Application Development

Warning
This a code-intensive presentation for Code Warriors only!
Non-programmers will need atropine, caffeine, and electro-shock therapy (run, do not walk, to the nearest exit).

Lee A. Butler

1. Introduction

A suite of utilities capable of interactively displaying, editing, and interrogating geometric models is known as BRL-CAD. BRL-CAD has become a powerful constructive solid geometry (CSG) modeling package. The package includes a large collection of tools and utilities including an interactive geometry editor, ray tracing and generic framebuffer libraries, a network-distributed image-processing and signal-processing capability, and an embedded scripting language.

A particular strength of the package lies in its ability to build and analyze realistic models of complex objects using a relatively small set of "primitive shapes." Another strength of the package is the speed of its ray tracer, which is one of the fastest in existence. Finally, BRL-CAD users can accurately model objects on scales ranging from the subatomic through the galactic and get "all the details, all the time." BRL-CAD has been used for a wide variety of engineering and graphics applications. BRL-CAD is basically a collection of libraries, tools, and utilities that work together to create, raytrace, and interrogate geometry and manipulate files and data. In BRL-CAD library, Each library fits into one of three categories:

  • creating and/or editing geometry,

  • raytracing geometry

  • image handling.

The application side of BRL-CAD also offers a number of tools and utilities.

rt

the main raytracer for rendering images in BRL-CAD.

nirt

a package for firing rays interactively and getting information about what the rays run into.

remrt

a network-distributed ray tracing package.

2. Overview

  • Header files

  • Shooting Rays

  • Ray-Tracing User Interface Framework (RTUIF)

  • Geometry Forms

  • Creating Geometry

  • Reading Geometry

  • Modifying Geometry

3. Header Files

Table 1. The Big Six
HeaderLibrary

bu.h

libbu

bn.h

libbn

raytrace.h

librt

rtgeom.h

librt / libwdb

wdb.h

libwdb

vmath.h

(data types)

4. Prototype Application: rtexample.c

  • Opens a database

  • Retrieves geometry

  • Prepares geometry for raytrace

  • Performs raytrace

  • See source tree: rt/rtexample.c

5. Necessary Headers

#include "conf.h"       /* compilation macros           */
#include <stdio.h>
#include <math.h>
#include "machine.h"    /* machine specific definitions */
#include "vmath.h"      /* vector math macros           */
#include "raytrace.h"   /* librt interface definitions  */
  • The conf.h and machine.h are ubiquitous in almost all BRLCAD apps

  • The raytrace.h is present for geometry programs

    • Includes some additional headers

    • Contains most ray-tracing data structure definitions

6. Opening the Database

static struct rt_i *rtip; /* librt Instance structure */
/* rt_dirbuild() performs many functions for us */
rtip = rt_dirbuild(argv[1], buf, sizeof(buf));
if (rtip == RTI_NULL) {
    fprintf(stderr,"rtexample: rt_dirbuild failure\n");
    exit(2);
}
  • Opens database file

  • Builds a directory of objects in the database

  • Allows us to retrieve individual objects

7. Reading Geometry

if (rt_gettree(rtip, argv[2]) < 0)
    fprintf(stderr,"rt_gettree(%s) FAILED\n", argv[2]);
  • Retrieves tree top specified by argv[2] into a working set used by librt

8. Preparing Geometry for Raytracing

rt_prep_parallel(rtip, 1);
  • Pre-computes useful terms for each primitive, e.g.,triangle normals, function roots, trig terms.

  • Builds space partition tree to accelerate ray-trace

9. Application Struct and Shot

struct application ap;
ap.a_rt_i = rtip;
VSET(ap.a_ray.r_pt, 0, 0, 10000);
VSET(ap.a_ray.r_dir, 0, 0, -1);
ap.a_hit = hit;	          /* where to go on a hit */
ap.a_miss = miss;         /* where to go on a miss */

(void)rt_shootray(&); /* do it */
  • The application struct contains information about the ray that is to be computed and what should be done with the results.

10. Application Struct

Excerpts of application struct from raytrace.h:

struct application {

    struct xray  a_ray;	/* Actual ray to be shot */
    int          (*a_hit)(struct application *,
                          struct partition *,
                          struct seg *);
    int          (*a_miss) (struct application *);
    int          a_onehit; /* flag to stop on first hit */

    struct rt_i  *a_rt_i;  /* this librt instance *
    /* ... */
};/

11. Miss Routine

int
miss(register struct application *ap)
{
    bu_log("missed\n");
    return (0); /* Value returned by rt_shootray() */
}
  • Called when ray does not hit any geometry.

