Options exhaustive list

An option is a specific value stored in different struct in an options instance. They can be accessed directly through the structs, through a string API or through a std::variant API.

The possible option are listed below and are organized by categories and subcategories, here is a non-exhaustive explanation of the categories.

  • scene options are related to how the scene is being displayed
  • render options are related to the way the render is done
  • render.effect options are related to specific techniques used that modify the render
  • ui options are related to the screenspace UI element displayed
  • model options are related to modifications on the model
  • interactor options requires an interactor to be present to have any effect

Please note certain options are taken into account when rendering, others when loading a file. See the exhaustive list below, but note that this may change in the future.

Please note certain options are optional by default, which means they are not set initially, See the APIs details below for more info.

Scene Options

Option Type
Default
Trigger		 Description F3D option
scene.animation.autoplay bool
false
load		 Automatically start animation. --animation-autoplay
scene.animation.index int
0
load		 Select the animation to load.
Any negative value means all animations (glTF only).
The default scene always has at most one animation.		 --animation-index
scene.animation.speed_factor ratio
1
render		 Set the animation speed factor to slow, speed up or even invert animation. --animation-speed-factor
scene.animation.time double
optional
load		 Set the animation time to load. --animation-time
scene.camera.index int
optional
load		 Select the scene camera to use when available in the file.
The default scene always uses automatic camera.		 --camera-index
scene.up_direction direction
+Y
load		 Define the Up direction. It impacts the grid, the axis, the HDRI and the camera. --up
scene.camera.orthographic bool
optional
load		 Set to true to force orthographic projection. Model specified by default, which is false if not specified. --camera-orthographic

Interactor Options

Option Type
Default
Trigger		 Description F3D option
interactor.trackball bool
false
render		 Enable trackball interaction. --trackball
interactor.invert_zoom bool
false
render		 Invert the zoom direction. --invert-zoom

Model Options

Option Type
Default
Trigger		 Description F3D option
model.matcap.texture path
optional
render		 Path to a texture file containing a material capture. All other model options for surfaces are ignored if this is set. Model specified by default. --texture-matcap
model.color.opacity double
optional
render		 Set opacity on the geometry. Usually used with Depth Peeling option. Multiplied with the model.color.texture when present. Model specified by default. --opacity
model.color.rgb color
optional
render		 Set a color on the geometry. Multiplied with the model.color.texture when present. Model specified by default. --color
model.color.texture path
optional
render		 Path to a texture file that sets the color of the object. Will be multiplied with rgb and opacity. Model specified by default. --texture-base-color
model.emissive.factor color
optional
render		 Multiply the emissive color when an emissive texture is present. Model specified by default. --emissive-factor
model.emissive.texture path

render		 Path to a texture file that sets the emitted light of the object. Multiplied with the model.emissive.factor. Model specified by default. --texture-emissive
model.material.metallic double
optional
render		 Set the metallic coefficient on the geometry (0.0-1.0). Multiplied with the model.material.texture when present. Model specified by default. --metallic
model.material.roughness double
optional
render		 Set the roughness coefficient on the geometry (0.0-1.0). Multiplied with the model.material.texture when present. Model specified by default. --roughness
model.material.base_ior double
optional
render		 Set the index of refraction of the base layer (1.0-2.5). Model specified by default. --base-ior
model.material.texture path
optional
render		 Path to a texture file that sets the Occlusion, Roughness and Metallic values of the object. Multiplied with the model.material.roughness and model.material.metallic, set both of them to 1.0 to get a true result. Model specified by default. --texture-material
model.normal.scale double
optional
render		 Normal scale affects the strength of the normal deviation from the normal texture. Model specified by default. --normal-scale
model.normal.texture path
optional
render		 Path to a texture file that sets the normal map of the object. Model specified by default. --texture-normal
model.scivis.enable bool
false
render		 Color by an array present in on the data. If model.scivis.array_name is not set, the first available array will be used. --scalar-coloring
model.scivis.cells bool
false
render		 Color the data with value found on the cells instead of points --cells
model.scivis.discretization int
optional
render		 Set how many distinct colors will be used from the colormap. [1, N] will discretize, values outside that range will result in smooth shading. --colormap-discretization
model.scivis.colormap colormap
<inferno>
render		 Set a custom colormap for the coloring.See colormap parsing for details. --colormap
model.scivis.component int
-1
render		 Specify the component to color with. -1 means magnitude. -2 means direct values. --comp
model.scivis.array_name string

