RenderContent

Public Class

Base class for all RenderContent - RenderMaterial, RenderTexture and RenderEnvironment Contents have a unique type id which is the same for all instances of the same class and an instance id which is unique for each instance.They know how to provide a shader for rendering, how to read and write their state as XML and how to create their own user interfaces. There are two flavors of content in the RDK — temporary and persistent.It is very important to understand the distinction between a temporary content instance and a persistent content instance, and the fact that a temporary instance (and all its children) can become persistent.Persistent content is registered with a document and is usually(but not always) owned by it. Temporary contents get created and deleted very often during the normal operation of the RDK.In fact, just about anything the user clicks on might result in a temporary content being created and deleted again.They are created by the content browser, the thumbnail rendering, and so on.They are ‘free floating’ and are owned by whomever created them.They do not appear in the modeless UI, they do not get saved in the 3dm file, and they can freely be deleted again after use. Contrast this with persistent contents which are attached to a document.They are always owned by RDK, appear in the modeless UI and get saved in the 3dm file. Pointers to persistent contents should never be stored by clients; you should only store their instance ids and look them up again using RenderContent.FromId. They can be deleted only after detaching them from the document. RenderContent::Create is the highest-level function for creating a content.It creates it, initializes it, adds it to the document and sends many events.It even records undo.You cannot call this method from just anywhere. It must only be called by ‘UI code’; scripts or buttons on a dialog.It results in a persistent (usually top-level) content being attached to the document and appearing in all the RDK UI elements that display contents, like the thumbnail and tree views.If you call this method and specify a parent and child-slot name, your new content will be attached to the document-resident parent as a child and the UI will be updated accordingly. The important point is that everything is temporary while the content structure is being built. Only after the whole structure is complete will the top-level parent be attached to the document making the whole structure persistent.

Inheritance Hierarchy

System.Object
Rhino.Render.RenderContent
Rhino.Render.RenderEnvironment
Rhino.Render.RenderMaterial
Rhino.Render.RenderTexture

Namespace: Rhino.Render

Assembly: RhinoCommon (in RhinoCommon.dll)

Syntax

public abstract class RenderContent : IDisposable

The RenderContent type exposes the following members.

Properties

Name

Description

Public Property

CanBeEdited

Determines if the content can be edited.

Public Property

Methods

Name

Description

Public Method

AddAutomaticUserInterfaceSection

Add a new automatic user interface section, Field values which include prompts will be automatically added to this section.

Public Method

AddChild(RenderContent)

Obsolete.

Public Method

AddChild(RenderContent, String)

Obsolete.

Public Method
Static Member

AddPersistentRenderContent(RenderContent)

Obsolete.

Add a material, environment or texture to the internal RDK document lists as top level content. The content must have been returned from RenderContent::MakeCopy, NewContentFromType or a similar function that returns a non-document content. Obsolete - use RhinoDoc.RenderMaterials.Add or similar.

Public Method
Static Member

AddPersistentRenderContent(RhinoDoc, RenderContent)

Obsolete.

Public Method

AddUserInterfaceSection(ICollapsibleSection)

Public Method

AddUserInterfaceSection(Type, String, Boolean, Boolean)

Obsolete.

Add a new .NET control to an content expandable tab section, the height of the createExpanded tabs client area will be the initial height of the specified control.

Public Method

BeginChange

Begins a change or batch of changes. It may also make a copy of the content state allowing

EndChange.

to send an event with the old and new contents. Calls to this method are counted; you must call EndChange() once for every call to BeginChange(). Note: If Changed() was called between the calls to BeginChange() and EndChange(), the last call to EndChange() may cause the ContentChanged event to be sent.

Public Method

BeginCreateDynamicFields

Automatic Dynamic Field support. Dynamic fields are typically created in the constructor of RenderContent and they are therefore created automatically whenever the content is created. However, some advanced users require the fields to be created in response to some user action which occurs much later. This creates the problem that the fields do not exist by default and therefore cannot be loaded when the document is loaded. These methods are provided to solve that problem by making it possible to automatically create the dynamic fields on loading if they don’t already exist. Dynamic fields that have this auto-create-on-load behavior are referred to as automatic dynamic fields. Dynamic fields that do not require the advanced automatic feature can still be created by using these methods (recommended), or they can be created manually (legacy usage). You must call this before creating any dynamic fields. Calls to this method are counted; you must call EndCreateDynamicFields() once for every call to BeginCreateDynamicFields().

