This reference page is linked to from the following overview topics: Parent class descriptions, Shape classes, Components, Example Shapes.

Detailed Description

Component helper class for surface shapes.

MPxComponentShape allows the implementation of new user defined shapes using components. User defined shapes are dependency nodes (and DAG nodes) which contain overridable drawing, selection, and component methods. This class provides enhanced functionality for working with components. As a result, it is a better starting point than MPxSurfaceShape for writing surface shape components.

This class provides methods to manipulate and select the components that make up the shape.

The UI dependent aspects of the shape should be implemented in a class derived from MPxSurfaceShapeUI. This includes the drawing and interactive selection of the shape.

Examples:: apiSimpleShape.h.

#include <MPxComponentShape.h>

Inheritance diagram for MPxComponentShape:

[legend]

List of all members.

Public Member Functions
virtual void	transformUsing (const MMatrix &matrix, const MObjectArray &componentList)
	Transform the given components using the specified transformation matrix.
virtual void	transformUsing (const MMatrix &mat, const MObjectArray &componentList, MPxSurfaceShape::MVertexCachingMode cachingMode, MPointArray *pointCache)
	Transform the given components using the specified transformation matrix.
virtual void	componentToPlugs (MObject &component, MSelectionList &list) const
	Converts the given component into a selection list of plugs.
virtual bool	match (const MSelectionMask &mask, const MObjectArray &componentList) const
	This method is used to check for matches between a selection type (or mask) and a given component.
virtual MObject	createFullVertexGroup () const
	This method is used to create a component containing every vertex/CV in the object.
virtual MObject	localShapeInAttr () const
	Returns the input attribute of the shape, which are the control points.
MVectorArray *	getControlPoints ()
	Extract the control points from the data block and store them locally.
MStatus	setControlPoints (MVectorArray *cps)
	Push the given control points into the node's data block.

Member Function Documentation

void transformUsing	(	const MMatrix &	matrix,
		const MObjectArray &	componentList
	)		`[virtual]`

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Transform the given components using the specified transformation matrix.

This method should be overridden if the shape supports components that can be transformed using maya's move, scale, and rotate tools.

Parameters:

[in]	matrix	the matrix representing the transformation that is to be applied to the components
[in]	componentList	a list of components to be tranformed

Reimplemented from MPxSurfaceShape.

void transformUsing	(	const MMatrix &	mat,
		const MObjectArray &	componentList,
		MPxSurfaceShape::MVertexCachingMode	cachingMode,
		MPointArray *	pointCache
	)		`[virtual]`

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Transform the given components using the specified transformation matrix.

This method should be overridden if the shape supports components that can be transformed using maya's move, scale, and rotate tools.

Parameters:

[in]	mat	the matrix representing the transformation that is to be applied to the components
[in]	componentList	a list of components to be tranformed. If the list is empty, it indicates that every point in the geometry should be transformed.
[in]	cachingMode	whether the points should be cached in the pointCache argument, or restored from the pointCache.
[in]	pointCache	used to store for undo and restore points during undo

Reimplemented from MPxSurfaceShape.

void componentToPlugs	(	MObject &	component,
		MSelectionList &	list
	)		const `[virtual]`

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Converts the given component into a selection list of plugs.

This method is used to associate a shapes components into the corresponding attributes (plugs) within the shape.

Parameters:

[in]	component	the component to be converted
[in]	list	a selection list where the plug should be added

Reimplemented from MPxSurfaceShape.

bool match	(	const MSelectionMask &	mask,
		const MObjectArray &	componentList
	)		const `[virtual]`

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This method is used to check for matches between a selection type (or mask) and a given component.

This method is used to match up your components with selection masks.

This is used by sets and deformers to make sure that the selected components fall into the "vertex only" category. This is useful when you want to make sure that only a particular component can be deformed.

Parameters:

[in]	mask	the selection mask to test against
[in]	componentList	a list of components to be tested

Returns:

true the match was successfull
false the match failed

Reimplemented from MPxSurfaceShape.

MObject createFullVertexGroup ( ) const [virtual]

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This method is used to create a component containing every vertex/CV in the object.

This method is supposed to return non-NULL only if the dag object contains vertices/CVs (control points), so derived classes that do should override this method.

Eg: use MFnSingleIndexedComponent::setCompleteData( numVertices ) to specify that a component represents all the vertices of the shape.