Oolite JavaScript Reference: VisualEffect
This is a new class planned for 1.77 and may be subject to significant change before 1.77 is released.
Prototype: Entity
The VisualEffect class is an Entity representing a visible but non-solid object defined from effectdata.plist. It has all the properties and methods of an Entity, and several others.
Contents
Properties
This property was added in Oolite test release 1.77.
beaconCode
beaconCode : String (read-write)
If the effect is a beacon, an identifying string. The first character is used for identification on the Advanced Space Compass. For non-beacons, this property is null.
dataKey
dataKey : String (read-only)
The data key from effectdata.plist used to generate this visual effect.
hullHeatLevel
hullHeatLevel : Float (read/write)
While visual effects do not have a temperature as such, this property is provided to allow easy compatibility with the default Oolite shader for ships.
isBreakPattern
allowsDocking : Boolean (read/write)
If this is true, the VisualEffect object will remain visible while break patterns on docking, launching or witchspace are being displayed (or not displayed). Normally all objects other than the break pattern itself are hidden.
scannerDisplayColor1
scannerDisplayColor1 : Colour specifier (read/write)
The first of two colours used by the ship’s scanner “lollipop”. When read, this will always be an array of four numbers in the range 0..1 (representing red, green, blue and alpha components). Any colour specifier format may be assigned to it. Assigning null will restore the value from effectdata.plist.
If both this and scannerDisplayColor2 are set to null, and no value is set for either in effectdata.plist then the effect will not appear on scanners.
See also: scannerDisplayColor2
scannerDisplayColor2
scannerDisplayColor2 : Colour specifier (read/write)
The second scanner colour. If both scannerDisplayColor1 and scannerDisplayColor2 are specified, the scanner lollipop will alternate between the two colours.
See also: scannerDisplayColor1
script
script : Script (read-only)
The effect’s script. See the "Effect Scripts" section below for more details.
scriptInfo
scriptInfo : Object (read-only)
The contents of the script_info key in the effect’s effectdata.plist entry, if any. This may be any property list object, but the reccomended approach is to use a dictionary whose keys have a unique prefix (such as you should be using for file names, ship names etc.). A property list dictionary is converted to a JavaScript object with properties corresponding to the dictionary’s keys. All other property list types used with Oolite have directly corresponding JavaScript types.
When using numeric values in the scriptInfo, the JS engine is not able to detect the type reliably on all systems, so you always must explicitly convert its content to a number by using parseInt(scriptInfo.myKey) or parseFloat(scriptInfo.myKey).
shader*
shaderFloat1 : Number (read/write) shaderFloat2 : Number (read/write) shaderInt1 : Number (read/write) shaderInt2 : Number (read/write) shaderVector1 : Vector (read/write) shaderVector2 : Vector (read/write)
Since visual effects have very few intrinsic properties, some arbitrary parameters which may be bound as shader uniforms are provided.
Methods
This method was added in Oolite test release 1.77.
getMaterials
function getMaterials() : Object
getMaterials() returns the effect's current materials dictionary, or if none present an empty dictionary.
See also: setMaterials(), getShaders()
getShaders
function getShaders() : Object
getShaders() returns the effect's current shaders dictionary, or if none present an empty dictionary.
See also: setShaders(), getMaterials()
remove
function remove()
Immediately removes the effect from the universe.
scale
function scale(factor : Number)
Multiplies the size of the visual effect by factor. Subentities will be rescaled as well, and moved further from the centre of the effect as appropriate. An error will occur if factor is less than or equal to zero.
setMaterials
function setMaterials(materialDictionary : Object [, shaderDictionary : Object]) : Boolean
Set the materials of the effect’s model. This works exactly like the materials dictionary in effectdata.plist. The optional shaderDictionary argument overrides materialDictionary if shaders are active.
Example:
effect.setMaterials({"my_effect_diffuse.png": { diffuse_map: "my_effect_damaged_diffuse.png" }});
See also: setShaders(), getMaterials()
setShaders
function setShaders(shaderDictionary : Object) : Boolean
Set the shader materials of the effect’s model. Equivalent to setMaterials() with the materialDictionary value set to the effect’s current material dictionary.
See also: setMaterials(), getShaders()
Effect Scripts
Visual Effects may have an effect script attached to them. These work in a similar way to ship scripts, but define different handlers and properties. As with ship scripts, there will be a separate independent copy of the script for each visual effect.
Effects scripts have one property, this.visualEffect, which is a reference to the visual effect this is a script for. They have the following event handlers.
effectRemoved
The effectRemoved handler is called when the effect is removed from the universe, either by the remove function, or automatically when the player leaves the system. This is a good place to clean up any frame callbacks or timers associated with this effect.
this.effectRemoved = function()
{
// Your code here
}
effectSpawned
The effectSpawned handler is called on the first update after the effect is added to the universe.
this.effectSpawned = function()
{
// Your code here
}