Public Method

BindParameterToField(String, Field, RenderContent.ChangeContexts)

Use bindings to automatically wire parameters to fields

Public Method

BindParameterToField(String, String, Field, RenderContent.ChangeContexts)

Use bindings to automatically wire parameters to fields

Protected Method

CalculateRenderHash

Obsolete.

Override this method to calculate the render hash of the state that affects how the content is rendered. Does not include children or perform any caching. Render hash values are now automatically cached by the content framework and you do not have to worry about caching. You also do not have to worry about iterating into children. This method is now only called internally by the framework, use the RenderHash property to get the current hash value.

Protected Method

CalculateRenderHash2

Public Method

ChangeChild

Obsolete.

Public Method

ChildSlotAmount

Gets the amount property for the texture in the specified child slot.

Public Method

ChildSlotNameFromParamName

A “child slot” is the specific “slot” that a child (usually a texture) occupies. This is generally the “use” of the child - in other words, the thing the child operates on. Some examples are “color”, “transparency”.

Public Method

ChildSlotOn

Gets the on-ness property for the texture in the specified child slot.

Public Method

ConvertUnits

Modify your content so that it is converted from meters into the units of the unit system. No need to call the base class when you override this, and no need to recurse into children.

Public Method
Static Member

Create(RhinoDoc, Guid)

Constructs a new content of the specified type and attaches it to a document. This function cannot be used to create temporary content that you delete after use. Content created by this function is owned by RDK and appears in the content editor. To create a temporary content which is owned by you, call RenderContentType.NewContentFromTypeId().

Public Method
Static Member

Create(RhinoDoc, Type)

Public Method
Static Member

Create(Guid, RenderContent.ShowContentChooserFlags, RhinoDoc)

Public Method
Static Member

Create(Type, RenderContent.ShowContentChooserFlags, RhinoDoc)

Public Method
Static Member

Create(RhinoDoc, Guid, RenderContent, String)

Public Method
Static Member

Create(RhinoDoc, Type, RenderContent, String)

Public Method
Static Member

Create(Guid, RenderContent, String, RenderContent.ShowContentChooserFlags, RhinoDoc)

Public Method
Static Member

Create(Type, RenderContent, String, RenderContent.ShowContentChooserFlags, RhinoDoc)

Public Method

CreateDynamicField

Create a dynamic field with an initial value and min and max limits.

Public Method

DeleteAllChildren

Public Method

DeleteChild

Public Method

Dispose.

Releases all resources used by the RenderContent

Protected Method

Dispose(Boolean)

Dispose

Public Method

DynamicIcon

Public Method

Edit

This method allows a render content hierarchy to be edited using a modal (AKA ‘pop-up’) editor. If the original render content is in a document, it will remain there, and the edited one will be ‘free-floating’. Therefore it is the caller’s responsibility to do any replacement in the document if required. The returned new content will be owned by the caller.

Public Method

EndChange

Ends a change or batch of changes. Calls to this method are counted; you must call this method once for every call to

BeginChange(RenderContent.ChangeContexts)

. Note: If

BeginChange(RenderContent.ChangeContexts)

was called with ChangeContexts.UI, ChangeContexts.Program, ChangeContexts.Drop or ChangeContexts.UI.Tree and Changed() was called between the calls to

BeginChange(RenderContent.ChangeContexts)

and EndChange(), the last call to EndChange() will raise the

ContentChanged

event.

Public Method

EndCreateDynamicFields

You must call this after creating dynamic fields. Calls to this method are counted; you must call BeginCreateDynamicFields() once for every call to EndCreateDynamicFields().

Public Method

Equals

Determines whether the specified object is equal to the current object.

(Inherited from Object.)

Public Method

Factory

Protected Method

Finalize

Finalizer

(Overrides Object.Finalize..)

Public Method

FindChild

Public Method

ForDisplay

**** This method is for proxies and will be marked obsolete in the future **** The only place a single proxy can be displayed is in the New Content Control main thumbnail. All other attempts to use a single proxy in a UI require it to be replaced with the corresponding multi proxy. Single proxies override this to find the corresponding multi proxy.

Public Method
Static Member

FromId

Search for a content object based on its Id

Public Method
Static Member

FromXml(String)

Obsolete.

Public Method
Static Member

FromXml(String, RhinoDoc)

Creates a new content from the XML data. The resulting content will not be attached to the document.