12. Hit Routine

int
hit(register struct application *ap, /* see raytrace.h */
    struct partition *PartHeadp)     /* see raytrace.h */
{
    register struct partition *pp;
    register struct hit *hitp;
    point_t pt;
    for (pp = PartHeadp->pt_forw;
         pp != PartHeadp;
         pp = pp->pt_forw ) {
        hitp = pp->pt_inhit;
        VJOIN1( pt, ap->a_ray.r_pt, hitp->hit_dist, ap->a_ray.r_dir);
        VPRINT(Hit Point, pt);
    }
    return 1; /* value returned by rt_shootray();
}

13. Hit Routine Breakdown

int
hit(register struct application *ap,
    struct partition *PartHeadp)
{
    register struct partition *pp;
    register struct hit *hitp;
    point_t         pt;
    /* ... */
}
  • Partition Structure contains information about intervals of the ray which pass through geometry

  • Hit structure contains information about an individual boundary/ray intersection

14. Partition Structure

struct partition {
    long              pt_magic;       /* sanity check               */
    struct partition *pt_forw;        /* forwards link              */
    struct partition *pt_back;        /* backwards link             */
    struct seg       *pt_inseg;       /* IN seg ptr (gives stp)     */
    struct hit       *pt_inhit;       /* IN hit pointer             */
    struct seg       *pt_outseg;      /* OUT seg pointer            */
    struct hit       *pt_outhit;      /* OUT hit ptr                */
    struct region    *pt_regionp;     /* ptr to containing region   */
    char              pt_inflip;      /* flip inhit->hit_normal     */
    char              pt_outflip;     /* flip outhit->hit_normal    */
    struct region   **pt_overlap_reg; /* NULL-terminated array of
                                       * overlapping regions.
                                       * NULL if no overlap.
                                       */
    struct bu_ptbl  pt_seglist;       /* all segs in this partition */
};
  • From h/raytrace.h.

15. Hit Structure

struct hit {
    long         hit_magic;
    fastf_t      hit_dist;    /* dist from r_pt to hit_point      */
    point_t      hit_point;   /* Intersection point               */
    vect_t       hit_normal;  /* Surface Normal at hit_point      */
    vect_t       hit_vpriv;   /* PRIVATE vector for xxx_*()       */
    void        *hit_private; /* PRIVATE handle for xxx_shot()    */
    int          hit_surfno;  /* solid-specific surface indicator */
    struct xray *hit_rayp;    /* pointer to defining ray          */
};
  • From raytrace.h.

  • Holds information about a single ray/surface intersection.

  • (Note: Only hit_dist is filled in by librt.

16. Hit Routine (Again)

int
hit(register struct application *ap, /* see raytrace.h */
    struct partition *PartHeadp)     /* see raytrace.h */
{
    register struct partition *pp;
    register struct hit *hitp;
    point_t pt;
    for (pp = PartHeadp->pt_forw;
         pp != PartHeadp;
         pp = pp->pt_forw ) {
        hitp = pp->pt_inhit;
        VJOIN1(pt, ap->a_ray.r_pt, hitp->hit_dist, ap->a_ray.r_dir);
        VPRINT(Hit Point, pt);
    }
    return 1; /* value returned by rt_shootray();
}

17. Using the RTUIF

  • Makes shooting grids of rays easy.

  • Uses the same command line interface as rt.

  • Foundation for: rt, rtweight, rthide, and other raytracing based applications.

  • Simplest example shown in rt/viewdummy.c in source tree

18. The 5 RTUIF Functions

  • view_init

  • view_setup

  • view_2init

  • view_pixel

  • view_end

19. RTUIF Routines

int view_init(struct application *ap, char *file,
              char *obj, int minus_o);

Called by main() at the start of a run. Returns 1 if framebuffer should be opened, else 0.

void view_setup(struct rt_i *rtip);

Called by do_prep(), just before rt_prep() is called, in do.c. This allows the lighting model to get set up for this frame, e.g., generate lights, associate materials routines, etc.

void view_2init(struct application *ap);

Called at the beginning of a frame. Called by do_frame() just before raytracing starts.

20. RTUIF Routines 2

int rayhit(struct application *ap, struct partition *PartHeadp);

Called via a_hit linkage from rt_shootray() when ray hits.

int raymiss(struct application *ap);

Called via a_miss linkage from rt_shootray() when ray misses.

21. RTUIF 3 Routines 3

void view_pixel(struct application *ap);

Called by worker() after the end of processing for each pixel.

void view_end(struct application *ap);

Called in do_frame() at the end of a frame, just after raytracing completes.

22. Thinking About Geometry

  • How to create it

  • How to read it

  • Doing something useful with it

23. Geometric Representation

  • BRL-CAD geometry has 3 forms:

    • External (Disk/DB)

      • Space efficient

      • Network integers (Big-Endian)

      • IEEE double-precision floating point (Big-Endian)

    • Internal (Editing)

      • Convenient parameter editing

      • Host float/int representation

    • Prepped (Raytrace)

      • Fast ray/primitive intersections

24. On-Disk Representation

  • Space Efficient

  • Machine independent

    • Only in new database format

  • Database access is separate from object retrieval.

