Examples

The following example shader creates an axis-aligned unit cube at the origin. Using unit sizes and centering objects at the origin is usually a good idea because the position, orientation, and sizes of objects are better adjusted with instances than by hardcoding them into the object. This assumes that mental ray is switched to object space mode, which is recommended for all scenes anyway (this is done in the options statement).

     #include <shader.h>
     #include <geoshader.h>

     int geocube_version(void) {return(1);}

     #define add_vector(X, Y, Z) \
        v.x = X; v.y = Y; v.z = Z;\
        mi_api_geovector_xyz_add(&v);

     static int vertex_order[] = {
        0, 3, 5, 4,
        3, 2, 6, 5,
        2, 1, 7, 6,
        1, 0, 4, 7
     };

     static void init_object_flags(miObject * object)
     {
        object->visible     = miTRUE;
        object->shadow      =
        object->reflection  =
        object->refraction  =
        object->finalgather = 0x03;
     }

     miBoolean geocube(
        miTag           *result,
        miState         *state,
        miTag           *mtl)      /* only one parameter */
     {
        int             i, k, ix=0;
        miObject        *obj;
        miGeoVector     v;
        miTag           mtl_tag;

        mtl_tag = *mi_eval_tag(mtl);
        obj = mi_api_object_begin(NULL);
        init_object_flags(obj);
        mi_api_basis_list_clear();
        mi_api_object_group_begin(0.0);

        add_vector(-0.5, -0.5, -0.5);
        add_vector(-0.5,  0.5, -0.5);
        add_vector( 0.5,  0.5, -0.5);
        add_vector( 0.5, -0.5, -0.5);

        add_vector(-0.5, -0.5,  0.5);
        add_vector( 0.5, -0.5,  0.5);
        add_vector( 0.5,  0.5,  0.5);
        add_vector(-0.5,  0.5,  0.5);

        for (i=0; i < 4; i++)
                mi_api_vertex_add(i);

        for (i=4; i < 8; i++)
                mi_api_vertex_add(i);

        for (i=0; i < 16; i++)
                mi_api_vertex_add(vertex_order[i]);

        for (i=0; i < 6; i++) {
                mi_api_poly_begin_tag(1, mtl_tag);
                for (k=0; k < 4; k++)
                        mi_api_poly_index_add(ix++);
                mi_api_poly_end();
        }
        mi_api_object_group_end();
        return(mi_geoshader_add_result(result,
                                       mi_api_object_end()));
     }

The next example creates a trimmed B-Spline free-form surface. There is one trimming curve defined which is used as a hole curve to cut a square hole out of the surface. It also shows how a texture surface can be added to a surface.

     #include <shader.h>
     #include <geoshader.h>

     static void init_object_flags(miObject * object)
     {
        object->visible     = miTRUE;
        object->shadow      =
        object->reflection  =
        object->refraction  =
        object->finalgather = 0x03;
     }

     int bspline_surface_version(void) { return 1; }

     miBoolean bspline_surface(
        miTag           *result,
        miState         *state,
        void            *paras)          /* no parameters used */
     {
        int             i, k;
        miObject        *obj;
        miGeoScalar     knot;
        miDlist         *params, *uparams, *vparams;
        miGeoRange      range;
        miApprox        approx;
        miTag           otag;
        miVector cp[] = {
                /* ----- 16 surface control points */
                {0, 2, 0}, {1, 2, 0}, {2, 2, 0}, {3, 2, 0},
                {0, 3, 0}, {1, 3, 1}, {2, 3, 1}, {3, 3, 0},
                {0, 4, 0}, {1, 4, 1}, {2, 4, 1}, {3, 4, 0},
                {0, 5, 0}, {1, 5, 0}, {2, 5, 0}, {3, 5, 0},
                /* ----- 4 (2d) curve control points */
                {0.4, 0.4, 0}, {0.6, 0.4, 0},
                {0.6, 0.6, 0}, {0.4, 0.6, 0},
                /* ----- 4 (3d) texture surface control points */
                {0, 0, 0}, {1, 0, 0}, {0, 1, 0}, {1, 1, 0}};

        miGeoScalar curve_knots[] = {0, 1, 2, 3, 4};
        miUint      curve_v    [] = {16, 17, 18, 19, 16}; /* closed loop */
        miUint      texsurf_v  [] = {20, 21, 22, 23};
        miGeoScalar tex_uknots [] = {0.0, 1.0};
        miGeoScalar tex_vknots [] = {0.0, 1.0};