Public Method
Static Member

GenerateQuickContentPreview

Generate a quick render content preview

Public Method
Static Member

GenerateRenderContentPreview

Generate a render content preview

Public Method

GetChildSlotParameter

Extra requirements are a way of specifying extra functionality on parameters in the automatic UI. Override this function to specify additional functionality for automatic UI sections or the texture summary. See IAutoUIExtraRequirements.h in the C++ RDK SDK for string definitions for the parameter names. Call the base class from your override if you do not support the extra requirement parameter. Please do not call this function. It is only retained for backward compatibility. You should instead call GetExtraRequirementParameter().

Public Method

GetEmbeddedFilesList

Public Method

GetExtraRequirementParameter

Extra requirements are a way of specifying extra functionality on parameters in the automatic UI. See IAutoUIExtraRequirements.h in the C++ RDK SDK for string definitions for the parameter names.

Public Method

GetHashCode

Serves as the default hash function.

(Inherited from Object.)

Public Method

GetParameter

Query the content instance for the value of a given named parameter. If you do not support this parameter, call the base class.

Public Method

GetType

Gets the Type of the current instance.

(Inherited from Object.)

Public Method

GetUiHash

This allows a content to have more than one UI for the same content type.

Public Method

GetUnderlyingInstances

Public Method

Icon

Public Method

Initialize

Obsolete.

Public Method

IsCompatible

Public Method

IsContentTypeAcceptableAsChild

Public Method

IsFactoryProductAcceptableAsChild(ContentFactory, String)

Public Method

IsFactoryProductAcceptableAsChild(Guid, String, String)

Override this method to restrict the type of acceptable child content. The default implementation of this method returns true if the factory kind is ‘texture’.

Public Method

IsReference

Query whether or not the content or any of its ancestors is a reference content.

Public Method

IsRenderHashCached

Obsolete.

This method is deprecated and no longer called. For more information see

CalculateRenderHash(UInt64)

Public Method
Static Member

LoadFromFile

Loads content from a library file. Does not add the content to the document. Use RhinoDoc.RenderMaterials.Add or similar.

Public Method

MakeCopy

Create a copy of the render content. All content is the same, except for the instance Id.

Public Method

MakeGroupInstance

Create an ‘instance’ of the content hierarchy and group the new hierarchy with this hierarchy. If the instance is subsequently attached to the same document, the state of all members of the group will be kept synchronized. With the exception of the instance ids, all state is exactly preserved in the new instance hierarchy. \note The grouping will have no effect until the new instance is attached to the same document.

Public Method

MatchData

Implement to transfer data from another content to this content during creation.

Protected Method

MemberwiseClone

Creates a shallow copy of the current Object.

(Inherited from Object.)

Protected Method

ModifyRenderContentStyles

Public Method

NewPreviewSceneServer

Gets the PreviewSceneServer of the content

Protected Method

OnAddUserInterfaceSections

Override to provide UI sections to display in the editor.

Protected Method

OnGetDefaultsInteractive

Override this method to prompt user for information necessary to create a new content object. For example, if you are created a textured material you may prompt the user for a bitmap file name prior to creating the textured material.

Protected Method

OnMakeCopy

Override this function to supplement the standard copying behavour for your RenderContent.

Public Method

OpenInEditor

Call this method to open the content in the relevant thumbnail editor and select it for editing by the user. The content must be in the document or the call will fail.

Public Method

OpenInModalEditor

Obsolete.

Call this method to open the content in the a modal version of the editor. The content must be in the document or the call will fail.

Public Method

ParamNameFromChildSlotName

Public Method
Static Member

RegisterContent(PlugIn)

Call RegisterContent in your plug-in’s OnLoad function in order to register all of the custom RenderContent classes in your assembly.

Public Method
Static Member

RegisterContent(Assembly, Guid)

Call RegisterContent in your plug-in’s OnLoad function in order to register all of the custom RenderContent classes in your assembly.

Public Method

RenderHashExclude(CrcRenderHashFlags, String)

As RenderHash, but allows you to specify flags and exclude specific parameters.

Public Method

RenderHashExclude(TextureRenderHashFlags, String)

This method is deprecated in favor of the one that takes CrcRenderHashFlags.

