jit.gl.model

Read and draw various 3D model formats

Description

jit.gl.model Reads and draws a variety of 3D model formats, such as OBJ, Collada, and Blender. Only tessellated polygons are drawn, and surfaces that are not tessellated are converted before drawing. Certain model formats, such as Collada, support skinned animation.

Examples

Discussion

This object requires one argument: the name of a drawing context. A named drawing context is a named instance of a jit.window, jit.pwindow, or jit.matrix object that has an instance of the jit.gl.render object associated with it. Additionally it can reference the name of a jit.gl.node sub-context. This value may also be set via the OB3D drawto attribute. If no argument is present, the object is implicitly added to the first valid drawing context or sub-context found in the current patch or by searching up the patcher hierarchy.
Supported model file types include:
Wavefront Object Model File
Collada Model File
Blender 3D Model File
3ds Max 3DS Model File
3ds Max ASE Model File
Stanford Polygon Library Model File
AutoCAD DXF Model File
LightWave Model File
Modo Model File
Stereolithography Model File
AC3D Model File
Milkshape 3D Model File
TrueSpace COB Model File
TrueSpace SCB Model File
Valve SMD Model File
Valve VTA Model File
Quake I Mesh File
Quake II Mesh File
Quake III Mesh File
Quake III BSP File
Return to Castle Wolfenstein Model File
Doom 3 Model File
Biovision BVH Motion Capture File
CharacterStudio Motion Capture File
Direct X Model File
BlitzBasic 3D Model File
Quick3D Q3D Model File
Quick3D Q3S Model File
Ogre3D XML Model File
Irrlicht Mesh File
Irrlicht Scene File
Neutral File Format File
Sense8 WorldToolKit File
Object File Format File
PovRAY Raw Model File
Terragen Terrain File
3D GameStudio Model File
3D GameStudio Terrain File
Izware Nendo Model File
For more information see the Assimp website.

Attributes

animblendmode [int]

Determine how multiple enabled animations will be blended (default = 0 - Average).

Possible values:

0 = 'Average' ( Weights will be averaged to equal 1 )
1 = 'Cumulative' ( Weights will be added and can go greater than 1 )

cache_mode [symbol]

The mode to use for the geometry cache (default = var). Synonym for mode.

Possible values:

'displaylist'
'vertexarray'
'vertexbuffer'
'immediate'

displaylist [int]

Cache in displaylist flag (default = 0). This feature may be used to speed up rendering time by creating and storing a list of gl drawing commands on the graphics card. This will have no effect if matrixoutput turned on, and will prevent model animation when enabled.

drawgroup [int]

If non-zero, draw only one mesh. If zero, draw all mesh groups in the model (default = 0).

drawskeleton [int]

If enabled draw a wireframe representation of the bones in the model (default = 0).

file [symbol]

Load a model file

find_instances [int]

Mesh instance removal on import (default = 1). An optional post-processing step when importing the model file. Instanced meshes are removed by referencing one master.

fix_normals [int]

Fix normals on import (default = 0). An optional post-processing step when importing the model file. Tries to fix normal vectors that are facing inwards.

gen_normals [int]

Generate normals on import (default = 1). An optional post-processing step when importing the model file.

gen_tangents [int]

Generate tangents on import (default = 1). An optional post-processing step when importing the model file. Calculates tangents and bitangents if possible.

hasbones [int]

g/s(get)

Indicates whether the loaded model has bone nodes.

material_mode [int]

Mode for applying built-in material properties of a model. (default = 1 - Diffuse)

Possible values:

0 = 'Ignore (Inherit Colors From OB3D)' ( Material properties are ignored )
1 = 'Diffuse (Use Diffuse Only)' ( Only diffuse color component is used )
2 = 'All (Use All Color Values)' ( All material components are used )
3 = 'JMTL (Use Jitter Material)' ( Internal jit.gl.material object is used )

matrixoutput [int]

Matrix Output

Possible values:

0 = 'Off'
1 = 'On'
2 = 'On With Transform'

mode [symbol]

Determines the method used to draw the model (default = var).

