Director 3D > Creating Simple 3D

Custom handlers can streamline the process of creating 3D with Lingo. If you are familiar with the idea of functions, a “custom handler” works in the same way to create a kind of “toolkit” of code, which can be called at any time - so you don’t need to repeat it. For example, the creation of a primitive from scratch involves several steps that can become repetitive. A custom handler stores these steps and allows you to call them via a simple, one-line piece of code:

You can view a sample here.

Here is an example of a custom handler Lingo script (it can be found in the sample file, in the movie script called "Basic Primitive Creation Custom Handlers") - the comments (lines beginning with --) explain what the code is doing:

--- this script contains a custom handler for the creation of a cube/box --- you could also create handlers for other shapes (planes, spheres, cylinders, etc) -- createbox() Global scene --reference to the global variable we've already set -- we call the handler like this: createbox("boxname",50,50,50,rgb(255,255,255)) On createbox boxName, L,W,H, boxColor -- if the 3d world is ready... If check3Dready(scene) then --checks to see the name is not already used... If scene.model(boxname) = void then --create a model resource Res = Scene.newmodelresource(boxName & "res", #box) --pass the length, width and height values we set when we call the handler Res.length = L Res.width = W Res.height = H --then create the model Obj = scene.newmodel(boxName, res) --and create a shader object for the model (this deals with colours and textures) --and set the values of the shader Shd = scene.newshader(boxName & "shd", #standard) Shd.diffuse = boxColor Shd.texture = void Obj.shaderlist = shd --return the result Return scene.model(boxname) End if End if End

In the "INITIALIZE" movie script we then call this handler with the following code:

global scene -- we will reference the SW3D in this script on initialize clearworld(scene) -- call the custom handler clearworld to reset the world to its default values --------------------- this is helpful while you are authoring, because objects created in previous --------------------- runs of the movie will not clear on their own in authoring mode --------------------- in Shockwave or Projector mode, this is not really a problem --createbox boxName, L,W,H, boxColor createbox("box1", 50, 50, 50, rgb(#255,255,10)) --rotate the box so we can see it is 3D on the stage --(otherwise, you'll see a flat box - one side of the cube) scene.model("box1").rotate(45,45,45) end

This is the resulting 3D in the Director stage:

Effectively, every time you need to create a cube you can then use the one line of code (e.g. createbox("box1", 50, 50, 50, rgb(#255,255,10)) ) to create one easily (this saves a LOT of typing and repeated code).

This idea is explored in depth in Paul Catanese’s book: “Director’s Third Dimension: Fundamentals of 3D Programming in Director 8.5” – Chapter 3.

More generic information on custom handlers in Lingo can be found at: http://www.fbe.unsw.edu.au/Learning/Director/Lingo/generic.htm