ModelMesh

This class is part of the Model hierarchy. The primary purpose of this class is to be a shared container for a list of ModelMeshPart instances which are referenced by one or more instances of the Model class.

Note that Model uses a collection of std::shared_ptr instances to ModelMesh since meshes can be shared by multiple instances of Model.

Header

#include <Model.h>

Initialization

ModelMesh instances are typically created by a Model loader along with the ModelMeshPart instances that make up the mesh.

Type alias

ModelMesh::Collection is an alias for std::vector<std::shared_ptr<ModelMesh>>.

Simple drawing

Use the Model::Draw function which will call ModelMesh::Draw on all the meshes it contains.

There is an overload of Draw which takes an array of transformation matrices. This is used for drawing with rigid-body animation. The boneIndex in each ModelMesh is used to indicate which matrix in the array to use in addition to the world matrix for positioning.

See Model for more details and an example.

Advanced drawing

The ModelMesh::Draw method draws the mesh in two passes. In the first pass, all 'opaque' ModelMeshPart instances are drawn (i.e. ModelMeshPart::isAlpha is false), and in the second pass all 'alpha' instances are drawn (i.e. ModelMeshPart::isAlpha is true).

The Draw method assumes that the proper blend state, depth/stencil state, rasterizer state, and sampler state have been set up before being called. The ModelMesh::PrepareForRendering method can be used to set up standard defaults via CommonStates or it can be skipped in favor of custom state setting.

• The opaque pass is drawn using Opaque blending, DepthDefault sorting, an optional wireframe mode or a winding mode based on ModelMesh::ccw.
• The alpha pass is drawn using alpha blending, DepthRead sorting, an optional wireframe mode or a winding mode based on ModelMesh::ccw. The choice of alpha blending is based on ModelMesh::pmalpha to select between AlphaBlend and NonPremultiplied.

ModelMesh::Draw can be used to implement alternate 'scene graph' policies.

// Rather than draw each model's opaque and then alpha parts in turn, this version
// draws all the models' opaque parts first then all the alpha parts second which
// can be important for some complex scenes.

std::list<std::unique_ptr<Model>> models;

...

// Draw opaque parts
for(const auto& mit : models)
{
    auto model = mit.get();
    assert( model != nullptr );

    for(const auto& it : model->meshes)
    {
        auto mesh = it.get();
        assert( mesh != nullptr );

        mesh->PrepareForRendering( deviceContext, states, false );

        // Do model-level setCustomState work here

        mesh->Draw( deviceContext, world, view, projection, false );
    }
}

// Draw alpha parts (should really be done in back-to-front sorted order)
for(const auto& mit : models)
{
    auto model = mit.get();
    assert( model != nullptr );

    for(const auto& it : model->meshes)
    {
        auto mesh = it.get();
        assert( mesh != nullptr );

        mesh->PrepareForRendering( deviceContext, states, true );

        // Do model-level setCustomState work here

        mesh->Draw( deviceContext, world, view, projection, true );
    }
}

Skinned drawing

The Model::DrawSkinned method takes an array of bone transformation matrices and renders using skinning effects--this is applied if the effect supports the IEffectSkinning interface.

If the ModelMeshPart's effect supports skinning and the boneInfluences array is empty, then direct-mapped skinned animation is used.

If the ModelMeshPart's effect supports skinning and the boneInfluences array is non-empty, it will use a subset of bones for the effect.

If the ModelMeshPart's effect does not support skinning, but boneIndex is valid, it will use that transformation as the local matrix for that mesh.

Metadata

In addition to the list of ModelMeshPart instances that make up the mesh, a ModelMesh also includes a name (a wide-character string) for tracking and application logic.

It includes a bool to indicate if the mesh should be rendered using counter-clockwise winding or clockwise winding (ccw), as well as a bool to indicate if the mesh should be rendered with premultiplied alpha blending or 'straight' alpha blending (pmalpha).

A ModelMesh also includes bounding information for culling & collision detection in the form of a BoundingSphere and a BoundingBox.

The choice of frame-of-reference for these bounding volumes is up to the Model loader, but is typically in 'local' coordinates.

If the Model contains ModelBone data, then each ModelMesh can have a boneIndex value used for rigid-body mesh animation (otherwise the value is ModelBone::c_Invalid). For SDKMESH or other bone-influenced mapped skeletons, the boneInfluences array indicates how to map the local bone list for skinning animation to the parent Model's bone array. Otherwise if boneInfluences is empty, direct-mapped skinned animation is assumed.