Possible values:

'displaylist' ( Synonym for Immediate mode with displaylist enabled )
'var' ( Vertex Arrays )
'vbo' ( Vertex Buffer Objects )
'immediate' ( Immediate mode drawing )

nodeaxes [int]

If non-zero, draw a RGB axes at the location of all the nodes in the model.

normalize [int]

Normalize model coordinates flag (default = 1). When enabled, the model is scaled to the range (-1.,1.) for the x, y, and z axes.

numanimations [int]

g/s(get)

Indicates the number of animations in the model.

numgroups [int]

g/s(get)

Indicates the number of mesh groups. A mesh group consists of vertex data and material data.

optimize [int]

Optimize vertices and nodes on import (default = 1). An optional post-processing step when importing the model file. Identical vertices are jointed to optimize indexing, small meshes are joined if possible, and Nodes with no data assigned are collapsed and joined.

smoothing_angle [float]

Specifies the edge angle above which to smooth vertex normals (default = 89.)

verbose [int]

Verbose mode flag (default = 0). If enabled, messages useful for debugging are printed to the Max Console.

Common Box Attributes

annotation [symbol]

Sets the text that will be displayed in the Clue window when the user moves the mouse over the object.

background [int] (default: 0)

Adds or removes the object from the patcher's background layer. background 1 adds the object to the background layer, background 0 removes it. Objects in the background layer are shown behind all objects in the default foreground layer.

color [4 floats]

Sets the color for the object box outline.

fontface [int]

Sets the type style used by the object. The options are:

plain
bold
italic
bold italic

Possible values:

0 = 'regular'
1 = 'bold'
2 = 'italic'
3 = 'bold italic'

fontname [symbol]

Sets the object's font.

fontsize [float]

Sets the object's font size (in points).

Possible values:

'8'
'9'
'10'
'11'
'12'
'13'
'14'
'16'
'18'
'20'
'24'
'30'
'36'
'48'
'64'
'72'

hidden [int] (default: 0)

Toggles whether an object is hidden when the patcher is locked.

hint [symbol]

Sets the text that will be displayed in as a pop-up hint when the user moves the mouse over the object in a locked patcher.

ignoreclick [int] (default: 0)

Toggles whether an object ignores mouse clicks in a locked patcher.

patching_rect [4 floats] (default: 0. 0. 100. 0.)

Sets the position and size of the object in the patcher window.

position [2 floats]

g/s(set)

Sets the object's x and y position in both patching and presentation modes (if the object belongs to its patcher's presentation), leaving its size unchanged.

presentation [int] (default: 0)

Sets whether an object belongs to the patcher's presentation.

presentation_rect [4 floats] (default: 0. 0. 0. 0.)

Sets the x and y position and width and height of the object in the patcher's presentation, leaving its patching position unchanged.

rect [4 floats]

g/s(set)

Sets the x and y position and width and height of the object in both patching and presentation modes (if the object belongs to its patcher's presentation).

size [2 floats]

g/s(set)

Sets the object's width and height in both patching and presentation modes (if the object belongs to its patcher's presentation), leaving its position unchanged.

textcolor [float]

Sets the color for the object's text in RGBA format.

textjustification [int]

Text Justification

Possible values:

0 = 'left'
1 = 'center'
2 = 'right'

varname [symbol]

Sets the patcher's scripting name, which can be used to address the object by name in pattr, scripting messages to thispatcher, and the js object.

OB3D Attributes

anim [symbol]

The name of a jit.anim.node object that handles all spatial transforms for this instance (default = UID). The default value references an internal object, but can be overridden by setting to the name of an existing external jit.anim.node instance. This allows for more advanced control of the spatial transform.

anchor [3 floats]

The anchor position in local space (default = 0. 0. 0.). Allows for offsetting the local 3D origin around which transforms are applied.

animmode [symbol]

Determines which space the anim_move and anim_turn messages will affect the position and orientation of this object (default = parent).
local = Rotate relative to local axis
parent = Rotate relative to parent axis
world = Rotate relative to world axis

antialias [int]

