Vectrosity - fast and easy line drawing

Does anyone still use Vectrosity with Unity 3? I'm going to do an update that optionally uses 4.3, but 4.0-4.2 will still be supported. It gets slightly annoying supporting three versions of Vectrosity (even with conditional compilation), so I'd prefer to drop Unity 3 support unless there are still people using it.

--Eric

 

Hey Eric about that idea that I quoted right there. I am just curious, have you started to implement it at all? I'm not wanting to sound pushy or demanding at all. Just that I'm at the point where I need the functionality in about 2-3 weeks, and am debating whether or not I should dig into your source code and implement it myself, or if by chance you have already been working on it, and are going to release an update.


BTW, I'm all updated to Unity 4.3, not using your plugin in 3 at all.

 

I haven't been working on that, so I'd say go ahead and implement it if you need it.

--Eric

 

Hi Eric -

As always, Vectrosity is proving to be a Godsend, thanks for such a great tool. The app that I'm currently developing would not have been possible without Vectrosity, and will be credited as such once it's out (hopefully by Thanksgiving).

Anyway - I've scoured the docs and can't find a way to effectively create a filter through which I can toggle a 3D segment's properties (vis / color / etc) based on its point's positions. In my case, I'm working with 3D lines on a 2D plane, and am trying to group/filter on the X/Y axes.

The reason this is tricky is because I've taken the original points array and sub-grouped the points based on segment length (e.g. distance) into their own arrays. So now, a segment whose original array position in the initial points array may have been 2500, is now at position 15 in the subgrouped array.

So now, while I can control color of Segment #70, for example by

Code (csharp):

1.  lineGroup[x].points3.SetColor(Color(1,0,0,1), 70);

Instead of the expected 6.5, 5.0, -2, I get a result of 0,0,-2 when using:

Code (csharp):

1.  lineGroup[x].points3.GetValue(70);

I'm trying to find the correct syntax to say:

Code (csharp):

1.  
2. // psuedo code //
3. var numSegs = myLine.points3.Length/2;  // number of segments for the discrete line called myLine
4. for(var s=0;s<numSegs;s++){
5.     if(myLine.seg(s).point1.xPos>5.5 || myLine.Segment(s).point1.yPos>5.5){
6.          [ . . . do something . . .]
7.     }
8.  }
9.  

Is that possible?

If it makes it any easier to understand, below is a sample screengrab of a line that I'm working with. I'd like to be able to collectively manipulate the segments on the outer ring of the object - so, effectively, regroup based on position rather than line-length.

Thanks in advance for any/all help!

=Richard

 

Cool, glad it's been useful!

As for the question, if I understand correctly, you're wanting to get the points in the array that correspond to a line segment? For a discrete line, that would be segment*2 and segment*2+1. A continuous line would be segment and segment+1.

--Eric

 

Correct - but I can't seem to figure out the precise syntax to get the x and y values themselves. myLine.points3. . . . . what's next? thanks!

 

myLine.points3[segment*2].x
myLine.points3[segment*2].y

--Eric

 

So simple, yet so profound . . . ;-)

Thanks!!

 

So I bought Vectrosity and I must say I'm dissapointed, as awesomely amazing as it seems, I can't do the simple thing I actually wanted to do with it haha but I'll assume I just suck for now and maybe you can enlighten me. The whole camera/layer part of it seems overkill for me when I all I want is sit the generated mesh exactly where I want in my scene hierarchy but I can't seem to make it work.
I tried setting the parent in the Draw function, set the right camera, set the right layer.

I want the lines on a particular layer (my 2D interface layer, cause that's where I wanna draw) and sitting between different panels of the interface so I can draw over a picture for exemple, yet the drawn lines are behind other interface elements, and that without using many cameras.
Is that possible?

 

Sounds like you want to use Draw3D rather than Draw, then there won't be any Vectrosity camera or layer.

--Eric

 

There we go! I knew I just sucked. So using Draw3D, specifying the parent and setting the VectorLine "layer" property did the job.
Thanks for the quick support!
Cheers man.

 

I can't see why, but you can leave the old version which does support it as historical and not update.




I have a question

I created my line myLine = VectorLine.SetRay3D (Color(255,200,0), point1,point2);
and I used myLine.points3 to update the points of the line as it moves which works great.

However I want to be able to change the color as the line updates. How do I access the changing of color?