render		 Select the name of the array to color with. --coloring-array
model.scivis.range vector<double>
optional
render		 Set the coloring range. Automatically computed by default. --range
model.point_sprites.enable bool
false
render		 Show sphere points sprites instead of the geometry. --point-sprites
model.point_sprites.type string
sphere
render		 Set the sprites type when showing point sprites (can be sphere or gaussian). --point-stripes-type
model.point_sprites.size double
10.0
render		 Set the size of point sprites. --point-stripes-size
model.volume.enable bool
false
render		 Enable volume rendering. It is only available for 3D image data (vti, dcm, nrrd, mhd files) and will display nothing with other formats. It forces coloring. --volume
model.volume.inverse bool
false
render		 Inverse the linear opacity function. --inverse

Render Options

Option Type
Default
Trigger		 Description F3D option
render.effect.translucency_support bool
false
render		 Enable translucency support. This is a technique used to correctly render translucent objects, implemented using depth peeling --translucency-support
render.effect.antialiasing.enable string
false
render		 Enable anti-aliasing. This technique is used to reduce aliasing. --anti-aliasing
render.effect.antialiasing.mode string
fxaa
render		 Set the anti-aliasing technique. Valid options are: FXAA (fast), SSAA (quality) --anti-aliasing-mode
render.effect.ambient_occlusion bool
false
render		 Enable ambient occlusion. This is a technique providing approximate shadows, used to improve the depth perception of the object. Implemented using SSAO --ambient_occlusion
render.effect.tone_mapping bool
false
render		 Enable generic filmic Tone Mapping Pass. This technique is used to map colors properly to the monitor colors. --tone-mapping
render.effect.final_shader string
optional
render		 Add a final shader to the output image --final-shader. See user documentation.
render.line_width double
optional
render		 Set the width of lines when showing edges. Model specified by default. --line-width
render.show_edges bool
optional
render		 Set to true to show the cell edges. Model specified by default. --edges
render.point_size double
optional
render		 Set the size of points when showing vertices. Model specified by default. --point-size
render.backface_type string
optional
render		 Set the Backface type, can be visible or hidden, model specified by default. --backface-type
render.grid.enable bool
false
render		 Show a grid aligned with the horizontal (orthogonal to the Up direction) plane. --grid
render.grid.absolute bool
false
render		 Position the grid at the absolute origin of the model’s coordinate system instead of below the model. --grid
render.grid.unit double
optional
render		 Set the size of the unit square for the grid. Automatically computed by default. --grid-unit
render.grid.subdivisions int
10
render		 Set the number of subdivisions for the grid. --grid-subdivisions
render.grid.color color
0, 0, 0
render		 Set the color of grid lines. --grid-color
render.raytracing.enable bool
false
render		 Enable raytracing. Requires the raytracing module to be enabled. --raytracing
render.raytracing.samples int
5
render		 The number of samples per pixel. --samples
render.raytracing.denoise bool
false
render		 Denoise the raytracing rendering. --denoise
render.hdri.file path
optional
render		 Set the HDRI image that can be used for ambient lighting and skybox.
Valid file format are hdr, exr, png, jpg, pnm, tiff, bmp.
If not set, a default is provided.		 --hdri-file
render.hdri.ambient bool
false
render		 Light the scene using the HDRI image as ambient lighting
The environment act as a light source and is reflected on the material.		 --hdri-ambient
render.background.color color
0.2,0.2,0.2
render		 Set the window background color.
Ignored if a hdri skybox is used.		 --background-color
render.background.skybox bool
false
render		 Show the HDRI image as a skybox
Overrides the the background color if any		 --hdri-skybox
render.background.blur.enable bool
false
render		 Blur background, useful with a skybox. --blur-background
render.background.blur.coc double
20.0
render		 Blur background circle of confusion radius. --blur-coc
render.light.intensity double
1.0
render		 Adjust the intensity of every light in the scene. --light-intensity
render.armature.enable bool
false
render		 Display armatures if present in the scene (glTF only). --armature