        /* ************ create object ************ */
        obj = mi_api_object_begin(NULL);
        init_object_flags(obj);

        mi_api_basis_list_clear();
        mi_api_basis_add(mi_mem_strdup("bspline_3"),
                miFALSE, miBASIS_BSPLINE, 3, 0, 0);
        mi_api_basis_add(mi_mem_strdup("bezier_1"),
                miFALSE, miBASIS_BEZIER, 1, 0, 0);

        mi_api_object_group_begin(0.0);

        /* control points and references */
        for(i=0; i < 24; i++)
                mi_api_vector_xyz_add(&cp[i]);
        for(i=0; i < 24; i++)
                mi_api_vertex_add(i);

        /* ************ create trim-curve ************ */
        mi_api_curve_begin(mi_mem_strdup("curve_0"),
                mi_mem_strdup("bezier_1"), miFALSE);

        /* curve knot sequence */
        params = mi_api_dlist_create(miDLIST_GEOSCALAR);
        for(i=0; i < 5; i++)
                mi_api_dlist_add(params, &curve_knots[i]);

        /* curve control point references,
           non-rational (w=1) */
        for(i=0; i < 5; i++)
                mi_api_vertex_ref_add(curve_v[i], 1.0);

        mi_api_curve_end(params);

        /* ********** create free-form surface ********** */
        mi_api_surface_begin_tag(mi_mem_strdup("surf_0"), 0);

        /* create the uv knot vectors for the (bezier) surface */
        for (k=0; k < 2; k++) {
                params = mi_api_dlist_create(
                                         miDLIST_GEOSCALAR);
                knot = 0.0;
                for(i=0; i < 4; i++)
                        mi_api_dlist_add(params, &knot);
                knot = 1.0;
                for(i=0; i < 4; i++)
                        mi_api_dlist_add(params, &knot);
                mi_api_surface_params(k == 0 ? miU : miV,
                        mi_mem_strdup("bspline_3"),
                                   0., 1., params, miFALSE);
        }

        /* control point references, nonrational(w=1) */ 
        for(i=0; i < 16; i++)                            
                mi_api_vertex_ref_add(i, 1.0);

        /* ************ add a texture surface *********** */
        uparams = mi_api_dlist_create(miDLIST_GEOSCALAR);
        for (i=0; i < 2; i++)                            
                mi_api_dlist_add(uparams, &tex_uknots[i]);
        vparams = mi_api_dlist_create(miDLIST_GEOSCALAR);
        for (i=0; i < 2; i++)                            
                mi_api_dlist_add(vparams, &tex_vknots[i]);
        mi_api_surface_texture_begin(miFALSE,  /* is_volume */
                                 miFALSE,      /* is_bump */
                                 mi_mem_strdup("bezier_1"),
                                 uparams,            
                                 miFALSE,      /* v_rational */
                                 mi_mem_strdup("bezier_1"),
                                 vparams,            
                                 miFALSE);     /* v_rational */

        /* texture surface control point references, nonrational */
        for(i=0; i < 4; i++)                             
                mi_api_vertex_ref_add(texsurf_v[i], 1.0);

        /* define one hole curve on the surface */       
        range.min = 0.0;                                 
        range.max = 4.0;                                 
        mi_api_surface_curveseg(miTRUE,        /* new loop */
                                miCURVE_HOLE,            
                                mi_mem_strdup("curve_0"),
                                &range);                 
                                                         
        mi_api_surface_end();                            
                                                         
        /* set approximation method for the surface */   
        miAPPROX_DEFAULT(approx);                        
        approx.method = miAPPROX_CURVATURE;              
        approx.cnst[miCNST_DISTANCE] = 0.01;             
        mi_api_surface_approx(mi_mem_strdup("surf_0"), &approx);
                                                         
        /* set approximation method for the curve */     
        miAPPROX_DEFAULT(approx);                        
        approx.method = miAPPROX_PARAMETRIC;             
        approx.cnst[miCNST_UPARAM] = 1;                  
        mi_api_curve_approx(mi_mem_strdup("curve_0"), &approx);
                                                         
        mi_api_object_group_end();
        otag = mi_api_object_end();
        return(mi_geoshader_add_result(result, otag));
}

The next example accepts an object as input, and creates a new object based on the input object. The new object is identical to the old one except that only points in space are copied and all normals, texture vectors, motion, and other information is ignored. Also, it deals with groups correctly only if it does not contain multiple local spaces because it ignores the transformation matrices in the instance loop.

