Data Structures

This section describes the data structures that define the QuickDraw 3D geometric objects. QuickDraw 3D defines the following primitive objects:

• points
• lines
• polylines
• triangles
• simple and general polygons
• boxes
• trigrids
• meshes
• trimeshes
• polyhedra
• ellipses
• NURB curves
• NURB patches
• ellipsoids
• cylinders
• disks
• cones
• tori
• markers

Each of these QuickDraw 3D geometric objects has a set of attributes associated with it. The set of attributes specifies information about the appearance of the objects (for example, its color and transparency). You can edit an object's attributes by calling the functions Q3Geometry_GetAttributeSet and Q3Geometry_SetAttributeSet .

Don't confuse a QuickDraw 3D geometric object (which contains attribute information) with some corresponding standard geometric object (which doesn't contain attribute information). For example, the TQ3Point3D data type defines the standard three-dimensional Cartesian point. The associated QuickDraw 3D geometric object is defined by the TQ3PointData data type. For simplicity, the QuickDraw 3D types are usually referred to by their usual geometric names. When it is necessary to distinguish QuickDraw 3D types from standard mathematical types, the QuickDraw 3D type will be referred to as an object . For example, the TQ3Point3D data type defines a point and the TQ3PointData data type defines a point object.

Points

Rational Points

Polar and Spherical Points

Vectors

Quaternions

Rays

Parametric Points

Tangents

Vertices

Matrices

Bitmaps and Pixel Maps

Areas and Plane Equations

Point Objects

Lines

Polylines

Triangles

Simple Polygons

General Polygons

Boxes

Trigrids

Meshes

Trimeshes

Polyhedra

Ellipses

NURB Curves

NURB Patches

Ellipsoids

Cylinders

Disks

Cones

Tori

Markers

---

© 1997 Apple Computer, Inc.

Previous | QD3D Book | Overview | Chapter Contents | Next |