cgal/Basic_viewer/doc/Basic_viewer/Basic_viewer.txt

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namespace CGAL {
/*!
\mainpage User Manual
\anchor Chapter_Basic_viewer
\anchor ChapterBasicViewer
\author Guillaume Damiand and Mostafa Ashraf
\cgalAutoToc
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\section BV_Intro Introduction
The basic viewer package provides interactive visualization for most \cgal packages, such as
\ref PkgArrangementOnSurface2Ref "2D Arrangements",
\ref PkgBooleanSetOperations2Ref "2D Boolean Set",
\ref PkgLinearCellComplexRef "Linear cell complex",
\ref PkgNef3Ref "3D Nef",
\ref PkgPeriodic2Triangulation2Ref "2D Periodic Triangulations",
\ref PkgPointSet3Ref "3D Point Set",
\ref PkgPolygon2Ref "2D Polygon",
\ref PkgPolyhedronRef "3D Polyhedral Surface",
\ref PkgStraightSkeleton2Ref "2D Straight Skeleton",
\ref PkgSurface_mesh "Surface Mesh",
\ref PkgTriangulation2Ref "2D Triangulation",
\ref PkgTriangulation3Ref "3D Triangulation",
\ref PkgVoronoiDiagram2Ref "2D Voronoi Diagram",
and more.
The most simple use case of the basic viewer is the call of the global `draw()` function. There is one draw function for each \cgal package. Such a call opens a new interactive window showing the given model and allowing to navigate in the scene, show or hide some specific cells, show the interior of the model if any, etc.
The drawing can be tuned using `Graphics_scene_options`, for example to change the color of some cells or hide some cells.
More complex usage can be achieved by using the `Graphics_scene` class. Different \cgal data structures can be added in a same `Graphics_scene` allowing to visualize them simultaneously in a same window. Like for the draw function, the drawing parameters can be tuned thanks to the `Graphics_scene_options`.
Two classes are based on \qt.
- `CGAL::Qt::Basic_viewer` is a \qt widget that inherits from `QGLViewer` (libQGLViewer is an open source C++ library based on \qt that eases the creation of OpenGL 3D viewers).
- `CGAL::Qt::QApplication_and_basic_viewer` which regroups a `Qt::QApplication` and a `CGAL::Qt::Basic_viewer`.
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\section BV_SoftwareDesign Software Design
The diagram in \cgalFigureRef{fig_basic_viewer_diagram_class} shows the main classes and functions of this package.
\cgalFigureBegin{fig_basic_viewer_diagram_class,basic_viewer_diagramme_class.svg}
UML diagram of the classes and functions of the package (only partial representation).
\cgalFigureEnd
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\section BV_BasicUsage Basic Usage: The Global Draw Functions
A first simple solution provided to draw the different data structures of \cgal is the global `draw()` function. This function is templated by the type of the data structure to draw. The following example shows how it can be used.
\cgalExample{Basic_viewer/draw_lcc.cpp}
This example creates a 3D linear cell complex of a hexahedron, and draws it. The result is shown in the following figure.
\cgalFigureBegin{basic_viewer_ex1,lcc_draw.png}
Example of drawing of a 3D LCC.
\cgalFigureEnd
Users can interact with the viewer using some specific keys or mouse interactions. Pressing key 'h' makes pop up a help window showing the different shortcuts and mouse interactions. The main functionalities of the viewer are:
<ul>
<li> Versatile Rendering:
The viewer supports the rendering of various geometric elements, such as points, edges, faces, rays, and lines.
Different rendering modes, including mono and colored representation, are available for these elements.</li>
<li> Camera Control:
The viewer allows users to move the camera, switch between 2D and 3D viewing modes, adjusting the camera accordingly.
Camera settings, such as orthographic or perspective projection, can be configured based on the dimension of the scene.</li>
<li> User Interaction:
Users can interact with the viewer through keyboard inputs, enabling them to control rendering options, toggle the display of elements, and adjust visual parameters.
Key presses are mapped to specific actions, such as toggling the clipping plane, changing rendering modes, adjusting the size of elements, and modifying ambient light color.</li>
<li> Clipping Plane:
The viewer includes support for a clipping plane, enabling users to selectively render parts of the scene.
The clipping plane can be toggled on and off, and its rendering style can be modified (solid, wireframe, etc.).</li>
</ul>
\subsection BV_GraphicSceneOptions Tuning with Graphics Scene Options
There is one specialization of each draw function that takes graphics scene options as additional parameter, allowing to tune the drawing.
The `Graphics_scene_options` class provides a set of options and customization parameters for rendering geometric structures in a graphics scene. Its main purpose is to allow users to control the visual appearance of various cells such as vertices, edges, faces, and volumes in a graphical representation of a given data structure.
The following example shows how to use graphics scene options to tune the drawing of a surface mesh. We define our own class `My_graphics_scene_options` that inherits from `Graphics_scene_options` to get all the default parameters. In this class, we only override the two methods `colored_vertex` and `vertex_color` to draw all vertices in color, and chose randomly green or blue colors for one out of two vertices.