     #include <assert.h>
     #include "shader.h"
     #include "geoshader.h"

     static void init_object_flags(miObject * object)
     {
        object->visible     = miTRUE;
        object->shadow      =
        object->reflection  =
        object->refraction  =
        object->finalgather = 0x03;
     }

     int facet_version(void) {return(1);}

     static miBoolean box_to_object(
        miTag         *result,
        miGeoBox      *box)
     {
        int           i, vs = box->vert_info.sizeof_vertex;
        miObject      *obj;
        miGeoIndex    *vert = miBOX_GET_VERTICES(box);
        miTriangle    *tri  = miBOX_GET_PRIMITIVES(box);

        assert(box->type == miBOX_TRIANGLES);
        obj = mi_api_object_begin(NULL);
        init_object_flags(obj);
        mi_api_basis_list_clear();
        mi_api_object_group_begin(0.0);

        for (i=0; i < box->vect_info.no_points; i++)
                mi_api_vector_xyz_add(box->vectors + i);

        for (i=0; i < box->no_vertices; i++, vert+=vs)
                mi_api_vertex_add(*vert);

        /* the +=2 increment omits every other triangle */
        for (i=0; i < box->no_primitives; i++, tri+=2) {
                mi_api_poly_begin_tag(1, 0);
                mi_api_poly_index_add(tri->a);
                mi_api_poly_index_add(tri->b);
                mi_api_poly_index_add(tri->c);
                mi_api_poly_end();
        }
        mi_api_object_group_end();
        return(mi_geoshader_add_result(result, mi_api_object_end()));
     }

     miBoolean facet(
        miTag           *result,
        miState         *state,
        miTag           *param)
     {
        miTag           leaves, scan, boxes, next;
        miBoolean       ret;

        ret = mi_geoshader_tesselate(state, &leaves, *mi_eval_tag(param));

        for (scan=leaves; scan; scan=next) {
                miInstance *inst = mi_db_access(scan);
                /*
                 * in mental ray 3.0, the loop is unnecessary,
                 * box->next_box will always be a null tag
                 */
                for (boxes=inst->boxes; boxes; boxes=next) {
                        miGeoBox *box = mi_db_access(boxes);
                        ret &= box_to_object(result, box);
                        next = box->next_box;
                        mi_db_unpin(boxes);
                }
                next = inst->next;
                mi_db_unpin(scan);
        }
        mi_geoshader_tesselate_end(leaves);
        return(ret);
     }

The main facet shader first tessellates the input geometry. This builds a leaf instance list containing a sequence of instances that contain both an item field pointing to the source geometry (which may be difficult to handle because it may include many different types of complex free-form surface and polygonal geometry), and a boxes field that points to triangles. Without mi_geoshader_tesselate, the boxes field may be empty, and the shader would have to do its own traversal to find the instances.

The following nested loops consider all instances, and all boxes in each instance. There are multiple instances if the input object passed to the shader as its only parameter is an instance group. In mental ray 2.1, an instance may contain multiple boxes if the object has too many vectors, vertices, or triangles to fit into a single box. mental ray always generates a single box for each instance. For each box, a new object is generated by calling box_to_object, which is similar to the previous example except that it gets its information from a box. Every new object is appended to the result using mi_geoshader_add_result.

Finally, the shader calls mi_geoshader_tesselate_end to release the instance list, including all triangle boxes, that was created by mi_geoshader_tesselate. This is important because this list may be very large, and would introduce a large memory leak if not freed.

