View Objects

Overview

This chapter describes view objects (or views) and the functions you can use to manipulate them. You use a view to specify the camera, the group of lights, the draw context, and the renderer that you want QuickDraw 3D to use when rendering an image of a model. You also use views when picking and performing some other operations on a model.

To use this chapter, you should already be familiar with cameras, light groups, draw contexts, and renderers. See the chapters "Camera Objects," "Group Objects," "Draw Context Objects," and "Renderer Objects" for information on creating and manipulating these four kinds of objects. You must create and configure instances of these objects before you can attach them to a view.

You can also attach one or more kinds of shaders to a view to achieve special visual effects. Once again, you must create and configure a shader before attaching it to a view. See the chapter "Shader Objects" for information on the available kinds of shaders.

This chapter begins by describing view objects and their features. Then it shows how to create and attach objects to views. The section "View Objects Routines" provides a complete description of the routines you can use to create and manipulate view objects.

QuickDraw 3D provides one subclass of the view class, the user interface view class. A user interface view is a type of view that allows the user to interact (using interface elements such as a 3D cursor or widgets) with the three-dimensional objects displayed in the view. See the chapter "Pointing Device Manager" for information on user interface views and the functions you can use to create and manipulate them.