\cgalExample{Basic_viewer/draw_surface_mesh_vcolor.cpp}
The result of this example can be shown in \cgalFigureRef{basic_viewer_ex2}.
\cgalFigureBegin{basic_viewer_ex2,draw_surface_mesh_vcolor.png}
Example of tuned drawing of a 3D surface mesh where some vertex colors are changed.
\cgalFigureEnd
The drawing options can depend on the cells. In the following example the color of each face depends on its height.
\cgalExample{Basic_viewer/draw_surface_mesh_height.cpp}
The result of this example is shown in \cgalFigureRef{basic_viewer_ex3}.
\cgalFigureBegin{basic_viewer_ex3,draw_surface_height.png}
Example of mesh drawing with a color for each face computed depending on its height.
\cgalFigureEnd
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\section BV_GraphicsScene The Graphics Scene
It is possible to do more advanced visualizations by using the class `Graphics_scene`. It is a container class for various geometric elements, such as points, segments, rays, lines, faces and texts. It provides several methods to add elements, possibly with individual colors. Things are a little bit different for faces. You must call `face_begin()` to start a new face (possibly with a color), add all the points in the face by using `add_point_in_face()`, and call `face_end()` to finish the face. Note that the given polygonal face is internally triangulated.
This class also stores the normal of the faces (computed automatically), and possibly the normal of the vertices that can be provided by the users.
Users can either fill directly a `Graphics_scene` using these methods, or by using a global function `add_to_graphics_scene()` that fills the scene using all the geometric elements of a given \cgal data structure. Like for the draw functions, there is an overload of `add_to_graphics_scene()` for each \cgal package.
A `Graphics_scene` can be drawn using the basic viewer thanks to the `draw_graphics_scene()` function.
The following example shows in a same viewer both a `Point_set_3` and a `Polyhedron_3`. Note that, like the draw functions, each `add_to_graphics_scene()` can use an optional `Graphics_scene_options` as parameter allowing to tune the drawing of the given data structure. In the example, we change the color of all vertices of the point set.
\cgalExample{Basic_viewer/draw_mesh_and_points.cpp}
The result of this example is shown in \cgalFigureRef{basic_viewer_ex4} where we can see in green the original points of the point cloud, superposed with the polyhedron surface reconstructed by the Poisson surface reconstruction method.
\cgalFigureBegin{basic_viewer_ex4,draw_mesh_and_points.png}
Example of drawing of a point cloud and a polyhedron in a same viewer.
\cgalFigureEnd
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\section BV_BasicViewer The Basic Viewer Class
The class `CGAL::Qt::Basic_viewer` is a \qt widget that inherits from `QGLViewer` and mainly stores a `Graphics_scene` and allows to visualize it and interact with the scene. Since this class is a \qt widget, it can be used into more complex \qt code to create more advanced demos.
In the following example, we create two graphics scenes, one filled with a point cloud, a second one filled with the polyhedral surface reconstructed by the Poisson surface reconstruction method. Then, we create two basic viewers associated with these two scenes. The two basic viewers are added into a \qt layout allowing to visualize the two scenes side by side.
\cgalExample{Basic_viewer/draw_several_windows.cpp}
The result of this example is shown in \cgalFigureRef{basic_viewer_ex5}.
\cgalFigureBegin{basic_viewer_ex5,draw_several_windows.png}
Example of drawing of two `Basic_viewer` side by side.
\cgalFigureEnd
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\section BV_Interactions Adding Interaction
In the previous examples, the models are only drawn once and there is no interaction with the user to update the drawing.
It is possible to define such interactions thanks to the class `CGAL::Qt::QApplication_and_basic_viewer`. In this class, you can define your own function that is called automatically by the viewer when a user presses a key. This can be used to change some parameters and update the drawing accordingly.
We illustrate this possibility in the following example that shows a surface mesh, while coloring the small faces in red. To do so, we use our own graphics scene options than change the color of a face depending on its size. A face is considered small if its size is below a certain threshold. This threshold can be updated by the user, pressing key 'I' to increase it and 'D' to decrease it. This is done in the key pressed function defined in the `QApplication_and_basic_viewer`. When the threshold changes, the graphics scene is recomputed to take the modification of the size threshold into account.
\cgalExample{Basic_viewer/draw_surface_mesh_small_faces.cpp}
The result of this example is shown in \cgalFigureRef{basic_viewer_ex6}, showing to the left the initial drawing of the 3D model, and to the right the same model after having changed the size threshold.
\cgalFigureBegin{basic_viewer_ex6,draw_surface_mesh_small_faces.png}
Two examples of drawing of a mesh with small faces in red. <B>Left</B>: With the initial threshold. <B>Right</B>: After having increased the threshold.
\cgalFigureEnd
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\section BV_Design Design and Implementation History
This package was started by Mostafa Ashraf during his 2022 GSoC project. Guillaume Damiand, who mentored the project, reworked large parts of the package, wrote examples and the manual.
*/
} /* namespace CGAL */