[vtkusers] 3D, constant view size, billboard object?

[Jeff Lee]

Hi,
In a nutshell, you need to add an observer to your renderwindow 
StartRender event.  In your callback, you
1.  Convert a billboard world point to display
2.  nudge the display point by a couple of pixels
3. convert the nudged point back to world
4.  the distance between the original point and the point from (3) will 
give you a radius by which you can scale your billboard object before it 
renders.

if this is too sketchy, i could probably cobble up some code...  let me 
know.
-Jeff


BURRELL Benjamin wrote:

>Hi,
>
>I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions on how to solve the following:
>What I require is 3D object (which might be some simple line drawn symbols or a 3D model) that always appears the same size on screen, even when I move the camera close to it. I need this to happen in real-time, eg. I am probably going to use the vtkInteractorStyleTrackballCamera interactor and use the mouse. This interactor 'dollies' the camera (moves the camera closer and further away) compared to the std. interactor style which zooms in and out.
>I am guessing I will need to overwrite the dolly callback function but I am not sure how to do it, and what to implement to get the desired result of having the 3D object stay the same size on screen.
>
>I might also want the 3D model to actually be a billboard object, eg. face the camera all the time with a 2D image. 
>Does anyone have a suggested vtkObject to do this with. It will also need to stay the same size on the screen no matter how close/far away the camera gets.
>
>Thank you for your help.
>
>Regards,
>Benjamin Burrell
>
>
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-- 
Jeff Lee
Senior Software Engineer
Computational Dynamics North America Ltd
21 Lafayette Street, Suite 230
Lebanon NH 03766 USA
fax:   603 643 9994
phone: 603 643 9993 x109
http://www.cd-adapco.com