[x3d-public] add 'hidden' field to Shape?

[Don Brutzman]

Further discussion during last week's X3D Working Group teleconference:

a. often there are use cases having to do with geometry, i.e. one mesh with varied appearances.  Might be better for abstract geometry types as well.  example: different light bulbs in a holiday display.

b. some nodes are not rendered per se (interpolators, sensors etc.) but have a description field which might be displayed in the browser interface somewhere.

c. often there are use cases having to do with groups of shapes, for example one tree among many is not yet visible until it is in stock.

d. common use case in CAD, HAnim, medical displays

Suggested approach: place 'hidden' field on X3DNode abstract type so that there is
- no ambiguity on display,
- simplicity of X3D authoring, and
- greatest possible compatibility with HTML event authoring.

On 12/13/2019 1:27 AM, Don Brutzman wrote:
> This potential feature created thanks to discussion on CAD Design Printing Scanning teleconference yesterday.  All feedback welcome.
> 
> Now opened as Mantis issue 1271 and tagged as X3D 4.0.
> 
> https://www.web3d.org/member-only/mantis/view.php?id=1271
> 
> On 12/12/2019 8:23 AM, Don Brutzman wrote:
>> A common task in 3D graphics is selectively hiding geometry.
>>
>> X3D is fairly clumsy about this, typically requiring Switch or LOD animation to achieve it.
>>
>> HTML has a much simpler approach, the 'hidden' attribute.  There is a similar construct in CSS.
>>
>>      HTML5 6.1 The hidden attribute
>> https://html.spec.whatwg.org/multipage/interaction.html#the-hidden-attribute
>>
>> As a similar way to simplify hidding, either for pure X3D or hybrid html/X3D, wondering if we might add a 'hidden' attribute to Shape.
>>
>>      12.4.6 Shape
>> https://www.web3d.org/specifications/X3Dv4Draft/ISO-IEC19775-1v4-WD1/Part01/components/shape.html#Shape
>>
>>      SFBool [in out] hidden FALSE
> 
> 
> all the best, Don


all the best, Don
-- 
Don Brutzman  Naval Postgraduate School, Code USW/Br       brutzman at nps.edu
Watkins 270,  MOVES Institute, Monterey CA 93943-5000 USA   +1.831.656.2149
X3D graphics, virtual worlds, navy robotics http://faculty.nps.edu/brutzman