IMaterialViewportShading Class Reference

This reference page is linked to from the following overview topics: Hardware Shader UI Feature.

---

Search for all occurrences

---

Detailed Description

A new interface for 3ds Max 2008.

This interface is used for manipulating material shading model in the viewport. A material would implement this interface so as to control the "Show map in viewport" (SMIV) button. In 3dsmax 2008 the SMIV button can now show as a flyoff, for regular shading (Blue) and Hardware shading (Pink). If a material supports a Hardware representation then it can implement this interface and return the correct level support in IsShadingModelSupported. This will mean the UI is reflective of the support available. This interface DOES NOT provide any support for the actual Hardware implementation - purely the UI synchronisation. An implementation for this interface can be found at .cpp where it support the case where the material deals with plugin hardware shaders as well. Currently in 3ds max 2008, only two materials implement a Hardware version, and they are the Standard Material and Mental Images's Architectural and Design Material.

#include <IMaterialViewportShading.h>

Inheritance diagram for IMaterialViewportShading:

List of all members.

Public Types
enum	ShadingModel { Standard, Hardware, OtherTypes }
	This enumeration defines how the material is behaving in viewport. More...
Public Member Functions
virtual CoreExport BaseInterface *	GetInterface (Interface_ID id)
virtual CoreExport Interface_ID	GetID ()
Static Public Member Functions
static CoreExport bool	IsShadingModelSupported (const MtlBase &material, ShadingModel model)
	Does the material support a specific shading model in viewport.
static CoreExport ShadingModel	GetCurrentShadingModel (const MtlBase &material)
	Used to query the material for its current level of viewport rendering.
static CoreExport bool	SetCurrentShadingModel (MtlBase &material, ShadingModel model)
	Set the shading model of the material in viewport and update the UI of material editor.
static CoreExport int	GetSupportedMapLevels (const MtlBase &material)
	The map levels needs to be defined by the material, it will tell the various shader compilers how far to go in the search of materials/maps.
Protected Member Functions
virtual bool	IsShadingModelSupported (ShadingModel model) const =0
	Does the material support a specific shading model in viewport.
virtual ShadingModel	GetCurrentShadingModel () const =0
	Used to query the material for its current level of viewport rendering.
virtual bool	SetCurrentShadingModel (ShadingModel model)=0
	Set the shading model of the material in viewport.
virtual int	GetSupportedMapLevels () const =0
	The map levels needs to be defined by the material, it will tell the various shader compilers how far to go in the search of materials/maps.

---

Member Enumeration Documentation

enum ShadingModel

Search for all occurrences

This enumeration defines how the material is behaving in viewport.

Enumerator:

Standard	the material is rendered in standard way - original Viewport rendering. Search for all occurrences
Hardware	the material is rendered by using hardware shaders. Search for all occurrences
OtherTypes	other render types, such as plugin effect shading. Search for all occurrences

    {
        Standard, 
        Hardware, 
        OtherTypes, 
    };

---

Member Function Documentation

virtual CoreExport BaseInterface* GetInterface

(

Interface_ID

id

)

[virtual]

Search for all occurrences

Remarks:

Returns a pointer to the interface whose ID is specified.

Parameters:

Interface_ID id

The ID of the interface to return.

Default Implementation:

{ return NULL; }

Reimplemented from BaseInterface.

virtual CoreExport Interface_ID GetID

(

)

[virtual]

Search for all occurrences

Remarks:

This method returns the unique interface ID.

Reimplemented from BaseInterface.

virtual bool IsShadingModelSupported

(

ShadingModel

model

)

const [protected, pure virtual]

Search for all occurrences

Does the material support a specific shading model in viewport.

This will be used to enable the SMIV options.

Parameters:

model

The shading model, for now it must be Standard or Hardware.

Returns:

if the shading model is supported, return true; otherwise return false

virtual ShadingModel GetCurrentShadingModel

(

)

const [protected, pure virtual]

Search for all occurrences

Used to query the material for its current level of viewport rendering.

Returns:

current shading model.

virtual bool SetCurrentShadingModel

(

ShadingModel

model

)

[protected, pure virtual]

Search for all occurrences

Set the shading model of the material in viewport.

Parameters:

model

The shading model, must be Standard or Hardware.

Returns:

If the shading model is set successfully, return true; otherwise return false.

virtual int GetSupportedMapLevels

(

)

const [protected, pure virtual]

Search for all occurrences

The map levels needs to be defined by the material, it will tell the various shader compilers how far to go in the search of materials/maps.

Most materials will stop searching after one level, as the shader becomes too complex. For example specifiying 1 will mean the first map found will be used e.g a BitmapTex in a diffuse slot. The compiler will not search any further for maps to support. In this case it will probably bake the submaps to textures and will not try to generate shader code for these submaps.

Returns:

How deep the shader compilers will go in the search of material/Maps in the tree.

static CoreExport bool IsShadingModelSupported	(	const MtlBase &	material,
		ShadingModel	model
	)		[static]

Search for all occurrences

Does the material support a specific shading model in viewport.

This will be used to enable the SMIV options.

Parameters:

material	The material you want to test. If the material does not support IMaterialViewportShading interface, then only standard shading model is supported.
model	The shading model, for now it must be Standard or Hardware.

Returns:

if the shading model is supported, return true; otherwise return false

static CoreExport ShadingModel GetCurrentShadingModel

(

const MtlBase &

material

)

[static]

Search for all occurrences

Used to query the material for its current level of viewport rendering.

Parameters:

material

The material you want to get shading model from. If the material does not support IMaterialViewportShading interface, then the function will return Standard shading model.

Returns:

current shading model.

static CoreExport bool SetCurrentShadingModel	(	MtlBase &	material,
		ShadingModel	model
	)		[static]

Search for all occurrences

Set the shading model of the material in viewport and update the UI of material editor.

Parameters:

material	The material you want to set its shading model. If the material does not support the shading model, the function will fail.
model	The shading model, must be Standard or Hardware.

Returns:

If the shading model is set successfully, return true; otherwise return false.

static CoreExport int GetSupportedMapLevels

(

const MtlBase &

material

)

[static]

Search for all occurrences

The map levels needs to be defined by the material, it will tell the various shader compilers how far to go in the search of materials/maps.

Most materials will stop searching after one level, as the shader becomes too complex. For example specifiying 1 will mean the first map found will be used e.g a BitmapTex in a diffuse slot. The compiler will not search any further for maps to support. In this case it will probably bake the submaps to textures and will not try to generate shader code for these submaps.

Parameters:

material

The material you want to get map levels from. If the material does not support IMaterialViewportShading interface, the function returns 1.

Returns:

How deep the shader compilers will go in the search of material/Maps in the tree.