Grouping objects

[luka_friend]

Hello!

I am trying to create a grid of bar elements (to form some kind of net) and I was wondering if there is a way to group these bars, so when I want to move the net, all of the children objects would move also.

 

EXAMPLE:

var bar1 = new BABYLON.Mesh.CreateBox(name, 1, scene);

var bar2 = new BABYLON.Mesh.CreateBox(name, 1, scene);

var bar3 = new BABYLON.Mesh.CreateBox(name, 1, scene);

 

<-- how do I group bar1, bar2, bar3 so that I could use :

group.position.x = 10;

[Wingnut]

Hi LF!  In this system, you group things with .parent

 

// make a parent object...

var myparent = new BABYLON.Mesh.CreateBox("myparent", 1, scene);

 

// make kids and set their .parent properties...

var bar1 = new BABYLON.Mesh.CreateBox(name, 1, scene);

bar1.parent = myparent;

 

var bar2 = new BABYLON.Mesh.CreateBox(name, 1, scene);

bar2.parent = myparent;

 

var bar3 = new BABYLON.Mesh.CreateBox(name, 1, scene);

bar3.parent = myparent;

 

[ position and rotate the children... in this area ]

 

// now you can move them as a group...

myparent.position.x = 2;

 

// and hide the parent if you wish...

myparent.isVisible = false;

 

From then-on, you can position, rotate or scale myparent, and the children will come along.  Notice that it is important to position and rotate the children... AFTER they have been parented to the "gizmo" parent.  Any rotations, positioning or scaling of the child, prior to setting a parent on them, will get "nulled out".  Experiment.  Good luck.

[luka_friend]

Almost forgot to thank you  - - >  THANK YOU WINGNUT 

[anurag]

In this case, only parent dictates the position and scaling. Is it possible to group them in a way that even if a child is moved, all the group members should also reflect the same?

[reddozen]

you could assign a tag then search for tags.

[anurag]

yeah that can be done.

In my case as there are fixed number of models, I ended up removing the parent child relationship and applied the scaling and position for all models simultaneoulsy on mouse action.

[securet]

is there a way to access the children of a parent? Like parent.getArrayOfChildren()?

[Kesshi]

1 hour ago, securet said:

is there a way to access the children of a parent? Like parent.getArrayOfChildren()?

you can use parent.getChildMeshes() or parent.getDescendants()

[securet]

k, ty

[pepelito]

On 12/11/2014 at 11:09 PM, reddozen said:

you could assign a tag then search for tags.

 

what this means? is it sarcastic or i am not understanding?

[Wingnut]

Hi @pepelito  The tags system is an advanced search-for-scene-items system. 

It allows advanced searching thru scene.meshes, scene.lights, scene.cameras... using wildcards and pattern matching, etc.  Some common tags might be... tree, bush, building, bridge, road, etc.

These searches would allow you to "derive" a group of ALL TREES.  Then you could use the meshMover code we talked about... to iterate thru all the trees, and move them as a group.  Not many people use the Babylon tags system, but it is quite powerful... SUPER handy for scene layout of large scenes.

In a way, tags allow you to build your own personal database[keys] for scene items.  You could build your own interface to scene...  like world.trees.pine.small... etc.    *shrug*  Hope this helps.  Other commenters might have better words.

[reddozen]

You can see how I used tags in this loader. I define sub regions on the map with tags to control visibility.

http://red12.studio/Demos/Web/Include/Loaders/map_loader.php?region=1&zone=1