 

VectorLine.SetColor...you can set an individual segment or the whole line, which are the same thing in your example.

--Eric

 

Thank you, once you confirmed that for me I realised it was a logical error in my program!!!

One more question with SetRay3D can you have a thickness?

 

Not directly, but you can use myLine.lineWidth to change the width after you use SetRay3D.

--Eric

 

Thank you. I found the reference guide, which I should of been using earlier!

My next issue is I can't delete the rays when I delete the object.

I get this error BCE0023: No appropriate version of 'UnityEngine.Object.Destroy' for the argument list '(Vectrosity.VectorLine)' was found.

I have my line defined like, private var myLine : VectorLine; , in the function I am trying to destroy it from.

Basically I am destroying the game object the script is attached to and it leaves the Vectorline behind which isn't what I want it to do.

edit:

figured the answer

VectorLine.Destroy(myLine);

 

Hi Eric, great plugin!

I'm thinking of using vectrosity for a high performance interactive 2D graphing tool for an app I'm building. I'm displaying lots of data series and geometry and to get all the coordinates right, my choice so far has been to use a Vector3 and useDraw3D = true approach, but with an ortographic camera to make everything look 2D and crisp. Everything looks OK except that my rectangles sometimes have gaps at the corners that kind of destroys the crispness I was hoping for. Will mostly use 1 pixel thick lines, and I've tried using the MakeRect + capLength combo to solve this, but no luck.

I suspect I could get the desired crispness by taking a full on "screen" approach, i.e. only working with screen coordinates... But that will require me to iterate through thousands of points and setting new Vector2's for them in Update whenever user pans / zooms etc, which seems overkill when I can just use world coordinates and pan the camera / scale the parent object.

Picture shows what I want (left), and what I sometimes get and seek to avoid (right). The lines are 1 pixel thick.



Also another question... I'll be using a LOT of points, and expect I'll reach the point limit (32k right?) pretty soon. How low-level is that requirement? Is it just a number you chose? Could you just as well increase it or is it in the depths of the code some how?

Thanks for being active on the forums, enlightening the users (not just vectrosity)! Your answers are always reliable =)

EDIT: I found the corner issue! The weld doesn't "wrap", so the top left corner is left un-welded. So that's clearly solvable... I'll leave the text for anyone who has the same issue.

I have to append another question though... I added lots and lots of points, and can tell the main thread is under heavy load. I guess vectrosity, in every frame, iterates and makes sure the thickness of the generated objects ensures the desired pixel width as seen by the camera? My question becomes: can this process be made subject to frustrum culling? Typically only a few of my points are in view at any given tim, so it generates a lot of overhead.

Thanks again!

 

Eric,

Question about instantiating text elements.

I have been able to clone a bunch of text items, but I have not been able to change the text on the element. Is it possible to instantiate a new element and then modify it's text?

Code (csharp):

1. private VectorLine timeText;
2. void Start () {
3.     timeText = new VectorLine("Text", new Vector2[2], Color.yellow, null, 1);
4.     for(int t = 1; t<5;t++) {
5.         GameObject newText = (GameObject) Instantiate(GameObject.Find("Vector Text"));
6.         newText.name = "timeText_" + t.ToString();
7.     }
8.     MakeGrid();
9. }
10.  
11. void MakeGrid () {
12.     timeText.MakeText ("10:14", new Vector2(gridPointsX[2].x - 20f,25), 10);
13.     timeText.Draw();
14.     for(int t=1; t<5; t++) {
15.         GameObject.Find ("timeText_" + t.ToString()).GetComponent<VectorLine>().MakeText("10:13", new Vector2(gridPointsX[4].x-20f,25),10); ##this line throws an error
16.         ##how do I get the correct component to call MakeText on?
17.     }
18. }

 

For rectangles, I'd recommend using VectorLine.capLength (not related to end caps, and yes the name is a bit confusing; I've been thinking of changing that).

Very low-level, since Unity uses 16-bit unsigned integers for vertex indices. You can use multiple VectorLines though.

Yes, you can use VectorManager.ObjectSetup, which makes VectorLine objects basically behave like GameObjects with frustum culling. That works on an object level and not a point level though.

VectorLine isn't a component, it's a class, so I'd suggest making an array of VectorLines. You wouldn't use GameObject.Find; it's not possible to reference VectorLine from GameObject (though you can reference the GameObject of a line through VectorLine.vectorObject, which in most cases should be avoided anyway).

