Class ParamDimensionBase

3DS Max Plug-In SDK

Class ParamDimensionBase

See Also: Class ParamDimension.

Description:

This class (along with ParamDimension) describes the dimension of a parameter. This dimension can be considered a unit of measure. It describes the parameter's type and order of magnitude.

The dimension type and possibly the dimension scale (if the type is custom) are used to determine a scale factor for the parameter. When a controller is drawing a function curve, it only needs to use the Convert() function - the scale factor is rolled into the single 'vzoom' parameter passed to Animatable::PaintFCurves(). So, for a controller to plot a value 'val' at time t it would do the following:

int x = TimeToScreen(t,tzoom,tscroll);

int y = ValueToScreen(dim->Convert(val),rect.h()-1,vzoom,vscroll);

Methods:

Prototype:

virtual DimType DimensionType()=0;

Remarks:

Implemented by the Plug-In.

Returns the dimension type of the parameter. See List of Dimension Types.

Prototype:

virtual float Convert(float value)=0;

Remarks:

Implemented by the Plug-In.

When a controller needs to display the parameter values (for example in the function curve editor) it converts the value using this method.

Parameters:

float value

The value to convert.

Return Value:

The converted value.

Prototype:

virtual float UnConvert(float value)=0;

Remarks:

Implemented by the Plug-In.

This method is used to un-converted a converted value.

Parameters:

float value

The value to un-convert.

Return Value:

The un-converted value.