Model Viewer Technical Guide
Section 3 - TRANSMITTAL CONTENT SPECIFICATION FOR MODEL VIEWER

3.1 Fundamental Requirements
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First and foremost, any transmittal submitted to Model Viewer as input must pass both Syntax Checker and Rules Checker. If an invalid transmittal is submitted as input, Model Viewer will abort the loading process with an appropriate error message if the errors are fatal in regard to the <Image Library> or <Model Library>.

In a similar vein, if inter-transmittal referencing (ITR) is used in the input transmittal's <Image Library> or <Model Library>, then all transmittals referenced in the context of the <Image Library> or <Model Library> must be provided. For example, if the user specified that <Models> were to be loaded and processed, but some of the <Model> instances in the <Model Library> were unavailable due to missing transmittals, the application would abort during the loading process.

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3.2 Requirements for <Models>
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If a <Model Library> ML is provided and the user specifies that <Models> are to be viewed, then ML must satisfy the following requirements.
  1. ML shall contain at least one "root" <Model>, that is, a <Model> instance whose model_reference_type is either SE_MDL_REF_TYP_ROOT or SE_MDL_REF_TYP_ROOT_AND_COMPONENT.

    RATIONALE: Only root <Models> can be instanced as free-standing objects, so only root <Models> are guaranteed to make some kind of visual sense. Only root <Models>, consequently, are displayed by Model Viewer; component <Models> appear only in the context of their usage within other <Models>.

  2. Every <Model> within ML shall be defined within a 3D LSR spatial reference frame.
  3. Every <Model> within ML shall contain a non-empty <Geometry Model>. (<Feature Models> are currently ignored, if present; only renderable geometry is displayed.)
  4. All <Primitive Colours> in use shall have either an <Ambient Colour> or a <Diffuse Colour> component. <Specular Colours> and <Emissive Colours> are currently ignored.
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3.3 Requirements for <Images> and <Image Mapping Functions>
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Only the following image signatures are supported: LUMINANCE, ALPHA, LUMINANCE_AND_ALPHA, 123COLOUR, COLOUR_COORDINATE_1, COLOUR_COORDINATE_2, and COLOUR_COORDINATE_3.

Mipmapped images, to be used for mipmapping, must comply with OpenGL's restrictions on mipmapped image dimensions. Noncompliant images will be treated as though they had only a single MIP level.

Currently, Model Viewer's texture mapping supports only <Image Mapping Functions> defined in conjunction with <Texture Coordinates>, and consequently only planar projection. Expanded support will be phased in in future; currently such support has a low priority since other varieties of texture mapping have not been in demand by SEDRIS' user base.

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3.4 Limitations
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  • Only polygonal geometry is currently supported. <Point Geometry>, <Linear Geometry>, <Volume Geometry>, and <Finite Element Mesh> instances are ignored when <Models> are loaded by Model Viewer, as are <Features> and <Property Grid Hook Points>.
  • Currently, only <Rotation Control Links> can be controlled by the user; other <Control Links> in the models being viewed are treated as static (i.e., the default values provided in the transmittal are used and cannot be manipulated by the user).
  • For Level of Detail, only the distance organizing principle can be controlled by the user.
  • Only Level of Detail and State controls are provided for the user.


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Last updated: May 15, 2003 Copyright © 2003 SEDRIS™