After starting the 3DPI, the Member-Tab is automatically selected,
because in this Tab a 3D member can be choosen to examine and
modify all its content and details.
The member-Tab offers:
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1) a list of members in the top part of the 3DPI window,
where 3d members can also be created, renamed, deleted and where
one specific 3d member can be selected to view and edit its
content.
2) a summary of all objects, which the selected 3d member
contains. The numbers of all its textures, shaders, motions,
ModelResources, models, lights, cameras and groups are displayed
here.
3) member functions and properties to reset the selected
member, to load 3D-models into it, and more.
4) the parent-child hierachy to view and edit the structure
of all Nodes, that are visible in the 3d world. This hiearchy
also offers special features, like hiliting a model or pointing
a camera to a specific Node.
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Selecting a 3d member
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In the top part of the 3DPI window all 3d members are listed.
This members are either of type #shockwave3d or of type #text,
if the 'displayMode' property of the text is set to #mode3D.
Click on one member in the list to select it. The selected
member can be recognized by a white hilite, and furthormore
the name of the selected member appears in the top row of the
3DPI window.
When selecting one of the Sub-Tabs (Texture-, Shader-, Motion-,
ModelResource-, Model-, Light-, Camera- and Group-Tab) to view
details of the member objects, it will always be clear, which
member is the selected one, because its name will remain on
top of the 3DPI permanently.
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The Sub-Tabs itself are not available (greyed out) as long
as no 3d member is choosen, but as soon as one member is selected,
they become active.
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The bottom part of the 3DPI window is also empty as
long as no member is selected, but displays alot of informations,
as soon as you made your member selection.
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Within a new shockwave3D member there is always
- 1 default texture,
- 1 default shader,
- 1 default motion,
- 1 default modelResource,
- 2 lights,
- the default camera,
- and the group "world".
Except of the lights, all these default objects cannot be deleted.
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The Lingo syntax to get this 8 values are:
theMember.texture.count
theMember.shader.count
theMember.motion.count
theMember.modelResource.count
theMember.model.count
theMember.light.count
theMember.camera.count
theMember.group.count
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The 3DPI of course updates the current number of objects depending
on the selected 3d member, and so gives a quick overview of
its content.
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Member functions and properties
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The 3DPI offers the following member functions: resetWorld,
revertToWorldDefaults, loadFile, cloneModelFromCastMember and
cloneMotionFromCastMember. Please read more informations about
this functions in the Director Help.
Only one member property can be found in the 3DPI: the property
#debugFlags, which is an undocummented, but very useful property.
It offers the possibility to display axis and bounding spheres
of all models, the world and lights.
Please
note that #debugFlags are not visible with the software
renderer.
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NOTE:
All other Member properties and functions can be found within
the Property Inspector of Director. |
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Parent-child hierachy
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First of all the parent-child hierachy reveals the relationship
between all Nodes (models, lights, cameras and groups), that
your 3d world includes. The top most Node is always the group
"world".
A triangle beside a Node explains that a Node has children.
Click on a triangle to collapse or uncollapse it, and so to
display or hide the Nodes children.
The number of displayed nodes in the parent-child hierachy
is limited for performance reasons, but you can change this
limit in the 3DPI Preferences.
A list of Nodes, that are removed from world, is currently not
implemented in the parent-child hieachy.
Besides of getting an overview of the Nodes relationship, the
parent-child hierachy also offers some more features:
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Changing a Nodes Parent
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As example a shockwave3d scene is prepared including
2 cylinders and a ball, which is placed heigher than the cylinders.
The parent of all 3 models is the 'world', so the 3DPI lists
them below each other.
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To change the parent of the ball, drag the balls icon e.g.
on the row of the model "cyl_red", the red cylinder.
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| The new parent of the ball has changed to the red cylinder,
and so its position is not anymore relative to the worlds center,
but relative to the center of the red cylinder. |
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| When dragging the balls icon above the row of the yellow cylinder,
this will become the new parent of the ball. |
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TIP:
When changing a Nodes parent by dragging its icon in the parent-child
hierachy, the Node will be added to the new Parent #preserveParent
specific, which means the parent-relative transform of the child
remains unchanged.
If the option key (= alt key) is pressed when releasing
the Nodes icon, the Node will be added to the new parent #preserveWorld
specific, which means the world transform of the child remains
unchanged.
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Pointing a camera to a Node
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The target of the cameras view can also be changed quickly
in the parent-child hierachy: click on the 'target' icon, which
can be found to the right of all listed cameras, and drag the
icon onto the line of another Node, where the camera should
point at.
The pictures on the right demonstrate a scene with 4 cylinders,
placed side by side. By dragging the cameras 'target' icon on
the line of "cyl_red", the red cylinder becomes the
center of the cameras viewpoint, and so appears in the middle
of the shockwave3d scene.
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When having a shockwave3d scene with models, that are
hard to recognize by their name, the 3DPI offers an easy way
to identify a model:
Click on the 'hilite' icon, which is placed right to all listed
models in the parent-child hierachy, and the model will hilite
as long as the icon is pressed.
Please Note: There are some situations
a model can not be seen, although it currently is hilited:
- if another model is placed in front of the hilited model
- if the hilited model is not placed within the view of the
camera
- if the hilited model has no valid ModelResource
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When clicking directly on the name of a Node, that is
listed in the parent-child hierachy, the 3DPI switches to the
specific Tab (Model-, Light-, Camera-, or Group-Tab) and selects
the Node you clicked on. This is the quickest way to examine
or modify all details of a Node.
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