Re: Fw: [x3d-public] Size of live Box

[Braden McDaniel <braden@endoframe.com>]

On Tue, 2006-03-28 at 02:56 +0300, George Anastassakis wrote:

[snip]

> I also find some contradiction here: Boxes, spheres, etc. are geometry nodes 
> as are, for instance, IndexedFaceSets. Live coordinates are available for 
> the latter (not to mention that they can change through SAI as Coordinate's 
> point is an inputOutput field). On the other hand, the fact that the fields 
> used to internally generate coordinates for boxes, spheres, etc. are not 
> readable means that the actual geometrical properties of geometry nodes such 
> as boxes, spheres, etc. cannot be known while the geometrical properties of 
> other geometry nodes such as IndexedFaceSet can.

It's largely historical; the authors of the VRML97 spec tried to be
conservative in the use of exposedFields (inputOutput), and that has
carried over to what you see in X3D. There are good reasons for that
(i.e., exposedField/inputOutput means more data must be retained);
however, one can reasonably argue that in the case of primitive shapes
it is unnecessary.

The counterargument is, as you might guess based on your observation:
just use IndexedFaceSet if you need that information.

-- 
Braden McDaniel <braden@endoframe.com>

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
for list subscription/unsubscription,
go to http://www.web3d.org/cgi-bin/public_list_signup/lwgate/listsavail.html