Antialiasing flag (default = 0) On some hardware, the blend_enable attribute must also be enabled for antialiasing to work.

automatic [int]

Automatic rendering flag (default = 1) When the flag is set, rendering occurs when the associated jit.gl.render object receives a bang message

auto_material [int]

Automatic material attributes flag (default = 1) When the flag is set, and lighting is enabled for the object, the diffuse and ambient material components for the object will be set to the object's color, and the specular and emissive lighting components are disabled.

aux_color [4 floats]

The auxiliary color in the form red green blue alpha (default = 0. 0. 0. 0.) The list elements should be in the range 0.-1.

axes [int]

x/y/z axis rendering off/on (default = 0)

blend [symbol]

The named blending mode. The possible values are:
add = blend_mode 1 1
multiply = blend_mode 2 1
screen = blend_mode 4 1
exclusion = blend_mode 4 5
colorblend = blend_mode 3 4
alphablend = blend_mode 6 7
coloradd = blend_mode 3 1
alphaadd = blend_mode 6 1

blend_enable [int]

Blending flag (default = 0) When the flag is set, blending is enabled for all rendered objects.

blend_mode [2 ints]

The source and destination planes associated with the blend mode (default = 6 7) Blend modes are specified in the form src_blend_mode dst_blend_mode. The supported modes are:
0 = zero
1 = one
2 = destination color
3 = source color
4 = one minus destination color
5 = one minus source color
6 = source alpha
7 = one minus source alpha
8 = destination alpha
9 = one minus destination alpha
10 = source alpha saturate

camera [3 floats]

The camera position in 3D space (default = 0. 0. 2.) Camera position is specified as a set of floating point numbers that correspond to a camera position with respect to the x, y, and z axes.

capture [symbol]

The name of a texture to be rendered to - e.g. jit.gl.nurbs @capture mytex will capture to jit.gl.texture @name mytex.

color [4 floats]

The draw color in the form red green blue alpha (default = 1. 1. 1. 1.) The list elements should be in the range 0.-1.

cull_face [int]

Face culling mode (default = 0 (no culling))
0 = no culling
1 = cull back faces
2 = cull front faces

depth_clear [int]

Depth buffer clear flag (default = 0) When the flag is set, the depth buffer is cleared before rendering the object.

depth_enable [int]

Depth buffering flag (default = 1) When the flag is set, depth buffering is enabled.

depth_write [int]

Depth write flag (default = 1). When the flag is set, writing to the depth buffer is enabled. This will have no effect if depth_enable is turned off.

dest_dim [2 ints]

Destination dimensions width height (default = jit.gl.render destination dimensions)

drawto [symbol]

The named drawing context in which to draw (default = none) A named drawing context is a named instance of a jit.window, jit.pwindow, or jit.matrix object that has an instance of the jit.gl.render object associated with it.

enable [int]

Enable flag (default = 1) When the flag is set, drawing is enabled.

filterclass [symbol]

The name of this object's pick filter class (default = default). This controls the visibility of objects to the jit.gl.handle and jit.gl.picker objects. In order to select this object, the filterclass value must be in the picking object's filters list.

far_clip [float]

The far clipping plane distance in 3D world (default = 100.)

fog_params [7 floats]

The fog parameters in the form red green blue alpha density start end (default = 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0.) The list's color elements should be in the range 0.-1.

fog [float]

The amount of fog effect (default = 0.)

inherit_all [int]

Inherit all flag (default = 0) When the flag is set, all GL attributes from named drawing context are inherited.

inherit_color [int]

Inherit color flag (default = 0) When the flag is set, all color attributes from the named drawing context are inherited.

inherit_depth [int]

Inherit depth buffer flag (default = 0) When the flag is set, all depth buffer attributes from the named drawing context are inherited.

inherit_fog [int]

Inherit fog attributes flag (default = 0) When the flag is set, all fog attributes from the named drawing context are inherited.

inherit_material [int]

Inherit material attributes flag (default = 0) When the flag is set, all lighting and material attributes from the named drawing context are inherited.

