Click or drag to resize
SoBillboard Class

Grouping node that modifies its coordinate system so that its local Z-axis always points at the viewer.

Inheritance Hierarchy

Namespace: OIV.Inventor.Nodes
Assembly: OIV.Inventor (in OIV.Inventor.dll) Version: 10.12.3.0 (10.12.3.0)
Syntax
public class SoBillboard : SoSeparator

The SoBillboard type exposes the following members.

Constructors
  NameDescription
Public methodSoBillboard

Constructor.

Public methodSoBillboard(Int32)

Constructor that takes approximate number of children.

Top
Methods
  NameDescription
Public methodAddChild

Adds a child as last one in group.

(Inherited from SoGroup.)
Public methodAffectsState

Returns true if a node has an effect on the state during traversal.

(Inherited from SoSeparator.)
Public methodCallback
Public methodClearCacheList
(Inherited from SoSeparator.)
Public methodCopy
Calls Copy(false).
(Inherited from SoNode.)
Public methodCopy(Boolean)

Creates and returns an exact copy of the node.

(Inherited from SoNode.)
Public methodCopyFieldValues(SoFieldContainer)
Calls CopyFieldValues(fc, false).
(Inherited from SoFieldContainer.)
Public methodCopyFieldValues(SoFieldContainer, Boolean)

Copies the contents of fc's fields into this object's fields.

(Inherited from SoFieldContainer.)
Public methodDispose
Releases all resources used by SoDisposable.
(Inherited from SoDisposable.)
Public methodDistribute
(Inherited from SoNode.)
Public methodDoAction
Public methodEnableNotify

Notification at this Field Container is enabled (if flag == true) or disabled (if flag == false).

(Inherited from SoFieldContainer.)
Public methodEquals
Determines whether the specified Object is equal to the current Object.
(Inherited from Object.)
Public methodFieldsAreEqual

Returns true if this object's fields are exactly equal to fc's fields.

(Inherited from SoFieldContainer.)
Public methodFindChild

Finds index of given child within group.

(Inherited from SoGroup.)
Public methodGet

Returns the values of the fields of this object in the Open Inventor ASCII file format in the given string.

(Inherited from SoFieldContainer.)
Public methodGetAllFields

Returns a list of fields, including the eventIn's and eventOut's.

(Inherited from SoFieldContainer.)
Public methodGetAlternateRep

This method is called by actions to allow the node to provide an "alternate representation" when appropriate (typically depending on the action type).

(Inherited from SoNode.)
Public methodGetBoundingBox
Public methodGetChild

Returns pointer the child node with the given index.

(Inherited from SoGroup.)
Public methodGetEventIn

Returns a the eventIn with the given name.

(Inherited from SoFieldContainer.)
Public methodGetEventOut

Returns the eventOut with the given name.

(Inherited from SoFieldContainer.)
Public methodGetField

Returns a the field of this object whose name is fieldName.

(Inherited from SoFieldContainer.)
Public methodGetFieldName

Returns the name of the given field in the fieldName argument.

(Inherited from SoFieldContainer.)
Public methodGetFields

Appends references to all of this object's fields to resultList, and returns the number of fields appended.

(Inherited from SoFieldContainer.)
Public methodGetHashCode
Overrides GetHashCode().
(Inherited from SoNetBase.)
Public methodGetMatrix
(Inherited from SoSeparator.)
Public methodGetName

Returns the name of an instance.

(Inherited from SoBase.)
Public methodGetNumChildren

Returns number of children.

(Inherited from SoGroup.)
Public methodGetPrimitiveCount
(Inherited from SoSeparator.)
Public methodGetRenderEngineMode

Returns the supported Render engine mode.

(Inherited from SoNode.)
Public methodGetRenderUnitID
(Inherited from SoNode.)
Public methodGetStringName (Inherited from SoBase.)
Public methodGetType
Gets the Type of the current instance.
(Inherited from Object.)
Public methodGLRender
Public methodGLRenderBelowPath
(Inherited from SoSeparator.)
Public methodGLRenderInPath
(Inherited from SoSeparator.)
Public methodGLRenderOffPath
(Inherited from SoSeparator.)
Public methodGrabEventsCleanup
(Inherited from SoNode.)
Public methodGrabEventsSetup
(Inherited from SoNode.)
Public methodHandleEvent
(Inherited from SoSeparator.)
Public methodHasDefaultValues

Returns true if all of the object's fields have their default values.

(Inherited from SoFieldContainer.)
Public methodInsertChild

Adds a child so that it becomes the one with the given index.

(Inherited from SoGroup.)
Public methodIsBoundingBoxIgnoring

Used by BoundingBoxAction to known if bounding box computation should be ignored or not.

(Inherited from SoGroup.)
Public methodIsNotifyEnabled

Notification is the process of telling interested objects that this object has changed.

(Inherited from SoFieldContainer.)
Public methodIsOverride

Returns the state of the override flag.

(Inherited from SoNode.)
Public methodIsSynchronizable

Gets the ScaleViz synchronizable state of this object.

(Inherited from SoBase.)
Public methodPick
(Inherited from SoGroup.)
Public methodRayPick
Public methodRemoveAllChildren

Removes all children from group.

(Inherited from SoGroup.)
Public methodRemoveChild(Int32)

Removes child with given index from group.

(Inherited from SoGroup.)
Public methodRemoveChild(SoNode)

Removes first instance of given child from group.

(Inherited from SoGroup.)
Public methodReplaceChild(Int32, SoNode)

Replaces child with given index with new child.

(Inherited from SoGroup.)
Public methodReplaceChild(SoNode, SoNode)

Replaces first instance of given child with new child.