Here is a scene that uses the facet shader in the third example. It assumes that the shader was compiled to a library named facet.so.

    link "base.so"
    link "facet.so"
    $include <base.mi>

    declare shader
        geometry "facet" (geometry "obj")
        version 1
    end declare

    options "opt"
        samples         0 2
        object space
    end options

    camera "cam"
        output          "rgb" "x.rgb"
        focal           50
        aperture        44
        aspect          1
        resolution      500 500
    end camera

    instance "cam_inst" "cam"
        transform       0.7719  0.3042 -0.5582 0.0
                        0.0000  0.8781  0.4785 0.0
                        0.6357 -0.3693  0.6778 0.0
                        0.0000  0.0000 -25.000 1.0
    end instance

    light "light1"
        "mib_light_point" ("color" 1 1 1)
        origin          0 0 0
    end light

    instance "light1_inst" "light1"
        transform        1  0  0  0
                         0  1  0  0
                         0  0  1  0
                        -20 -30 -20  1
    end instance

    material "mtl" opaque
        "mib_illum_phong" (
            "exponent"  50,
            "ambient"   0.5  0.5  0.5,
            "diffuse"   0.7  0.7  0.7,
            "specular"  1.0  1.0  1.0,
            "ambience"  0.3  0.3  0.3,
            "lights"    ["light1_inst"]
        )
    end material

    object "sphere" visible shadow trace tag 1
        basis "bs" bspline 3
        group
                 0.0000  5.0000  0.0000          0.7957  5.0000  1.3781
                -0.7956  5.0000  1.3781         -1.5913  5.0000  0.0000
                -0.7957  5.0000 -1.3781          0.7956  5.0000 -1.3781
                 1.5913  5.0000  0.0000          2.3448  3.9181  4.0613
                -2.3448  3.9181  4.0613         -4.6896  3.9181  0.0000
                -2.3448  3.9181 -4.0613          2.3448  3.9181 -4.0613
                 4.6896  3.9181  0.0000          3.3276  0.0000  5.7636
                -3.3276  0.0000  5.7636         -6.6552  0.0000  0.0000
                -3.3276  0.0000 -5.7636          3.3276  0.0000 -5.7636
                 6.6552  0.0000  0.0000          2.3448 -3.9181  4.0613
                -2.3448 -3.9181  4.0613         -4.6896 -3.9181  0.0000
                -2.3448 -3.9181 -4.0613          2.3448 -3.9181 -4.0613
                 4.6896 -3.9181  0.0000          0.7957 -5.0000  1.3781
                -0.7956 -5.0000  1.3781         -1.5913 -5.0000  0.0000
                -0.7957 -5.0000 -1.3781          0.7956 -5.0000 -1.3781
                 1.5913 -5.0000  0.0000          0.0000 -5.0000  0.0000

                v 0     v 1     v 2     v 3     v 4     v 5     v 6     v 7
                v 8     v 9     v 10    v 11    v 12    v 13    v 14    v 15
                v 16    v 17    v 18    v 19    v 20    v 21    v 22    v 23
                v 24    v 25    v 26    v 27    v 28    v 29    v 30    v 31

                surface "surf" ""
                        "bs" 0 6   -3. -2. -1. 0. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
                        "bs" 0 4    0.  0.  0. 0. 1. 2. 3. 4. 4. 4. 4.

                        31 31 31 31 31 31 31 31 31 26 25 30 29 28 27 26
                        25 30 20 19 24 23 22 21 20 19 24 14 13 18 17 16
                        15 14 13 18  8  7 12 11 10  9  8  7 12  2  1  6
                         5  4  3  2  1  6  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0

                approximate surface parametric 1 1 "surf"
        end group
    end object

    instance "sphere_inst1" "sphere"
        material        "mtl"
        transform       1  0  0  0
                        0  1  0  0
                        0  0  1  0
                        -6 0  0  1
    end instance

    instance "sphere_inst2"
        geometry        "facet" ("obj" "sphere")
        material        "mtl"
        transform       1  0  0  0
                        0  1  0  0
                        0  0  1  0
                        5  0  0  1
    end instance

    instgroup "rootgrp"
        "cam_inst" "light1_inst" "sphere_inst1" "sphere_inst2"
    end instgroup

    render "rootgrp" "cam_inst" "opt"

Here is the resulting image when this scene is rendered. The smooth sphere on the right is the original sphere, which got passed to the facet example shader to generate the front sphere. The shader has copied every other triangle of the sphere but omitted the normals.

In the following example the geometry shader geom_create creates a procedural assembly. The assembly callback asm_exec is executed when the assembly is loaded. The callback creates two geometric objects (a subdivision surface and a triangle object) and returns them as members of a group (which mi_geoshader_add_item will create automatically).

// assembly test: geometry shader "geom_create" creates an assembly.
// upon execution the assembly returns a group containing two objects:
// miBox and a subdivision surface.