Public Method

RenderHashExclude(CrcRenderHashFlags, String, LinearWorkflow)

As RenderHash, but allows you to specify flags and exclude specific parameters. Use this version of the function to calculate a render hash when you have the linear workflow information and you are not running on the main thread. Access to LinearWorkflow data requires document access. CrcRenderHashFlags.ExcludeLinearWorkflow must be specified.

Public Method

Replace

Public Method

SaveToFile

Saves content to a file - RMTL, RENV or RTEX.

Public Method

SetChild(RenderContent, String)

Set another content as a child of this content. This content may or may not be attached to a document. If this content already has a child with the specified child slot name, that child will be deleted. If this content is not attached to a document, the child will be added without sending any events. If this content is attached to a document, the necessary events will be sent to update the UI. Note: Do not call this method to add children in your constructor. If you want to add default children, you should override Initialize() and add them there.

Public Method

SetChild(RenderContent, String, RenderContent.ChangeContexts)

Obsolete.

Public Method

SetChildSlotAmount

Sets the amount property for the texture in the specified child slot.

Public Method

SetChildSlotOn

Sets the on-ness property for the texture in the specified child slot.

Public Method

SetChildSlotParameter

Extra requirements are a way of specifying extra functionality on parameters in the automatic UI. Override this function to support values being set from automatic UI sections or the texture summary. See IAutoUIExtraRequirements.h in the C++ RDK SDK for string definitions for the parameter names. Call the base class from your override if you do not support the extra requirement parameter. Please do not call this function. It is only retained for backward compatibility. You should instead call SetExtraRequirementParameter().

Public Method

SetExtraRequirementParameter

Extra requirements are a way of specifying extra functionality on parameters in the automatic UI. See IAutoUIExtraRequirements.h in the C++ RDK SDK for string definitions for the parameter names.

Public Method

SetIsRenderHashRecursive

By default, RenderHash recurses into children when computing the render hash. However, some applications may require children to be excluded from the render hash calculation. Call this method to enable or disable recursing into children. see

RenderHash

Public Method

SetName

Set instance name for this content

Public Method

SetParameter(String, Object)

Set the named parameter value for this content instance. If you do not support this parameter, call the base class.

Public Method

SetParameter(String, Object, RenderContent.ChangeContexts)

Obsolete.

Set the named parameter value for this content instance. If you do not support this parameter, call the base class.

Public Method

SetRenderHash

Obsolete.

This method is deprecated and no longer called. For more information see

CalculateRenderHash(UInt64)

Public Method

SmartUngroupRecursive

Remove this content and all its children from any instance groups they may be a member of. If any content in the same document is left alone in the group, that content is also ungrouped. Records undo and sends events OnContentChanged and OnContentGroupIdChanged. \note This method is designed to be called from a content UI and is intended for RDK internal use but may be used as an expert user override.

Public Method

ToString

Returns a string that represents the current object.

(Inherited from Object.)

Public Method

Ungroup

Remove this content from any instance group it may be a member of. Does not record undo but does send the OnContentGroupIdChanged event.

Public Method

UngroupRecursive

Remove this content and all its children from any instance groups they may be a member of. Does not record undo but does send the OnContentGroupIdChanged event.

Public Method

Uninitialize

Obsolete.

Public Method

UseCount

UseCount returns how many times the content is used

Public Method

VirtualIcon

Icon to display in the content browser, this bitmap needs to be valid for the life of this content object, the content object that returns the bitmap is responsible for disposing of the bitmap.

Events

Name

Description

Public Event
Static Member

ContentAdded

Used to monitor render content addition to the document.

Public Event
Static Member

ContentChanged

Used to monitor render content modifications.

Public Event
Static Member

ContentDeleted

Used to monitor render content deletion from the document.

Public Event
Static Member

ContentDeleting

Used to monitor render content deletion from the document.

Public Event
Static Member

ContentFieldChanged

This event is raised when a field value is modified.

Public Event
Static Member

ContentRenamed

Used to monitor render content renaming in the document.

Public Event
Static Member

ContentReplaced

Used to monitor render content replacing in the document.

Public Event
Static Member

ContentReplacing

Used to monitor render content replacing in the document.

Public Event
Static Member

ContentUpdatePreview

Used to monitor render content preview updates.

Public Event
Static Member

CurrentEnvironmentChanged

Event fired when changes to current environments have been made. This will be one of Background, Reflection or Skylighting Since 6.11

Public Event
Static Member

PreviewRendered

This event is raised when a preview has been rendered