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SoDirectionalLight Class Reference

The SoDirectionalLight class is a node type for specifying directional light sources.A directional light source provides a model of light sources which are at infinite distance from the geometry it illuminates, thereby having no set position and consisting of an infinite volume of parallel rays. More...

#include <Inventor/nodes/SoDirectionalLight.h>

Inheritance diagram for SoDirectionalLight:
SoLight SoNode SoFieldContainer SoBase SoDirectionalLightManip

List of all members.

Public Member Functions

 SoDirectionalLight (void)
virtual void GLRender (SoGLRenderAction *action)

Static Public Member Functions

static void initClass (void)

Public Attributes

SoSFVec3f direction

Protected Member Functions

virtual ~SoDirectionalLight ()

Detailed Description

The SoDirectionalLight class is a node type for specifying directional light sources.

A directional light source provides a model of light sources which are at infinite distance from the geometry it illuminates, thereby having no set position and consisting of an infinite volume of parallel rays.

This is of course a simplified model of far-away light sources, as "infinite distance" is impossible.

The sun shining on objects on earth is a good example of something which can be modeled rather well for the most common purposes with a directional light source.

See also documentation of parent class for important information regarding light sources in general.

FILE FORMAT/DEFAULTS:

    DirectionalLight {
        on TRUE
        intensity 1
        color 1 1 1
        direction 0 0 -1
    }

A common thing to do with an SoDirectionalLight is to connect it to a camera, so it works in the style of a head light to that camera. This can easily be accomplished by linking an SoRotation::rotation field, influencing the light, to the SoCamera::orientation field. Here is a complete example iv-file demonstrating the technique:

  #Inventor V2.1 ascii
  
  DEF mycam PerspectiveCamera { }
  
  TransformSeparator {
     SoRotation { rotation = USE mycam.orientation }
     DirectionalLight { direction 0 0 -1 }
  }
  
  Cube { }
  

(The SoTransformSeparator is included to keep the effect of the SoRotation node within a scope where it will only influence the light, and not the geometry following the light in the scene graph.)


Constructor & Destructor Documentation

SoDirectionalLight::SoDirectionalLight ( void  )

Constructor.

References direction.

SoDirectionalLight::~SoDirectionalLight ( ) [protected, virtual]

Destructor.


Member Function Documentation

void SoDirectionalLight::initClass ( void  ) [static]

Sets up initialization for data common to all instances of this class, like submitting necessary information to the Coin type system.

Reimplemented from SoLight.

Reimplemented in SoDirectionalLightManip.

References SoNode::VRML1.

void SoDirectionalLight::GLRender ( SoGLRenderAction action) [virtual]

Action method for the SoGLRenderAction.

This is called during rendering traversals. Nodes influencing the rendering state in any way or who wants to throw geometry primitives at OpenGL overrides this method.

Reimplemented from SoNode.

Reimplemented in SoDirectionalLightManip.

References SoLight::color, direction, SoAction::getState(), SbVec4f::getValue(), SbColor4f::getValue(), SoLight::intensity, SoLight::on, SoDebugError::postWarning(), and SbColor4f::setRGB().


Member Data Documentation

The direction of the light source. Defaults to pointing along the negative z-axis.

Referenced by SoDirectionalLightManip::fieldSensorCB(), GLRender(), SoDirectionalLight(), SoDirectionalLightManip::transferFieldValues(), and SoDirectionalLightManip::valueChangedCB().


The documentation for this class was generated from the following files:

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