BRL-CAD Primitives

These are primitive objects that can be created in mged.

Objects can be created in any of the following ways: (note: are there more? get? load from file?)

make 

the mged make command creates the object with default dimensions

in 

the mged in command interactively prompts for dimensions not already supplied as arguments

form

the graphical primitive editor form (* some objects not fully supported)

create 

the graphical create menu

When an object is selected from the create menu, you are prompted for a name, and then dropped into the primitive editor form; however, if the objec type has no form, create will do about the same as make. Some derivative objects do not have their own form, and the primitive editor will use the base object's form. Most parameters (including ones not editable from a form) have special items on the edit menu.

See also A Survey of Implicit Constraints in Primitives

Arbs

Objects with an arbitrary number of points and flat faces...

arb8

Arbitrary straight-edged shape with 8 vertices.

Handled by

make in form create

Arguments

8 Vertices in the following order: 1234 vertices for the front face, starting at bottom left, counterclockwise; then 5678 vertices for the rear face, starting at bottom left, counterclockwise.

Example

in unitcube.s arb8  0 0 0  1 0 0  1 0 1  0 0 1  0 1 0  1 1 0  1 1 1  0 1 1

creates the unit cube (first vertex at the origin, extends for 1 unit in x, y and z direction).

arb7

Special case of arb8, except with point 8 merged into point 5, making the left face triangular

Handled by

make in form(arb8) create

arb6

Arbitrary straight-edged shape with 6 vertices, special case of arb8.

Handled by

make in form(arb8) create

Arguments

6 Vertices in the following order: 1234 vertices for the front face, starting at bottom left, counterclockwise; then back edge is 5 on bottom, 6 on top. Top and bottom faces are triangles.

Example

in arb6.s arb6 1 -1 -1   1 1 -1   1 1 1  1 -1 1  -1 0 -1  -1 0 1

arb5

special case of arb8.

Handled by

make in form(arb8) create

arb4

special case of arb8.

Handled by

make in form(arb8) create

arbn

Arbitrary solid bounded by N planes

Handled by

make in create

Arguments

Number of planes

xyz direction vector and normal for each plane

Example

in arbn.s arbn 8 1 0 1 1 -1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 -1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 -1 1 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 -0.5 -0.5 -0.5 1

box

Special case of arb8

Handled by

in form(arb8)

Arguments

V 

vertex of first corner

direction vectors for height, width, and depth

rpp

Special case of arb8

Handled by

make in form(arb8) create

Arguments

xmin xmax ymin ymax zmin zmax

Ellipsoids

ell

Ellipsoid

Handled by

make in form create

Arguments

V 

vertex point, at the center

vectors A B C describing the radii of the ellipses; A points front, B points right, C points up.

Example:

in ell.s ell 0 0 0  0 -1 0  1 0 0  0 0 1

sph

Sphere, special case of the ellipsoid, with vectors A B and C all the same magnitude (radius).

Handled by

make in form(ell) create

Arguments:

V 

vertex point, at the center

radius

ellg

Special case of ellipsoid

Handled by

in form(ell)

Arguments

two foci points, and axis length

ell1

Special case of ellipsoid

Handled by

in make form(ell) create

Arguments

vertex, vector A, radius of revolution

ehy

Elliptical hyperboloid

Handled by

make in form create

Arguments

vertex, perpendicular vectors Height and (A,r_1) major axis, (r_2) magnitude of vector B, (c) apex to asymptotes distance

epa

Elliptical paraboloid

Handled by

in make form create

Cones and Cylinders

tgc

Truncated general cone

Handled by

in make form create

Arguments

vertex, vectors H A B, magnitudes of vectors C D

rcc

Right circular cylinder, special case of tgc

Handled by

in make form(tgc) create

Arguments

vertex ,

rec

Right elliptical cylinder, special case of tgc

Handled by

in make form(tgc) create

Arguments

vertex, height vector, radius

rhc

Right hyperbolic cylinder

Handled by

in make form create

Arguments

vertex, perpendicular vectors for Height and B, (r) rectangular half width, (c) apex to asymptote distance,

rpc

Right parabolic cylinder

Handled by

in make form create

Arguments

vertex, perpendicular vectors for Height and B, (r) rectangular half width

tec

Truncated elliptical cone, special case of tgc

Handled by

in make form(tgc) create

Arguments

Vertex, vectors Height, A, B

trc

Truncated right circular cone

Handled by

in make form(tgc) create

Arguments

Vertex, Height vector, radius of base and top

Other solids

tor

Torus

Handled by

in make form create

Arguments

vertex, normal vector, radius of revolution, tube radius

eto

Elliptical torus

Handled by

in make form create

Arguments

vertex, normal vector, radius of revolution, vector C, (r_d) magnitude of semi-minor axis

part

Conical particle

Handled by

in make create

Arguments

vertex, height vector, radius at v, radius at h

nmg

n-Manifold geometry solid (non-manifold geometry?)

