 0, 1}, {0, 9, 1}, {9, 0, 1}, {0, -9, 1}, {-9, 0, 1},
  // Row 3
  {-9, 0, -1}, {0, 9, -1}, {9, 0, -1}, {0, -9, -1}, {-9, 0, -1},
  // Row 4
  {-11, 0, -1}, {0, 11, -1}, {11, 0, -1}, {0, -11, -1}, {-11, 0, -1},
  // Row 5
  {-11, 0, 1}, {0, 11, 1}, {11, 0, 1}, {0, -11, 1}, {-11, 0, 1}
};
// This function generates an object by using the SoQuadMesh node
// Return:
//  SoSeparator *
static SoSeparator *
quadMesh(void)
{
  SoSeparator * qm = new SoSeparator;
  // Define coordinates
  SoCoordinate3 * coords = new SoCoordinate3;
  coords->point.setValues(0, 30, vertices);
  qm->addChild(coords);
  // QuadMesh
  SoQuadMesh * mesh = new SoQuadMesh;
  mesh->verticesPerRow = 5;
  mesh->verticesPerColumn = 5;
  qm->addChild(mesh);
  return qm;
}

The quadmesh geometry resulting from this code looks like this:

 Rendering of Example Scenegraph

Here is another example, this time making a 2x2 grid, with a texture:

#Inventor V2.1 ascii
Separator {
  Complexity { textureQuality 0.01 }
  Texture2 {
    image 2 2 4 0xff0000ff 0x00ff00ff 0xffff00ff 0xff00ffff
  }
  Coordinate3 {
    point [
      0 2 0,
      1 2 0,
      2 2 0,
      0 1 0,
      1 1 0,
      2 1 0,
      0 0 0,
      1 0 0,
      2 0 0
    ]
  }
  QuadMesh {
    verticesPerRow 3
    verticesPerColumn 3
  }
}

For SoQuadMesh, normals and materials can be bound PER_PART (per row), PER_FACE, PER_VERTEX and OVERALL. The default material binding is OVERALL. The default normal binding is PER_VERTEX.

A note about SoQuadMesh shading: the quads in the mesh are just passed on to OpenGL's GL_QUAD primitive rendering. Under certain circumstances, this can lead to artifacts in how your meshes are shaded. This is an inherent problem with drawing quads in meshes.

There is a work around solution for the above mentioned problem that can be applied with Coin: by setting the global environment variable COIN_QUADMESH_PRECISE_LIGHTING to '1', the quads will be broken up in triangles before rendered, and shading will likely look much better. Be aware that this technique causes rendering of the SoQuadMesh to slow down by an approximate factor of 6.

The 'precise lighting' technique is currently limited to work only when SoQuadMesh rendering is parameterized with 3D coordinates, a material binding that is not per vertex, and if texture mapping is done is must be without using any of the SoTextureCoordinateFunction subclass nodes.

FILE FORMAT/DEFAULTS:

QuadMesh {
    vertexProperty NULL
    startIndex 0
    verticesPerColumn 1
    verticesPerRow 1
}

See also
    SoTriangleStripSet SoIndexedTriangleStripSet

Constructor & Destructor Documentation

  SoQuadMesh::SoQuadMesh (void)
Constructor.

  SoQuadMesh::~SoQuadMesh () [protected], [virtual]
Destructor.

Member Function Documentation

  SoType SoQuadMesh::getClassTypeId (void) [static]
This static method returns the SoType object associated with objects of this class.

  SoType SoQuadMesh::getTypeId (void) const [virtual]
Returns the type identification of an object derived from a class inheriting SoBase. This is used for runtime type checking and 'downward' casting.

Reimplemented from SoNonIndexedShape.

  const SoFieldData ** SoQuadMesh::getFieldDataPtr (void) [static], [protected]
This API member is considered internal to the library, as it is not likely to be of interest to the application programmer.
 Returns the SoFieldData class which holds information about fields in this node.

  const SoFieldData * SoQuadMesh::getFieldData (void) const [protected], [virtual]
Returns a pointer to the class-wide field data storage object for this instance. If no fields are present, returns NULL.

Reimplemented from SoNonIndexedShape.

  void SoQuadMesh::initClass (void) [static]

  void SoQuadMesh::GLRender (SoGLRenderAction * action) [virtual]
Action method for the SoGLRenderAction.

This is called during rendering traversals. Nodes influencing the rendering state in any way or want to throw geometry primitives at OpenGL override this method.

Reimplemented from SoShape.

  void SoQuadMesh::getPrimitiveCount (SoGetPrimitiveCountAction * action) [virtual]
Action method for the SoGetPrimitiveCountAction.

Calculates the number of triangle, line segment and point primitives for the node and adds these to the counters of the action.

Nodes influencing how geometry nodes calculate their primitive count also override this method to change the relevant state variables.

Reimplemented from SoShape.

  SbBool SoQuadMesh::generateDefaultNormals (SoState * state, SoNormalBundle * bundle) [virtual]
This API member is considered internal to the library, as it is not likely to be of interest to the application programmer.
 Subclasses should override this method to generate default normals using the SoNormalBundle class. TRUE should be returned if normals were generated, FALSE otherwise.

Default method returns FALSE.

This function is an extension for Coin, and it is not available in the original SGI Open Inventor v2.1 API.

Reimplemented from SoVertexShape.

  void SoQuadMesh::generatePrimitives (SoAction * action) [protected], [virtual]
The method implements action behavior for shape nodes for SoCallbackAction. It is invoked from SoShape::callback(). (Subclasses should not override SoNode::callback().)

The subclass implementations uses the convenience methods SoShape::beginShape(), SoShape::shapeVertex(), and SoShape::endShape(), with SoDetail instances, to pass the primitives making up the shape back to the caller.

Implements SoShape.

  void SoQuadMesh::computeBBox (SoAction * action, SbBox3f & box, SbVec3f & center) [protected], [virtual]
Implemented by SoShape subclasses to let the SoShape superclass know the exact size and weighted center point of the shape's bounding box.

The bounding box and center point should be calculated and returned in the local coordinate system.

The method implements action behavior for shape nodes for SoGetBoundingBoxAction. It is invoked from SoShape::getBoundingBox(). (Subclasses should not override SoNode::getBoundingBox().)

The box parameter sent in is guaranteed to be an empty box, while center is undefined upon function entry.

Implements SoShape.

  SbBool SoQuadMesh::generateDefaultNormals (SoState * state, SoNormalCache * cache) [protected], [virtual]
This API member is considered internal to the library, as it is not likely to be of interest to the application programmer.
 Subclasses should override this method to generate default normals using the SoNormalCache class. This is more effective than using SoNormalGenerator. Return TRUE if normals were generated, FALSE otherwise.

Default method just returns FALSE.

This function is an extension for Coin, and it is not available in the original SGI Open Inventor v2.1 API.

Reimplemented from SoVertexShape.

Member Data Documentation

  SoSFInt32 SoQuadMesh::verticesPerColumn
Specifies to number of vertices in each column.

  SoSFInt32 SoQuadMesh::verticesPerRow
Specifies the number of vertices in each row.

Author

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