    • Database layer returns named objects.

      • Does not understand content.

    • Primitive objects get Bag-o-Bytes to turn into in-memory representation.

      • Have no knowledge of data origins

25. Internal Representation

  • Convenient editing form

    • Host format floating point and integers

  • Must be exported to be written to disk

  • Primitive shape data structures defined in h/rtgeom.h

  • Combination (and hence region) structure defined in raytrace.h

26. Prepped Representation

  • The form that is actually raytraced

  • Created from internal form by rt_prep() call

  • May not include internal form

    • Saves memory

  • May include additional fields

    • Pre-computed values, additional data

27. Simple Database Application

  • Necessary headers

#include "conf.h"
#include <stdio.h>
#include "machine.h"
#include "vmath.h"
#include "raytrace.h"
#include "rtgeom.h"
#include "wdb.h"

28. Opening The Database

struct rt_wdb *wdbp;
struct db_i *dbip = DBI_NULL;

/* open first, to avoid clobbering existing databases */
if ((dbip = db_open(argv[1], "r+w")) != DBI_NULL) {
    /* build a wdbp structure for convenient read/write */
    wdbp = wdb_dbopen(dbip, RT_WDB_TYPE_DB_DISK);

    if (db_dirbuild(dbip) < 0 ) {
        /* create directory database contents */
        bu_log("Error building directory for %s\n",
               argv[1]);
        exit(-1);
    }
} else {
    /* it doesn't exist, so we create one */
    bu_log("doing wdb_fopen()\n");
    wdbp = wdb_fopen(argv[1]); /* force create */
}

29. Creating Geometry

  • Note: All db units are in mm

    • Set mk_conv2mm global for other units

point_t lo, hi;
/* ... */
/* add an axis-aligned ARB8 */
VSETALL(lo, 0.0);
VSETALL(hi, 2.0);
if (mk_rpp(wdbp, "mybox", lo, hi)) /* see libwdb for APIs */
    return -1;

/* add a sphere (really ellipse special case) */
if (mk_sph(wdbp, "myball", hi, 0.5)) /* see libwdb for APIs */
    return -1;

30. Getting Geometry

  • To retrieve geometry, we have to get an internal representation.

struct rt_db_internal ip;
/* ... */
RT_INIT_DB_INTERNAL(&ip);
cond = rt_db_lookup_internal(wdbp->dbip, "mybox", &dp, &ip,
                             LOOKUP_QUIET, &rt_uniresource);
if (!cond) {
    bu_log("couldn't find %s\n", "mybox");
    exit(0);
}
if (ip.idb_major_type == DB5_MAJORTYPE_BRLCAD /* see db5.h */
    && ip.idb_minor_type == ID_ARB8 /* see raytrace.h */) {

    struct rt_arb_internal *arb; /* see rtgeom.h */
    arb = (struct rt_arb_internal *)ip.idb_ptr;
    RT_ARB_CK_MAGIC(arb);
    VPRINT("First Point", arb->pt[0]);
    /* ... */
}

31. Primitive Methods

  • Retrieved geometry has a specific set of defined operations and methods available.

  • See h/raytrace.h for a description of struct rt_functab.

  • Primitives should implement every method, but some do not. See librt/table.c for specifics.

32. Putting Geometry Back

  • Database I/O layer converts from internal to external format.

wdb_export(wdbp, "mybox", arb, ID_ARB8, mk_conv2mm);

33. Building Boolean Trees

  • Regions/combinations used to store boolean trees.

    • Both are same type of database record

    • old GIFT form detailed here

  • Simple boolean tree that contains

    • Names of objects

    • Boolean operations.

    • Matrix transformations

  • Database record contains no actual geometry.

  • Example code taken from

    • libwdb/wdb_example.c

34. Constructing Boolean List

Build the list of elements first:

struct wmember wm_hd; /* defined in wdb.h */
BU_LIST_INIT(&wm_hd.l);

/* see h/wdb.h or libwdb/reg.c for API conv or proc-db
 * for examples
 */
(void)mk_addmember("mybox", &wm_hd.l, NULL, WMOP_UNION);

/* If we wanted a transformation matrix for this element, we could
 * have passed the matrix in to mk_addmember as an argument or we
 * could add the following code:
 */

memcpy(wm_hd->wm_mat, trans_matrix, sizeof(mat_t));
/* Remember that values in the database are stored in millimeters,
 * so the values in the matrix must take this into account.
 */
(void)mk_addmember("myball", & wm_hd.l, NULL, WMOP_SUBTRACT);

35. Regions/Combinations

  • Constructing the actual combination record

    • Note: use mk_lcomb/mk_comb for initial creation only!