UI Options

Option Type
Default
Trigger		 Description F3D option
ui.axis bool
false
render		 Show axes as a trihedron in the scene. Requires an interactor. --axis
ui.scalar_bar bool
false
render		 Show scalar bar of the coloring by data array. --bar
ui.cheatsheet bool
false
render		 Show a interaction cheatsheet -
ui.console bool
false
render		 Show the console -
ui.minimal_console bool
false
render		 Show the minimal console. Useful to execute a quick command and exit. -
ui.filename bool
false
render		 Display the filename info content on top of the window. --filename
ui.filename_info string
-
render		 Content of filename info to display. -
ui.font_file path
optional
render		 Use the provided FreeType compatible font file to display text.
Can be useful to display non-ASCII filenames.		 --font-file
ui.scale ratio
1.0
render		 Scale fonts. --font-scale
ui.fps bool
false
render		 Display a frame per second counter. --fps
ui.loader_progress bool
false
load		 Show a progress bar when loading the file. --progress
ui.animation_progress bool
false
load		 Show a progress bar when playing the animation. --animation-progress
ui.metadata bool
false
render		 Display the metadata. --metadata
ui.dropzone bool
false
render		 Show a drop zone. Rendering is disabled when the viewport is smaller than 10×10 pixels. -
ui.dropzone_info string
-
render		 Content of the drop zone text to display. -

APIs

There are three APIs to access the options

Struct API

The most straightforward and easy to use API, just access it through the structs available in the options instance, eg:

  f3d::engine eng = f3d::engine::create();
  f3d::options& opt = eng.getOptions();
  opt.render.show_edges = true;
  opt.render.grid.enable = true;
  opt.ui.metadata = true;
  opt.model.material.roughness = 0.6;

Please note that when accessing optional options, special care must be used, eg:

  f3d::engine eng = f3d::engine::create();
  f3d::options& opt = eng.getOptions();
  if (opt.render.line_width.has_value())
  {
    std::cout << "Line Width: " << opt.render.line_width.value() << std::endl;
  }
  else
  {
    std::cout << "Line Width: unset" << std::endl;
  }

It’s even more true with the few optional boolean options as std::optional has an implicit boolean cast operator.

String API

The most generic and flexible API, as it rely on parsing and string generation. See the parsing documentation for more details.

  f3d::engine eng = f3d::engine::create();
  f3d::options& opt = eng.getOptions();
  opt.setAsString("render.show_edges", "true");
  opt.setAsString("render.grid.enable", "true");
  opt.setAsString("ui.metadata", "true");
  opt.setAsString("model.material.roughness", "0.6");

When using this API make sure to catch exceptions has needed, eg:

  f3d::engine eng = f3d::engine::create();
  f3d::options& opt = eng.getOptions();

  try
  {
    std::cout << userProvidedName << ": " << opt.getAsString(userProvidedName) << std::endl;
  }
  catch (const f3d::options::inexistent_exception&)
  {
    std::cout << userProvidedName << " does not exist." << std::endl;
  }
  catch (const f3d::options::no_value_exception&)
  {
    std::cout << userProvidedName << " is not set." << std::endl;
  }

Variant API

An API that is similar to the F3D 2.0 options API thanks to std::variant.

  f3d::engine eng = f3d::engine::create();
  f3d::options& opt = eng.getOptions();
  opt.set("render.show_edges", true);
  opt.set("render.grid.enable", true);
  opt.set("ui.metadata", true);
  opt.set("model.material.roughness", 0.6);

When using this API make sure to catch exception shown above with the string API.