(Inherited from SoGroup.)
Public methodSearch
(Inherited from SoSeparator.)
Public methodSet

Sets one or more fields in this object to the values specified in the given string, which should be a string in the Open Inventor file format.

(Inherited from SoFieldContainer.)
Public methodSetName (Inherited from SoBase.)
Public methodSetOverride

Turns the override flag on or off.

(Inherited from SoNode.)
Public methodSetSynchronizable

Sets this to be a ScaleViz synchronizable object.

(Inherited from SoBase.)
Public methodSetToDefaults

Sets all fields in this object to their default values.

(Inherited from SoFieldContainer.)
Public methodToString
Converts this SoBase structure to a human readable string.
(Inherited from SoBase.)
Public methodTouch

Marks an instance as modified, simulating a change to it.

(Inherited from SoNode.)
Public methodWrite
(Inherited from SoGroup.)
Top
Properties
  NameDescription
Public propertyaxisOfRotation

Specifies which axis to use to perform the rotation.

Public propertyboundingBoxCaching
(Inherited from SoSeparator.)
Public propertyboundingBoxIgnoring

Whether to ignore this node during bounding box traversal.

(Inherited from SoGroup.)
Public propertyfastEditing

Specifies the fast edit mode of the separator node.

(Inherited from SoSeparator.)
Public propertyIsDisposable
ISafeDisposable interface implementation.
(Inherited from SoDisposable.)
Public propertypickCulling

Whether to cull during picking traversal.

(Inherited from SoSeparator.)
Public propertyrenderCaching Obsolete.

Whether to cache during rendering traversal.

(Inherited from SoSeparator.)
Public propertyrenderCulling

Whether to cull during rendering traversal.

(Inherited from SoSeparator.)
Public propertyrenderUnitId

Used during the ScaleViz depth compositing process, this field specifies which render unit (OIRU) will render the sub scene graph below this separator.

(Inherited from SoSeparator.)
Public propertyUserData
Gets or sets the user data to be contained by the field container.
(Inherited from SoFieldContainer.)
Public propertyuseSphereBBox

Specifies if the bounding box returned by OIV.Inventor.Nodes.SoBillboard.GetBoundingBox(OIV.Inventor.Actions.SoGetBoundingBoxAction) method should be extended to completely contain the bounding sphere of the children.

Top
Remarks

The OIV.Inventor.Nodes.SoBillboard node is a grouping node which modifies its coordinate system so that the billboard node's local Z-axis turns to point at the viewer. The children of an OIV.Inventor.Nodes.SoBillboard node may include other grouping nodes as well as shape nodes.

Performance:

  • OIV.Inventor.Nodes.SoBillboard nodes recompute the screen alignment transformation on every render traversal. A large number of billboard nodes will reduce performance.

  • The orientation of an OIV.Inventor.Nodes.SoBillboard depends on the current camera settings, so this node should not be render cached.

  • OIV.Inventor.Nodes.SoBillboard nodes prohibit auto-caching, so no OIV.Inventor.Nodes.SoSeparator (or other render caching node) above an OIV.Inventor.Nodes.SoBillboard in the scene graph will automatically create a render cache. This can significantly reduce performance and applications should put nodes that can be render cached (especially geometry nodes) under their own OIV.Inventor.Nodes.SoSeparator below the OIV.Inventor.Nodes.SoBillboard.

  • We recommend leaving the OIV.Inventor.Nodes.SoBillboard.useSphereBBox field set to true. This will significantly improve performance when using billboard nodes.

Export limitations:

  • OIV.Inventor.Nodes.SoBillboard can be exported to PDF3D/U3D (OIV.HardCopy.SoToPDFAction) as a group node, but due to limitations of that file format, it will not act as a billboard. In other words, the geometry will not be "screen locked".

The OIV.Inventor.Nodes.SoBillboard.axisOfRotation field specifies which axis to use to perform the rotation. This axis is defined in the local coordinates of the OIV.Inventor.Nodes.SoBillboard node. The default (0,1,0) is useful for objects such as images of trees and lamps positioned on a ground plane. But when an object is oriented at an angle, for example, on the incline of a mountain, then the OIV.Inventor.Nodes.SoBillboard.axisOfRotation may also need to be oriented at a similar angle.

A special case of billboarding is screen-alignment the object rotates to always stay aligned with the viewer even when the viewer elevates, pitches and rolls. This special case is distinguished by setting the OIV.Inventor.Nodes.SoBillboard.axisOfRotation to (0, 0, 0).

To rotate the OIV.Inventor.Nodes.SoBillboard to face the viewer, determine the line between the OIV.Inventor.Nodes.SoBillboard's origin and the viewer's position; call this the billboard-to-viewer line. The OIV.Inventor.Nodes.SoBillboard.axisOfRotation and the billboard-to-viewer line define a plane. The local z-axis of the OIV.Inventor.Nodes.SoBillboard is then rotated into that plane, pivoting around the OIV.Inventor.Nodes.SoBillboard.axisOfRotation.

If the OIV.Inventor.Nodes.SoBillboard.axisOfRotation and the billboard-to-viewer line are coincident (the same line), then the plane cannot be established, and the rotation results of the OIV.Inventor.Nodes.SoBillboard are undefined. For example, if the OIV.Inventor.Nodes.SoBillboard.axisOfRotation is set to (0,1,0) (Y-axis) and the viewer flies over the OIV.Inventor.Nodes.SoBillboard and peers directly down the Y-axis the results are undefined .

Multiple instances of SoBillboards (DEF/USE) operate as expected - each instance rotates in its unique coordinate system to face the viewer.

FILE FORMAT/DEFAULT

Billboard {
axisOfRotation 0 1 0
useSphereBBox true
}

Note Note

Node available since Open Inventor 10.0

See Also