--Eric

 

Thanks for the input! However...

Can't quite get this to work... I use Visibility.Dynamic, but it seems workload is identical to Visibility.Always (I have nothing else in the scene). Only about 1 % of the VectorLine instances are visible to the camera. Of curiosity, I tried Visibility.static, and it disables all lines regardless if they're in the camera or not. If I move the camera around, the lines kind of flicker on and off randomly (though mostly they're off).

This is what I do in the setup (in one central script):

Code (csharp):

1.  
2. foreach (DataPoint point in data) {
3.    
4.     GameObject parent = new GameObject("parent " + i);
5.     parent.transform.position = point.GetParentPos(0f);
6.     VectorLine line = new VectorLine("foo", point.GetVectorLineVerts(0f), lineMaterial, 2f, LineType.Discrete);
7.     line.joins = Joins.Weld;
8.     VectorManager.ObjectSetup (parent, line, Visibility.Dynamic, Brightness.None, true);
9.     line.Draw3D();
10. }
11. VectorManager.useDraw3D = true;
12.  

Is there any way to ask the LineManager or VectorManager how many lines are currently being actively updated?

Advice appreciated, thanks!

EDIT: Ok, I'm confused now... I played around with the scene view and I can get it working (i.e. get Visibility.Dynamic to do it's thing) if I do the following: zoom out so all lines are visible, and then zoom in so fewer and fewer objects are visible in the scene view. Then you see the main thread load decrease as the objects drop out of visibility. All the while, the camera only shows a fraction of the lines (remains same as I play with the scene view).

Maybe this is just unity frustrum culling behaviour, and not vectrosity related?

 

The scene view camera interferes with culling, so for it to work properly you need to have only the game view showing.

--Eric

 

Hi Eric,

did the documention for Vectrosity vanish? I can't seem to find it anywhere on your homepage...

 

It's included with the Vectrosity download.

--Eric

 

Ah, that's where I got it from then.

 

Hello, I was trying to make a painting game. Is it possible with Vectrosity? I tried to modify the drawlinemouse script but I don't understand why it keeps deleting the old lines.. Do I need to create a new VectorLine everytime I press the mouse button to draw?
E.g.:
Click -- vectorline 1 with linemat1, linewidth1, etc.
Click -- vectorline 2 with linemat1, linewidth1, etc.
Click -- vectorline 3 with linemat 2, linewidth1, etc. (for different colors)
Click -- vectorline 4 with linemat1, linewidth2, etc. (for different width)

 

Yes, you should make a new VectorLine; the demo script re-uses the same line when you click.

--Eric

 

Hi Eric, I just bought and tried the VectorLine and have found a problem which I need to support or I cannot use it.

The problem is the line width is always constant but I need it to be relative to the camera. For example when I zoom into the object the linewidth should appear thicker and vice versa. What I found when trying this is the line points are realative to the world points and is rendered properly when I move the camera around. However the line thickness is always the same regardless of what angle I put the camera.

I am using Default Perspecitve 3D Camera with default Field of View of 60.

Please help...

My next problem is I use VectorLine to draw lines in 3D space. I have 2 lines intersecting one another, when I change the Z positions, it does not matter what I do, it appears to draw the line in one specific order therefor I cannot make the lines to appear one on top of another.

I use the code below to draw the lines in the Start method of Unity following your Simple 3D Line demo code.

line = new VectorLine(name, pointsArray, BackColor, Material, lineWidth, LineType.Continuous, Joins.Weld);
VectorManager.ObjectSetup (gameObject, line, Visibility.Dynamic, Brightness.None);

 

Thank you Eric, I noticed the ZeroPoints function in the reference guide and commented it in my script (I am modifying the "Draw Mouse" script).

However when I draw, release and click again, the previous line starts to disappear.

When you have some spare time, could you please explain to me how the script actually works? As far as I have understand, the maxPoints variable is declared in order to limit the points of the line. Because of that we write the Vector2 "linePoints" and we pass it to our line. In the update function we retrieve the mouseposition via Input.mousePosition.

From there.. black hole.

My poor code knowledge allows me only to understand the single functions behind the code and not the actual logic of the if/else if.

Could you give me an hint, please? Thank you in advance.

 

The idea of Vectrosity is that it uses pixels for line widths, and there currently isn't a way to change that.