inherit_poly [int]

Inherit polygon attributes flag (default = 0) When the flag is set, all polygon attributes from the named drawing context are inherited.

inherit_texture [int]

Inherit texture attributes flag (default = 0) When the flag is set, all texture attributes from the named drawing context are inherited.

inherit_transform [int]

Inherit transform attributes flag (default = 0) When the flag is set, all transform attributes from the named drawing context are inherited.

layer [int]

Object layer number (default = 0) When in automatic mode, the layer number determines the rendering order (low to high). Objects in the same layer have no guarantee which will be rendered first.

lens_angle [float]

The lens angle of the OpenGL camera (default = 45.)

lighting_enable [int]

Lighting enabled flag (default = 0) When the flag is set, lighting is calculated.

light_ambient [4 floats]

The color and opacity of the ambient light component in the form red green blue opacity (default = 0. 0. 0. 1. (opaque black)) All values should be in the range 0.-1.

light_diffuse [4 floats]

The color and opacity of the diffuse light component in the form red green blue opacity (default = 1. 1. 1. 1. (opaque white)) All values should be in the range 0.-1.

light_global_ambient [4 floats]

The color and opacity of the global ambient light component in the form red green blue opacity (default = 0.2 0.2 0.2 1.) All values should be in the range 0.-1.

light_position [4 floats]

The position of the light source in XYZ coordinates and the light type (default = 1. 1. 1. 0.)
When the last number is 0., t The light is treated as a directional source if 0. is the final number. Otherwise, diffuse and specular lighting calculations are based on the actual location of the light in eye coordinates, and attenuation is enabled.

light_specular [4 floats]

Color and opacity of specular light component (default = 1. 1. 1. 1. (opaque white)) The first three floats in the range 0.-1. specify the RGB components of the specular light color. The fourth float (also in the range 0.-1.) specifies opacity.

line_width [float]

The drawing line width (default = 1.)

lookat [3 floats]

3D position at which the camera is pointed (default = 0. 0. 0.)

mat_ambient [4 floats]

The ambient light material property in the form red green blue alpha (default = 0. 0. 0. 0.) The list elements should be in the range 0.-1.

mat_diffuse [4 floats]

The diffuse light material property in the form red green blue alpha (default = 0. 0. 0. 0.) The list elements should be in the range 0.-1.

mat_emission [4 floats]

The material emission property in the form red green blue alpha (default = 0. 0. 0. 0.) The list elements should be in the range 0.-1.

mat_specular [4 floats]

The specular light material property in the form red green blue alpha (default = 0. 0. 0. 0.) The list elements should be in the range 0.-1.

matfile [symbol]

The Jitter material file to apply (.jitmtl)

matrixoutput [int]

Matrix output mode (default = 0)
0 = issue render commands
1 = output geometry matrices
2 = output geometry matrices with local transform applied

name [symbol]

The instance name (default = UID)

near_clip [float]

The near clipping plane distance in 3D world (default = 0.1)

ortho [int]

Orthographic projection mode (default = 0)
0 = orthographic projection off (perspective projection)
1 = orthographic projection on, using lens angle
2 = orthographic projection on, ignoring lens angle

point_size [float]

The draw point size (default = 1.)

poly_mode [2 ints]

Polygon rendering modes (default 0 0) Rendering modes are expressed in the form frontface backface. Supported rendering modes are:
0 = render as filled polygons
1 = render as lines
2 = render as points

position [3 floats]

The 3D origin in the form x y z (default = 0. 0. 0.)

quat [4 floats]

The current rotation as a quaternion(default = 0. 0. 0. 1.). A quaternion is a mathematical construct that is a four dimensional vector, and can be visualized as a rotation around an arbitrary axis. Quaternions are a useful representation of an orientation in 3D space.

rotate [4 floats]

The angle of rotation and the xyz vector about which the rotation is performed in the form rotation-angle x y z (default = 0. 0. 0. 1.)

rotatexyz [3 floats]