Handled by

make create

pipe

Hollow and solid pipes and wires

Handled by

in make create

Arguments

# points, for each point: location, inner and outer diameters, bend radius

ars

Arbitrary rectangular solid

Handled by

in make create

Solids of type 'ars' (Arbitrary Faceted Solids) are defined using "waterlines". The following figure consists of a start point, some number of intermediate polygons, and an ending point. Each of the intermediate polygons have the same number of vertices and the vertices are numbered 1 thru N. In addition to the intermediate polygons a line will be created that begins at the start point, goes through each polygon at its vertex numbered 1, and terminates at the end point. This is repeated for each polygon vertex 2 thru N. The start point, polygons, and end point are each a "waterline".

<need an image here to illustrate the concept>

the ars shape takes the following values as input:

• The number of points per waterline (the number of vertices on each intermediate polygon)
• The number of waterlines (the number of intermediate polygons plus 2)
• X, Y, and Z for a starting point (the first waterline)
• for each interior polygon (an intermediate waterline)
  • for each point on the polygon
    • X, Y, and Z for the point on the polygon
• X, Y, and Z for an ending point (the last waterline)

For example, the command:

in x.1 ars 4 6 0 0 3 1 1 3 1 -1 3 -1 -1 3 -1 1 3 1 1 1 1 -1 1 -1 -1 1 -1 1 1 1 0 -1 0 -1 -1 -1 0 -1 0 1 -1 1 0 -3 0 -1 -3 -1 0 -3 0 1 -3 0 0 -3

Will produce a square bar with a tapered 1/8 turn twist in the middle. Of course, more waterlines in the twist and more points per waterline would make the twist smoother.

Example ARS

The parameters to the above ars command can be dissected as:

4 : number of points per waterline (i.e. intermediate polygons have 4 vertices)
6 : number of waterlines (four intermediate polygons plus the two endpoints)
0 0 3 - the center of the top end of the bar
1 1 3 1 -1 3 -1 -1 3 -1 1 3 : a 2x2 square in the xy plane at z offset 3
1 1 1 1 -1 1 -1 -1 1 -1 1 1 : a 2x2 square oriented the same as the first but at z offset 1
1 0 -1 0 -1 -1 -1 0 -1 0 1 -1 : a 2x2 square at a 45 degree rotation from the first squares at z offset -1
1 0 -3 0 -1 -3 -1 0 -3 0 1 -3 : a 2x2 square at a 45 degree rotation from the first squares at z offset -3
0 0 -3 : the center of the bottom end of the bar

metaball

Handled by

in make form(*) create

Arguments

render method, threshold, number of points, location and field strength for each point (and blobbiness/goo factor)

extrude

Extrusion of a 2-d sketch

Handled by

in make form(?) create

Arguments

vertex, perpendicular vectors Height A B, sketch

dsp

Handled by

in create

hf

Height field

Handled by

none?

Status

depreciated, use dsp instead

nurb

Non-uniform rational b-spline

Handled by

none?

vol

volume / voxel

Handled by

in

Arguments

filename, xyz dimensions of file, lower and upper threasholds, xyz dimensions of a cell

bot

Bag of triangles

Handled by

in make create (not edit!)

Arguments

number of verticies, number of triangles, mode (1=surface 2=solid 3=plate), triangle orientation mode (1=unoriented 2=counter-clockwise 3=clockwise), each vertex, vertex index of each triangle

Note: no provisions in the edit menu to adjust this object!

ebm

extruded bit map

Handled by

in create

Other

Sketch

2d outline

Handled by

make form(sketch editor) create

See also

sketch

grip

Grip -- support for joints

Handled by

in make form create

Arguments:

C 

Center

N 

normal vector

L 

magnitude

half

halfspace

Handled by

in make form create

Arguments

Normal, distance from origin

binunif

Uniform-array binary object

Handled by

in create (not edit!)

Arguments

minor type (fdcsiLCSIL), data file, number of values