BabylonJS-EditControl

An edit control for use in BabylonJS (a 3D HTML Webgl framework) applications.

About

All 3d editors provide a widget, also referred to as transform control, to translate, rotate or scale 3d objects in the editor.
This EditControl is similar to those widgets.
You can embed this in your Babylonjs application to provide those same capabilities.
It currently supports

• Translate
• Translate Snap
• Rotate
• Rotate Snap
• Scale
• Scale Snap
• Local or Global Translation and Rotation. (Scaling only in local axis)
• Create multiple instances in the same scene with each instance attached to a different mesh
• Scale size of control
• undo, redo

For a list of know issues, shortcomings and planned enhancements see https://github.com/ssatguru/BabylonJS-EditControl/issues

Quick start

1. add the following dependencies

<script src="https://code.jquery.com/pep/0.4.2/pep.js"></script>
<!-- add "earcut.min.js" as show below if using babylonjs 3.2 and above -->
<script src="https://cdn.babylonjs.com/earcut.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.babylonjs.com/babylon.js"></script>
<script src="EditControl.js"></script>

INSTALL

You can install this from npm

npm install @2shapes/editcontrol

Note that even though this is available in npm it is not packaged as a node module or any other type of module.
For now, to keep it simple and avoid dependencies on module systems, the application is packaged as a simple javascript "namespaced" application.
In other words load it using the "script" tag and refer to it using the global name "org.ssatguru.babylonjs.component.EditControl". Different module system provides way to handle non modules. Here is how you can use Edit Control from web pack.

webpack

Because EditControl is not a module, it does not export/import anything.
webpack provides "exports-loader" and "imports-loader" to add exports and imports to such apps.
This is how you would use it from webpack

var EditControl=require("exports-loader?org.ssatguru.babylonjs.component.EditControl!imports-loader?BABYLON=babylonjs!babylonjs-editcontrol/dist/EditControl");

you will, ofcourse, have to npm install the following
exports-loader
imports-loader
babylonjs
babylonjs-editcontrol

API

To Instantiate

// TypeScript
const EditControl = require('exports-loader?org.ssatguru.babylonjs.component.EditControl!imports-loader?BABYLON=babylonjs!babylonjs-editcontrol/dist/EditControl');
let editControl:any = new EditControl(mesh,camera, canvas, 0.75, true,0.02);

This positions the edit control at the mesh pivot position and displays x,y,z axis.
Takes five parms

• mesh - the mesh to control using the editcontrol
• camera - active camera
• canvas - the mesh canvas
• scale - number. Optional. Default 1. Determines how small or large the editcontrol should appear.
• eulerian - true/false. Optional. Default false. True indicates that rotation of the mesh is in euler.If rotation is unresponsive then it is possible that the rotation may not have been initialized to either a eulerian or quaternion value.
• pickWidth - number. Optional. Default 0.02. Determines how close to an axis should the pointer get before we can pick it

What to do when doing scene.pick()

Because the meshes of the control are actually pickable you should do this in order not to pick the meshes

editControl.makePickable(false);
const pickResult = this.scene.pick(x,y);
editControl.makePickable(true);

TODO:

Get all the axis' end Meshes

editControl.getAxisEndMeshes();

TODO:

Get all the axis' plane Meshes

editControl.getAxisPlaneMeshes();

Add click listener

editControl.addClickListener(($event) => void);

Add double click listener

editControl.addDoubleClickListener(({action: number, name: string}) => void);

To set the axis scale manually

editControl.setCustomAxisScale(num: number); // this will ignore the axis scale that editcontrol controls

To set a custom boundingBox length

Because editControl scale and rotates more or less depending on the boundingBox of the attached mesh, if the attached mesh is a dummy for bigger objects, the editcontrol does not detect that. It's possible to give a custom boundingBox length.

editControl.setCustomBoundingDimension(dimension: Vector3);
// original custom dimension is: bounding.minimum - bounding.maximum
editControl.unsetCusotmBoundingDimension();

To unset the axis scale manually

editControl.unsetCustomAxisScale();

To show Translation, Rotation or Scaling controls

editControl.enableTranslation();

editControl.enableRotation();
editControl.setRotGuideFull(true/false) //This makes the rotation guides 360 degree(true) or 90 degree(false) .90 degree  looks less cluttered.
editControl.returnEuler(true); // Optional. This will return rotation in euler instead of quaternion. Quaternion is the default.

editControl.enableScaling();