Sets the current rotation to the concatenation of rotations about the positive x, y, and z axes, also known as Euler angles (default = 0. 0. 0.). The default order is yzx and can be changed with the jit.gl.render rotate_order attribute. Angles are expressed in degrees.

scale [3 floats]

The 3D scaling factor in the form x y z (default = 1. 1. 1.)

shadow_caster [int]

Shadow caster flag (default = 0) When the flag is set, object will cast shadows.

shininess [float]

The material shininess value (default = 16.0) The value should be a float in the range 0.-255.

smooth_shading [int]

Smooth shading flag (default = 0) When the flag is set, smooth shading is used when rendering.

tex_map [int]

Mode for automatic generation of texture coordinate controls (default = 0)
0 = no coordinates are generated.
1 = OpenGL's texture generation is used with mode GL_OBJECT_LINEAR. This applies the texture in a fixed orientation relative to the object.
2 = OpenGL's texture generation is used with mode GL_SPHERE_MAP. This can be used to create a reflection effect.
3 = OpenGL's texture generation is used with mode GL_EYE_LINEAR. This applies the texture in a fixed orientation relative to OpenGL's eye coordinates.
Modes 1 and 3 are affected by the value of the tex_plane_s and tex_plane_t attributes listed below.

tex_plane_s [4 floats]

The texture generation coefficients a b c d that apply to tex_map modes 1 and 3. (default = 1. 0. 0. 0.)
The four coefficients define a plane used to generate the s texture coordinate, which corresponds to the x axis of the texture image. If the tex_map mode is 1, s = ax + by + cz + dw, where x, y, z, and w are the homogeneous coordinates of the vertex.

tex_plane_t [4 floats]

The texture generation coefficients a b c d, which apply to tex_map modes 1 and 3. (default = 0. 1. 0. 0)
The four coefficients define a plane which is used to generate the t texture coordinate, which corresponds to the y axis of the texture image.

shader [symbol]

The name of the shader to be applied (default = none)

texture [8 symbols]

The name of the texture to be applied (default = none). If multiple textures are specified, uses multi-texturing.

transform_reset [int]

Modelview and projection transform reset flag (default = 0) When the flag is set, the modelview and projection transforms are set to the identity transform before rendering the object. This is useful for sprite or billboard overlays, or automatic scaling to window size. The transform_reset flag modes are:
0 = do nothing (default)
1 = proportional orthographic glOrtho(-aspect, aspect, -1.0, 1.0, near_clip, far_clip);
2 = orthographic normalized glOrtho(-1.0, 1.0, -1.0, 1.0, near_clip, far_clip);
3 = proportional perspective with near clip = 0.001 gluPerspective(lens_angle, aspect, 0.001/*near_clip*/, far_clip);
4 = normalized perspective with near clip = 0.001 gluPerspective(lens_angle, 1.0, 0.001/*near_clip*/, far_clip);

up [3 floats]

The 3D vector towards which the top of the camera points (default = 0. 1. 0.)

verbose [int]

Toggles printing messages to the Max Console.

viewalign [int]

View aligned transformation flag (default = 0)

Messages

(drag)

Drag and drop model files

animenable

Arguments

anim-index (optional) [int]
enable [int]
Enable a model animation. If two arguments are provided, the first is the animation index to enable. Otherwise the current animation is used.

animloop

Arguments

anim-index (optional) [int]
loop-enable [int]
Enable/disable looping on an animation. Looping on animations is enabled by default. If two arguments are provided, the first is the animation index to enable. Otherwise the current animation is used.

animlooppoints

Arguments

anim-index (optional) [int]
loop-start [float]
loop-stop [float]
Set the loop points of an animation, if looping is currently enabled on that animation. If two arguments are provided, the first is the animation index to enable. Otherwise the current animation is used.

animrate

Arguments

anim-index (optional) [int]
rate [float]
Set an animation's rate. If two arguments are provided, the first is the animation index, otherwise the current animation is used.

animreset

Arguments

anim-index (optional) [int]
Reset the state of an animation. Time is set to 0., rate to 1., weight to 1., and the loop points are set to the beginning and end of the animation. If two arguments are provided, the first is the animation index to enable. Otherwise the current animation is used.

