In a 3D view, a property filter can filter the selection of constraints, joints, and operators.
In a schematic view, a property filter can filter the selection of materials (and of particle types). Note that in a schematic view, property filters do not modify the selection of constraint and operator links: Softimage does not call the filter when a user selects a link in the schematic view.
Property filters are not available in explorer views.
The following example shows a property filter that filters out inactive constraints, so that only active constraints are selected.
function ActiveConstraints_Match( oContext ) { // Get the Constraint object var oObject = oContext.GetAttribute( "Input" ); var bMatch = false; // Check if the object is an active constraint if ( oObject.BelongsTo( siConstraintFamily ) && oObject.Parameters.Item("active").Value == true ) { bMatch = true; } return( bMatch ); }
Property filters that work with constraints, joints, and operators require certain camera visibility options in a 3D view:
For constraints and operators, relation links must be visible in the 3D view (press Shift+S, and on the Attributes property page, select the Relations check boxes).
For joints, the joints must be visible in the 3D view (press Shift+S, and on the Attributes property page, select the Chain Joint Rotation Limits check boxes).
Note that clicking anywhere in a 3D view triggers the Match callback for each constraint, joint, and operator in the scene, but Softimage selects only the properties, if any, the user clicked.
You can also use a property filter to select objects based on their properties. For example, Softimage includes a Local Material property filter that selects objects with local materials. The Local Material filter shipped with Softimage is written in VBScript; a JScript version is shown below.
function MyLocalMaterial_Match( oContext ) { // Get the input object, which could a Primitive, X3DObject, Constraint, Joint, ... var oInput = oContext.GetAttribute( "Input" ); // Return value var bMatch = false; // Try to get a 3D object from the input object var o3DObject = Get3DObject( oInput ); // If we have a 3D object, check its local properties for a material if ( o3DObject != null && classname( o3DObject ) == "X3DObject" ) { for (var enumerator = new Enumerator( o3DObject.LocalProperties ) ; !enumerator.atEnd(); enumerator.moveNext()) { var oProperty = enumerator.item(); if ( classname( oProperty ) == "Material" ) { bMatch = true; break; } } } return ( bMatch ); }
Property filters have to be able to handle any type of object, because they don't always get a 3D object from Softimage. For example, when a user uses the mouse to select objects in a 3D view, the filter gets Primitive objects, not X3DObjects. In addition, Softimage calls the Match callback for every constraint, joint, and operator in the scene.
function Get3DObject( oObject ) { var o3DObject = null; if ( classname( oObject ) == "X3DObject" ) { o3DObject = oObject ; } else if ( classname( oObject ) == "Primitive" ) { o3DObject = oObject.Parent; } return( o3DObject ); }