Scene Graph Generator Plug-ins

group SG

The Scenegraph Generator plug-in API The Scenegraph Generator API can be extended to create arbitrary scenegraph structures through simple and well defined procedures. When designing, for example, a geometry format importer this is the API that should be used.

The core idea is that the main entry point for a new plug-in extends ScenegraphGenerator. It can accept arguments and return a context (ScenegraphContext) responsible for the creation of the first location of the portion of Scenegraph generated by the plugin (referred as the root location of the Scenegraph Generator).

The root and any other subsequent ScenegraphContexts return their sibling and child context as well as any attributes which define the nodes. This tells the Scenegraph Generator API how to traverse through the user defined contexts, starting from the root, which in turn populates the scenegraph with the desired Locations (with their attributes and values).

In order to create a Scenegraph Generator Plugin the ScenegraphGenerator abstract class must be extended and registered using the DEFINE_SGG_PLUGIN(class) and the REGISTER_PLUGIN(class, name, major_version, minor_version) macros.

In order to use these plugins a ScenegraphGeneratorSetup node should be used. The plugin will execute with an implicit resolver (triggered by a render, for example) or forced to resolve by using the ScenegraphGeneratorResolve node.

class ScenegraphGenerator
#include <FnScenegraphGenerator.h>

The main entry point for the plug-in. Any new plug-in must extend this interface (once per plug-in). It tells Katana which arguments the plug-in takes and what is the ScenegraphContext responsible for generating the root Location.

Public Functions

ScenegraphGenerator()
virtual ~ScenegraphGenerator()
virtual bool setArgs(GroupAttribute args) = 0

Prior to running the plug-in, this method defines which arguments this plug-in listens for and can therefore be sent in through Katana.

Note: Katana reserves the top-level “system” argument for the arguments passed in automatically. Adding an expected arg beginning with “system.” produces an error. Here the arguments defined by getArgumentTemplate are received from Katana where they can be used at runtime by the plug-in.

Parameters
  • args -

    The arguments defined in getArgumentTemplate

virtual bool checkArgs(GroupAttribute args)

...

virtual ScenegraphContext *getRoot() = 0

Returns a context to the root node in the scenegraph.

This is the first step of traversing the contexts in order to create a scenegraph structure where the subsequent steps will involve retrieving the child and sibling nodes.

Public Static Functions

static GroupAttribute getArgumentTemplate()

A static function that allows Katana to query the AMP about which arguments it expects. This should return a GroupAttribute with the same structure as the one that is passed to the constructor, in which the Attribute values will be the default values of the correspondent AMP argument.

class ScenegraphContext
#include <FnScenegraphGenerator.h>

Class responsible for providing Katana the information needed to generate a Location.

Each context implemented in a custom plug-in must extend this class. Typically, at least two contexts are required where the first context is used for the root node which is appended to the scenegraph, while the second context (and others) is used for a specific node type that is required to create the necessary node types (structures, geometry, etc.).

Public Functions

ScenegraphContext()
virtual ~ScenegraphContext()
virtual ScenegraphContext *getFirstChild() const = 0

Returns a context to the first child node in the scenegraph.

Note: Returning a null context is done through ‘return 0x0;’ such as in the case for the context for a leaf node.

virtual ScenegraphContext *getNextSibling() const = 0

Returns a context to the next sibling in the scenegraph.

Note: Returning a null context is done through ‘return 0x0;’ such as in the case for the context for a root node.

virtual void getLocalAttrNames(std::vector<std::string> *names) const = 0

Prior to using the plug-in, this method defines which attributes this context has defined and will be generated at runtime (through getLocalAttrNames).

Parameters
  • names -

    A reference to the vector that will contain the attributes for this context

virtual Attribute getLocalAttr(const std::string &name) const = 0

Set the attribute values.

The API calls this method with the attribute names that were set using getLocalAttrNames (called as many times as the number of defined attributes). The method should return a Attribute object based on what attribute was passed in.

Parameters
  • name -

    An arbitrary attribute name which forms a subset of the attributes defined using getLocalAttrNames for this context.