#include <string.h>
#include <shader.h>
#include <geoshader.h>

extern "C" DLLEXPORT int geom_create_version(void) {return(1);}

static miTag create_subdiv_object()
{
    miObject *res_obj = mi_api_object_begin(mi_mem_strdup("sd_sphere"));

    res_obj->mtl_is_label = miTRUE;
    mi_api_object_group_begin(0);

    miVector v;
    v.x = 0; v.y = 0; v.z = 0;
    mi_api_vector_xyz_add(&(v));
    v.x = 1; v.y = 0; v.z = 0;
    mi_api_vector_xyz_add(&(v));
    v.x = 1; v.y = 1; v.z = 0;
    mi_api_vector_xyz_add(&(v));
    v.x = 0; v.y = 1; v.z = 0;
    mi_api_vector_xyz_add(&(v));
    v.x = 0; v.y = 0; v.z = 1;
    mi_api_vector_xyz_add(&(v));
    v.x = 1; v.y = 0; v.z = 1;
    mi_api_vector_xyz_add(&(v));
    v.x = 1; v.y = 1; v.z = 1;
    mi_api_vector_xyz_add(&(v));
    v.x = 0; v.y = 1; v.z = 1;
    mi_api_vector_xyz_add(&(v));

    miUint i;
    for (i=0; i < 8; i++)
  mi_api_vertex_add(i);

    miApi_ccmesh_options opt = {6, 24};
    mi_api_ccmesh_begin(mi_mem_strdup("s1"), &opt);

    miUint q[6][4] = {{0,1,5,4},{1,2,6,5},{2,3,7,6},{3,0,4,7},{4,5,6,7},{0,3,2,1}};
    for (i=0; i < 6; i++)
        mi_api_ccmesh_polygon(4, q[i], 1);      // 1 = material index

    mi_api_ccmesh_end();

    miApprox approx;                                 
    miAPPROX_DEFAULT(approx);                       
    approx.cnst[miCNST_UPARAM]  = (miGeoScalar)3;
    approx.method               = miAPPROX_PARAMETRIC;
    approx.subdiv[miMIN]     = 0;    
    approx.subdiv[miMAX]    = 5;

    mi_api_ccmesh_approx(mi_mem_strdup("s1"), &approx);

    mi_api_object_group_end();
    miTag obj_tag = mi_api_object_end();

    return obj_tag;
}

static miTag create_triangle_object()
{
    miObject * res_obj = mi_api_object_begin(mi_mem_strdup("tri_plane"));

    const miScalar lines[] = {
      -1, -1, -2, 0, 0, 1,
         1, -1, -2, 0, 0, 1,
         1,  1, -2, 0, 0, 1,
        -1,  1, -2, 0, 0, 1 };
    const miUint ind[] = {0,1,2,2,3,0};

    miVertex_info info;
    memset(&info, 0, sizeof(info));
    info.line_size = 6;
    info.normal_offset = 3;

    miBox * box = mi_api_primlist_begin_2(&info,4,1,6,2,0,0,2);

    miScalar * box_lines = miBOX_VERTEX_LINES(box);
    memcpy(box_lines, lines, sizeof(lines));

    miUint * prims = miBOX_PRIMS(box);
    *prims++ = miSCENE_PRIMLIST_MAKE_CODE(miSCENE_PRIM_TRI, 6);
    memcpy(prims, ind, sizeof(ind));

    miUint * mtls = miBOX_MATERIALS(box);
    mtls[0] = 0;
    mtls[1] = 0;

    mi_api_primlist_end();

    miTag obj_tag = mi_api_object_end();

    return obj_tag;
}

static miTag asm_exec(const miState * state, void * args)
{
    miTag result = 0;
    mi_geoshader_add_result(&result, create_subdiv_object());
    mi_geoshader_add_result(&result, create_triangle_object());
    return result;
}

extern "C" DLLEXPORT miBoolean
geom_create(miTag *result, miState *state, void *paras)
{
    mi_info("--> geometry shader");

    miAssembly * assem = mi_api_assembly_begin(mi_mem_strdup("asm"));
    assem->bbox_min.x = assem->bbox_min.y = -1;
    assem->bbox_min.z = -2;
    assem->bbox_max.x = assem->bbox_max.y =  1;
    assem->bbox_max.z =  1;
    mi_api_assembly_callback(asm_exec, 0, 0);
    *result = mi_api_assembly_end();

    return miTRUE;
}

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