Unigine::Materials Class

Materials Class

Enums

LOADING_MODE#

Materials loading mode to be used by the Engine at startup. Enables you to choose between low memory consumption with faster loading time and smooth spikes-free run-time operation.

Name	Description
LOADING_MODE_FAST = 0	No caching - minimum memory consumption and maximum Engine loading speed. Сaching for materials and shaders is disabled, so everything is loaded on demand resulting in lots of freezes, spikes, etc. This method can be used when spikes are less important than memory consumption. Recommended for fast iterations during the application development phase as less time is spent on launching your application and loading resources.
LOADING_MODE_FULL_MATERIALS = 1	Caching for materials - materials are created at Engine's startup rather than at run time. Engine startup takes more time than for the first mode and more memory is used. There are less spikes in this mode, but they occur sometimes. This mode can be enabled on a constant basis for a small project having a small number of materials (in case of satisfactory performance and sufficient memory amount).
LOADING_MODE_FULL_MATERIALS_SHADERS = 2	Caching for materials and shaders - Caching of materials is enabled along with shader cache generation and loading. This mode requires compilation of all shaders resulting in long loading times. Everything is kept in memory with no streaming required. This mode is the best as it ensures stable work and significant reduction of spikes, but takes a lot of memory and increases loading time at startup. Recommended for production phase (when you hand over your application to the end user).This mode is enabled by default, in case of invalid shaders cache in your project both, the Engine and UnigineEditor may take too long to load. Switch mode for faster loading if necessary!

Members

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int isMaterial ( const char * name ) const#

Checks if there is a material with a given name.

Arguments

• const char * name - Material name.

Return value

true if the material exists; otherwise, false.

int isMaterial ( const UGUID & guid ) const#

Checks if there is a material with a given GUID.

Arguments

• const UGUID & guid - A material GUID.

Return value

true if the material exists; otherwise, false.

Ptr<Material> findMaterial ( const char * name ) const#

Searches for a material with a given name.

Arguments

• const char * name - Material name.

Return value

Material smart pointer.

void reloadMaterials ( ) #

Reloads all loaded materials.

void destroyTextures ( ) #

Deletes all textures used by the loaded materials.

bool replaceMaterial ( const Ptr<Material> & material, const Ptr<Material> & new_material ) #

Replaces the material with the given one.

Arguments

• const Ptr<Material> & material - A material to be replaced.
• const Ptr<Material> & new_material - A replacing material.

Return value

1 if the material is replaced successfully; otherwise, 0.

Ptr<Material> findManualMaterial ( const char * name ) const#

Searches for a manual material by the given name.

Arguments

• const char * name - A manual material name.

Return value

A manual material smart pointer.

Ptr<Material> findBaseMaterial ( const char * name ) const#

Searches for a base material by the given name.

Arguments

• const char * name - A base material name.

Return value

A base material.

void setPrecompileAllShaders ( bool shaders ) #

Enables or disables shader precompilation.

Arguments

• bool shaders - 1 to enable shader precompilation, 0 - to disable it.

bool isPrecompileAllShaders ( ) const#

Returns a value indicating if shader precompilation is enabled.

Return value

1 if shader precompilation is enabled; otherwise, 0.

void compileShaders ( const Vector< Ptr<Material> > & materials ) #

Compiles shaders for all specified materials.

Arguments

• const Vector< Ptr<Material> > & materials - Vector containing the list of materials for which shaders are to be compiled.

void compileShaders ( ) #

Compiles shaders for all loaded materials.

void createShaders ( ) #

Creates all shaders for all loaded materials.

void reloadShaders ( ) #

Reloads all shaders used by the loaded materials.

void destroyShaders ( ) #

Deletes all shaders used for the loaded materials.

bool saveMaterials ( ) const#

Saves changes made for all loaded materials.

Return value

true if materials are saved successfully; otherwise, false.

Ptr<Material> getMaterial ( int num ) const#

Returns the material by its number.

Arguments

• int num - Material number.

Return value

A material.

Ptr<Material> findMaterialByPath ( const char * path ) const#

Searches for a material stored by the specified path.

Arguments

• const char * path - A loading path of the material (including a material's name).

Return value

A material smart pointer.

Ptr<Material> loadMaterial ( const char * path ) #

Loads a material stored by the given path. The function can be used to load materials created during application execution or stored outside the data directory.

Arguments

• const char * path - A path to the material (including its name).

Return value

A loaded material.

Ptr<Material> findMaterialByGUID ( const UGUID & guid ) const#

Searches for a material with the given GUID.

Arguments

• const UGUID & guid - A material GUID.

Return value

A material smart pointer.

bool isManualMaterial ( const char * name ) const#

Checks if the material with the given name is the manual one.

Arguments

• const char * name - A material name.

Return value

1 if the material is the manual one; otherwise, 0.

bool isBaseMaterial ( const char * name ) const#

Checks if the material with the given name is the base one.

Arguments

• const char * name - A material name.

Return value

1 if the material is the base one; otherwise, 0.

int getNumMaterials ( ) const#

Returns the number of materials loaded for the current project.

Return value

The number of materials.

const char * getMaterialName ( int num ) const#

Returns a name of the material with the given number.

Arguments

• int num - A material number.

Return value

A material name.

bool removeMaterial ( const UGUID & guid, bool remove_file = 0, bool remove_children = 1 ) #

Deletes a material. If the remove_file flag is enabled, the material file will be deleted as well. If the flag is disabled, the deleted material will be loaded again on the next application start-up. If the remove_children flag is enabled, all the children of the material will be deleted as well.

Arguments

• const UGUID & guid - GUID of the material to be removed.
• bool remove_file - Flag indicating if the material file will be deleted.
• bool remove_children - Flag indicating if all the children of the material will be also deleted.

Return value

1 if the material is deleted successfully; otherwise, 0.

Ptr<Material> findMaterialByFileGUID ( const UGUID & guid ) const#

Searches for a material with the given GUID of a material file.

Arguments

• const UGUID & guid - A GUID of a material file.

Return value

A material smart pointer.

void setLoadingMode ( Materials::LOADING_MODE mode ) #

Sets loading mode for materials to be used by the Engine at startup. By default materials loading in UNIGINE is optimized to reduce spikes during run time as much as possible, as they are totally unacceptable for simulators, as well as for a lot of other applications. However, this approach may significantly increase memory consumption and loading time at Engine’s and Editor startup. This may be a problem in case of insufficient memory capacity or when it is necessary to perform a lot of iterations quickly (e.g. development stage). This option enables you to choose between low memory consumption with faster loading time and smooth spikes-free run-time operation.

Arguments

• Materials::LOADING_MODE mode - Materials loading mode to be used by the Engine. One of the LOADING_MODE_* values.

Materials::LOADING_MODE getLoadingMode ( ) const#

Returns the current loading mode for materials used by the Engine at startup. By default materials loading in UNIGINE is optimized to reduce spikes during run time as much as possible, as they are totally unacceptable for simulators, as well as for a lot of other applications. However, this approach may significantly increase memory consumption and loading time at Engine’s and Editor startup. This may be a problem in case of insufficient memory capacity or when it is necessary to perform a lot of iterations quickly (e.g. development stage). This option enables you to choose between low memory consumption with faster loading time and smooth spikes-free run-time operation.

Return value

Materials loading mode currently used by the Engine. One of the LOADING_MODE_* values.