Cookbook  »  Snippets  »  Geometry  »  Manual Object  »  ManualObject

Using a ManualObject you don't need to load ressources and it's nice to create dynamic objects or simple ones.

To do so, you define the needed points (vertices), rendering type (points, lines, surfaces) and assign a material. To add it to the scene, it has to be attached to a SceneNode (e.g. the RootSceneNode).

Several begin / end blocks can be added to the same ManualObject, so you can use different materials and rendering types. As a result you can get lines, surfaces or a combination of it. Transparency is also possible (by using materials with transparency property). If several instances are needed, you have to create a mesh by using ManualObject::convertToMesh().

In some cases the identity projection can be interesting. With this the coordinates are in 2D screen space of the current camera. Useful for overlay rendering.

Example

A very minimal example that gives an outlined square (or quad):

ManualObject* manual = mSceneMgr->createManualObject("manual");
manual->begin("BaseWhiteNoLighting", RenderOperation::OT_LINE_STRIP);
 
manual->position(-100.0, -100.0, 0.0);
manual->position( 100.0, -100.0, 0.0);
manual->position( 100.0,  100.0, 0.0);
manual->position(-100.0,  100.0, 0.0);
 
manual->end();
mSceneMgr->getRootSceneNode()->createChildSceneNode()->attachObject(manual);

If you want to update (change) the ManualObject later or create a Mesh out of it, you have to add indices.

ManualObject* manual = mSceneMgr->createManualObject("manual");
manual->begin("BaseWhiteNoLighting", RenderOperation::OT_LINE_STRIP);
 
manual->position(-100.0, -100.0, 0.0);
manual->position( 100.0, -100.0, 0.0);
manual->position( 100.0,  100.0, 0.0);
manual->position(-100.0,  100.0, 0.0);
 
manual->index(0);
manual->index(1);
manual->index(2);
manual->index(3);
manual->index(0);
 
manual->end();
mSceneMgr->getRootSceneNode()->createChildSceneNode()->attachObject(manual);

Rendering Types

enum Ogre::RenderOperation::OperationType

See Also Other ManualObject examples: Line3D, DynamicLineDrawing, Circle3D, ManualObject 2D MOGRE: Line 3D, Create Tetrahedron, Generating a grid A Crash Course in 3D Objects for some basics (e.g. index) Important remarks are in its API description API description of convertToMesh() API description of identity projection