animtime

Arguments

anim-index (optional) [int]
time [float]
Jump to a specific time, in seconds, of an animation. If two arguments are provided, the first is the animation index, otherwise the current animation is used.

animweight

Arguments

anim-index (optional) [int]
weight [float]
Set an animation's weight which determines how much influence the animation has on the affected mesh. If two arguments are provided, the first is the animation index, otherwise the current animation is used.

copynodestoclipboard

Copy all nodes in the model as jit.anim.node objects, to the clipboard. When the nodes are pasted in the patch, they will control the internal nodes of the model. Make sure the name attribute is set before using this feature.

getbonenames

Sends a list of the bones currently loaded in the model, if any, out the dumpout.

getanim_dict

Arguments

anim-index [int]
Send a description of the animation at anim-index as a dictionary out the dumpout.

getanimnames

Sends a list of the scenes named animations out the dumpout. Some model files don't support named animations, and therefore the names will not be sent, even though animations are present.

getnodenames

Sends a list of the scene nodes currently loaded in the model out the dumpout.

getmaterial_dict

Arguments

drawgroup (optional) [int]
Send a description of the drawgroup material as a dictionary out the dumpout. If no argument, use the current drawgroup attribute.

gettexnames

Sends a list of all the textures currently loaded in the model out the dumpout.

nodebind

Arguments

model node name [symbol]
jit.anim.node name [symbol]
Takes two args, the name of the node in the model to bind, and the name of an jit.anim.node object to bind to.

nodeanimenable

Arguments

model node name [symbol]
anim-enable [int]
Toggle the animation of the named node. If disabled, model animations will have no effect on that node.

nodereset

Arguments

model node name [symbol]
Resets the named node in the model to it's initial spatial transform state.

nodesetinitial

Arguments

model node name [symbol]
Sets the named nodes initial transform state to it's current transform.

read

Loads an model file from disk. The read message will attempt to find the model file in the Max search path and load it. If no file name is specified, a file dialog box is presented.

texgroup

Arguments

group-number [int]
texture-name [symbol]
The texgroup message is used to apply a named texture to a specific mesh within the model. The model's mesh-groups are specified in its model file. The texture applied to a group will override any textures which have been applied to the object using the texture attribute, and textures loaded from the model file.

sendmaterial

Arguments

drawgroup [int]
message [symbol]
values [list]
Send the internal material for drawgroup a message. See jit.gl.material for possible messages and attributes.

sendtexture

Arguments

texture name [symbol]
message [symbol]
values [list]
Send the internal named texture a message. See jit.gl.texture for possible messages and attributes.

OB3D Messages

bang

Equivalent to the draw message.

draw

Draws the object in the named drawing destination. If the matrixoutput attribute is supported and set to 1, the geometry matrices are sent out the object's left outlet.

drawraw

Equivalent to draw with the inherit_all attribute set to 1.

drawimmediate

Equivalent to draw but ignoring any potential renderer setup

anim_move

Arguments

x [float]
y [float]
z [float]
Move the object along the axis provided, relative to the space indicated by animmode.

anim_turn

Arguments

x [float]
y [float]
z [float]
Rotate the object along each axis by the amount provided, relative to the space indicated by animmode.

anim_grow

Arguments

x [float]
y [float]
z [float]
Scale the object along each axis by the amount provided.

anim_reset

Reset the local transformation attributes to their default values (position = 0 0 0, rotatexyz = 0 0 0, and scale = 1 1 1)

update_node

Update the node transformation attributes.

import_material

Import a Jitter material file (.jitmtl).

export_material

Export material state as a material file (.jitmtl).

See Also

Name Description
Working with OpenGL Working with OpenGL
Online Resources Online Resources
jit.gl.mesh Generate GL geometry from matrices
jit.gl.render Render Jitter OpenGL objects
jit.gl.texture Create OpenGL textures
jit.gl.material Generate materials for 3D objects
jit.gl.camera Set a rendering view
Tutorial 36: 3D Models Tutorial 36: 3D Models