      • caveat: can use to update boolean tree under special conditions

int is_region = 1;
VSET(rgb, 64, 180, 96); /* a nice green */

/* mk_lcomb is a macro using mk_comb.
 * See libwdb/mk_comb() for full form
 */
mk_lcomb(wdbp,
         "box_n_ball.r", /* Name of the db element created          */
         &wm_hd,         /* list of elements and boolean operations */
         is_region,      /* Flag:  This is a region                 */
         "plastic",      /* optical shader                          */
         "di=.8 sp=.2",  /* shader parameters                       */
         rgb,            /* item color                              */
         0);             /* inherit (override) flag                 */

36. Retrieving A Combination

  • Simple retrieval only gets:

    • List of elements

    • Boolean operations

    • Matrix transformations.

struct rt_comb_internal *comb; /* see raytrace.h */
/* ... */
rt_db_lookup_internal(wdbp->dbip, "box_n_ball.r", &dp, &ip,
                      LOOKUP_QUIET, &rt_uniresource);

if (ip.idb_major_type != DB5_MAJORTYPE_BRLCAD /* see db5.h */
    || ip.idb_minor_type != ID_COMBINATION /* see raytrace.h */ ) {
    bu_bomb("gack\n");
}
comb = (struct rt_comb_internal *)ip.idb_ptr;
RT_CK_COMB(comb);

37. Combination Write-Back

  • Modify the boolean tree

  • Write back out to db

/* Modify the combination we retrieved */
BU_GET(a, union tree);
RT_TREE_INIT(a);
BU_GET(b, union tree);
RT_TREE_INIT(b);

a->tr_l.tl_name = bu_strdup("newball");
a->tr_l.tl_op = OP_DB_LEAF;
a->tr_l.tl_mat = (matp_t)NULL;
a->tr_l.magic = RT_TREE_MAGIC;

b->tr_b.magic = RT_TREE_MAGIC;
b->tr_b.tb_left = comb->tree;
b->tr_b.tb_right = a;
b->tr_b.tb_op = OP_UNION;

comb->tree = b;
wdb_export(wdbp, "box_n_ball.r", comb, ID_COMBINATION, 1.0);

38. Combination Tree Info

  • Need to prep the tree to obtain geometry

    • First, create rt instance struct rt_i object

struct rt_i *rtip; /* see raytrace.h */

/* if we've been doing db I/O */
rtip = rt_new_rti(wdbp->dbip);

/* if not already doing db I/O */
rtip=rt_dirbuild(filename, idbuf, sizeof(idbuf));

39. Processing combination tree

  • Now to retrieve a treetop and prep:

rt_gettree(rtip, "box_n_ball.r");
rt_prep(rtip);   /* now rtip has valid information */
  • This could have been any level in the tree, not just a region.

40. Accessing Prepped Regions

  • rtip has list of regions

  • Access as a linked list

  • Example: getting bounding box of regions

struct region *rp; /* see raytrace.h */

for (BU_LIST_FOR(rp, region, &rtip->HeadRegion)) {
    point_t tree_min, tree_max;
    VSETALL(tree_max, MAX_FASTF);
    VREVERSE(tree_min, tree_max);
    if (rt_bound_tree(rp->reg_treetop, tree_min, tree_max)) {
    	bu_bomb("choke\n");
    }
    VPRINT("tree_min", tree_min); /* VPRINT is a macro from vmath.h */
    VPRINT("tree_max", tree_max);
}

41. Making Temporary Changes

  • Changes that only last for 1 application run

  • Changes do not reside in on-disk database

42. Dynamic Geometry

  • Involves special inmem database

    • Contains only modifications

    • Akin to union filesystem of Unix

  • Directory structure tracks whether current version of object is on disk or in inmem database

  • Object retrieval gets most current version

  • Writes to inmem arranged though special wdb_dbopen() call

43. Accessing inmem database

  • small difference in wdb_dbopen call

  • all writes to this rt_wdb will go to memory database only

struct rt_wdb *wdb_memp;
struct db_i *dbip = DBI_NULL;

if ((dbip = db_open(argv[1], "r+w")) != DBI_NULL) {
    /*  The "INMEM" specifies that changes are to be made
     * ONLY in memory.  Reads still come from disk for non-mem obj
     */
    wdb_memp = wdb_dbopen(dbip, RT_WDB_TYPE_DB_INMEM);

    if( db_dirbuild( dbip ) < 0 ) { /* create database content directory */
        bu_log( "Error building directory for %s\n", argv[1] ); exit(-1);
    }
}

44. Closing the Database

  • Important to flush data and purge data structures!

wdb_close(wdbp);