Boolean Preview

Hi all,

I am working on some visual tools that give feedback in the rhino view port. All is well, but I am trying to find an elegant way to control the preview of the information. The preview settings are contained in clusters, so it is not easy to control what information is showing without opening the cluster, editing, and saving.

I would like to know if anyone has a nice way of using the Boolean toggle to turn on and off the preview of an item (specifically the custom preview and text tag buttons).

I have made similar functionality before by using the stream filter component. This way, I was able to send the needed information to make the visual, or send nothing to make the visual have nothing to show.

This way works, but I was hoping that there may be a component (or the potential for a component) that could control the preview of other components via Boolean. It would be great if a component could either hijack the preview properties to be controlled by Boolean (could plug in like the timer) or that the custom preview component could have a Boolean input.

Let me know what you all think. I have a basic solution, but I am continuously looking for an easier way to control the preview of many things without searching for each component.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Hannes Löschke on November 4, 2013 at 4:34pm

Although it may seem nice to create "new visual components" with clusters: don't.

If you pass the geometry trough more than one component in the cluster, you will generate loads of overhead geometry just to have a nice preview.

You should create your own C# script or native component. Apart from handling all geometry operations in one step without unneccessary copies, you get access to additional parameters (bool toogles) or even your own UI toggle in the components menu.

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