Worlddoc.txt

METABALL Module documentation

INTRODUCTION
The metaball module effect allows you to access all the data of an metaball.
A metaball consists of several (maybe only one) metaelems, which are spheres, interacting with each other, thus creating soft organic volumes.

functions of the module :
New(name) : creates ans returns a metaball object. 
Get(opt : name) : if the parameter name is given, returns the metaball object whose name has been passed, or Py_None, if no such metaball exists in the current scene. If no parameter is given, returns a list of all the metaballs in the current scene.
get : alias for Get

Metaball  object member functions :

getName()Return Metaball  name
setName(string newname) - Sets Metaball  name
getWiresize() - Return Metaball  wire size
setWiresize(float val) - Sets Metaball  wire size
getRendersize() - Return Metaball  render size
setRendersize(float newval- Sets Metaball  render size
getThresh()- Return Metaball  threshold
setThresh(float newval)- Sets Metaball  threshold 
getBbox,- Return Metaball bounding box(a list of eight lists of three elements)
getNMetaElems() Returns the number of Metaelems (basic spheres)
getMetatype(int num_metaelem): returns the type of the metaelem number num_metaelem.
0 : ball
1 : tubex
2 : tubey
3 : tubez
setMetatype(int num_metaelem,int newtype) : sets the type of the metaelem number num_metaelem.
getMetadata(field_name,int num_metaelem)  gets Metaball MetaData. Explained later.
setMetadata(field_name,int num_metaelem,newval) sets Metaball MetaData. Explained later.
getMetalay(int num_metaelem) 
getMetax(int num_metaelem) : gets the x coordinate of the metaelement
setMetax(int num_metaelem,float newval) : sets the x coordinate of the metaelement 
getMetay(int num_metaelem) : gets the y coordinate of the metaelement
setMetay(int num_metaelem,float newval) : sets the y coordinate of the metaelement 
getMetaz(int num_metaelem) : gets the z coordinate of the metaelement
setMetaz(int num_metaelem,float newval) : sets the z coordinate of the metaelement 
getMetas(int num_metaelem) : gets the s coordinate of the metaelement
setMetas(int num_metaelem,float newval) : sets the s coordinate of the metaelement 
getMetalen(int num_metaelem)  : gets the length of the metaelement. Important for tubes.
setMetalen(int num_metaelem,float newval)  : sets the length of the metaelement. Important for tubes.
getloc, - Gets Metaball loc values
setloc, (f f f) - Sets Metaball loc values
getrot, () - Gets Metaball rot values
setrot,, (f f f) - Sets Metaball rot values
getsize,() - Gets Metaball size values
setsize,(f f f) - Sets Metaball size values




The Object.attribute syntax

The attribute can take these values : seed,nabla,sta,end,lifetime,normfac,obfac,randfac,texfac,randlife,vectsize,totpart,force,mult,life,child,mat,defvec.