To hide Translation, Rotation or Scaling controls (just displays x,y,z axis)

editControl.disableTranslation();
editControl.disableRotation();
editControl.disableScaling();

To check if Translation, Rotation or Scaling is enabled

editControl.isTranslationEnabled();
editControl.isRotationEnabled();
editControl.isScalingEnabled();

To turn on/off local/ global mode

editControl.setLocal(boolean true/false);

To check if local/ global mode

editControl.isLocal();

To turn on/off translation, rotation or scale snapping

editControl.setTransSnap(boolean true/false);
editControl.setRotSnap(boolean true/false);
editControl.setScaleSnap(boolean true/false);

To set translation, rotation or scale snap values

editControl.setTransSnapValue(number n in meters);
editControl.setRotSnapValue(number n in radians);
editControl.setScaleSnapValue(number n a factor by which scale should increase);

To bound translation, rotation or scaling

This restricts tranlation, rotation,scaling between a minimum and maximum values

setTransBounds(min?: Vector3,max?: Vector3) ;
setRotBounds(min?: Vector3,max?: Vector3);
setScaleBounds(min?: Vector3,max?: Vector3);

removeTransBounds();
removeRotBounds();
removeScaleBounds();

Note: rotation bounds has not been implemented. This is on TODO list.

To undo or redo

editControl.undo();
editControl.redo();

To set undo count

By default does upto 10 undos

editControl.setUndoCount(number count);

To check if user editing (moving,translating or scaling object)

editControl.isEditing();

returns true if the use is in the process of editing

To check if the pointer is over the edit control

editControl.isPointeOver();

returns true if the pointer is over the edit control

To be called back whenever the user starts, takes or ends an action

editControl.addActionStartListener(function(number actionType));
editControl.addActionListener(function(number actionType));
editControl.addActionEndListener(function(number actionType));

Each of these take a function as a parameter.
The ActionStartListener would be called when the user starts translating,rotating or scaling a mesh
The ActionListener would be called when the user is translating,rotating or scaling a mesh
The ActionEndListener would be called when the user ends translating,rotating or scaling a mesh

When called, these listeners would be passed a number which would indicate the action being taken by the user.
This number would have one of the following values
0 - ActionType.TRANS, Translation
1 - ActioneType.ROT, Rotation
2 - ActioneType.SCALE, Scaling

To remove the listeners

editControl.removeActionStartListener();
editControl.removeActionListener();
editControl.removeActionEndListener();
editControl.removeAllActionListeners() // to remove all;

To refresh mesh Bounding Info.

EditControl uses mesh bounding info to provide the same smooth scaling experience for both small and large mesh. The bounding info changes when a mesh is baked. Use this method to refresh the bounding info if you baked the transform of the mesh.

editControl.refreshBoundingInfo();

To get position and rotaion of EditControl

editControl.getPosition();//returns Vector3
editControl.getRotationQuaternion(): //returns rotation in quaternion

The postion and rotation of EditControl would be the same as that of the mesh to which it is attached

To show/hide EditControl

editControl.hide();
editControl.isHidden(); //turns true or false
editControl.show();

To set visibililty (transparency)

editControl.setVisibility(v:number);

By default the visibility is set to 0.75

To switch edit control to another mesh

editControl.switchTo(Mesh mesh, optional boolean isEuler );

This quickly removes control from one mesh and attaches it to another mesh.

The translation, rotation, scaling mode is maintained.

mesh : the mesh to which the control should switch to
isEuler : true/false, optional, default false, true indicates that rotation of the mesh is in euler

To detach from the mesh and clean up resources.

editControl.detach();

Build

If not already installed, install node js and typescript.
Switch to the project folder.
Run "npm install", once, to install all the dependencies (these, for now, are babylonjs and uglify).
To build anytime
Run "npm run compile" - this will compile the typescript file and store the javascript file in the "dist" folder.
Run "npm run min" - this will minify the javascript file and store the minified version in the "dist" folder.
Run "npm run build" - this will both compile and minify. Use the "test.html" to test your changes.

Note:

The original version was written in Java and then transpiled to TypeScript/JavaScript using JSweet.
It was originally written in Java, as at that time I wasn't very comfortable with the TypeScript language and its ecosystem.
Over time I have become more comfortable with it.
The new version is thus written in TypeScript.
It is based on the initial TypeScript code generated by JSweet.
Porting to Typescript was easy, as JSweet generates good human readable TypeScript which allows one to switch to TypeScript at any time.
For those interested, the old java version is still available at https://github.com/ssatguru/BabylonJS-EditControl.java