If you use Draw3D, then lines are drawn in 3D space, so in that case as long as you're using a shader that uses the z buffer, they will be drawn in the correct order.

Yes, as I mentioned the same VectorLine is reused. ZeroPoints just erases the points in the line. If you want different lines then you should make different VectorLines. (Technically you could make different lines in the same VectorLine as long as you use LineType.Discrete, but that's more complicated and wouldn't be worth it for this.) So you would take the VectorLine initialization stuff out of Start and put it in the Input.GetMouseButtonDown code instead.

--Eric

 

Thank you Eric, yes I tried to put the code in the Input.GetMouseButtonDown code before and it worked fine except for the fact that every click leads to 1 Draw Call. So, if I click 100 times there will be 100 Draw Calls. I thought that would work differently, that's why I asked..

 

Yes, a VectorLine is a draw call, unless there are few enough points that it can be used in dynamic batching.

--Eric

 

I have a lot of lines, and with many visible at the same time it sort of taxes the main thread. I'm using Visibility.Dynamic which gives a major boost, but at times when lots of lines are visible it still is somewhat of a burden. However, I happen to have very strict camera movements, and I know exactly at what times the widths of the lines need to be updated in order to get the right pixel size. Is there any way I can disable all automatic updates, and instead request them to be updated at my discretion?

Thanks!

 

You could use Draw3D instead of using ObjectSetup, and only call Draw3D on lines that actually need to be updated.

--Eric

 

Hi, I'm noticing when I'm drawing a grid using SetLine3D, the lines seem to "jump" across pixels rather than moving smoothly. Here's an example:

Is there a way I can get around this? Enabling AA seems to help, but I was hoping I'd be able to avoid this without needing AA.

Thanks!

 

The video is private.

--Eric

 

Apologies, fixed!

 

Hmm, I don't think you'd be able to avoid that without AA. The alternative would be lines that are "between pixels" just disappearing altogether.

--Eric

 

Ok, thanks for the quick reply.

 

Hi Eric!
I am trying to make two vector lines having one of them rotated by 90 degress so that they share a direction but have a sort of depth (cross section is like and "X")

here is the code i am using:

Code (csharp):

1. VectorLine line = new VectorLine(a.Name + "-" + c.connectionID.ToString(),new Vector3[]{ a.Pos,connectionIds[c.connectionID].transform.position },lineMat,3f);
2. VectorLine line2 = new VectorLine(a.Name + "-" + c.connectionID.ToString(),new Vector3[]{ a.Pos,connectionIds[c.connectionID].transform.position },lineMat,3f);
3. line.Draw3D();
4.  
5. line2.vectorObject.transform.RotateAroundLocal((a.Pos - connectionIds[c.connectionID].transform.position).normalized , 90f);
6. line2.Draw3D();

line2 is offset and not rotated along direction. I noticed that vector object has 0,0,0 position and rotation is done from this point.
how to avoid this? also is there any other way to give line a depth (like having a cylinder or something like that) like i am trying with two lines?

thanks!

 

I'd strongly recommend not using vectorObject, since it messes up Vectrosity drawing. (I'd remove it, except there are a few legitimate uses.) In this case you could try the hack of using another camera (inactive) as a dummy camera, that would be rotated 90°, and use that with SetCamera before drawing the other line.

--Eric

 

I was having some trouble with MakeCircle creating a circle at a weird angle. So I updated to the newest version and all the source code has gone away in place of a DLL. I'm planning to use Vectrosity with iOS and Android, is this still possible? Additionally, Editor tools such as LineMaker appear to be gone. What's up with that?

 

The source code hasn't gone away; both DLL and source code have been included since 2.0. Nothing has been removed; everything that was always included is still included. The only time I'd ever remove anything is if it was made obsolete by a new feature. Any differences are noted in the release notes.

--Eric

 

Hi Eric,

Sorry, it's been a while (close to two year) since I upgraded. Hadn't noticed/remembered that everything is in unitypackages.

Cheers,
Jason

 

I have to use Vectrosity.SetCamera() because the main camera uses a custom viewport. I also have a number of different components that use Vectrosity that are not related at all (either or both might be in a particular scene and they wouldn't know about each other).

I wasn't sure where to put the call to SetCamera() - I don't want all the different components calling it (depending on order, I get weird results with some lines not rendering). It seems like a static "set once per scene" kind of thing and then it'll be shared across all VectorLines in the scene. I've created a new VectrosityConfig object that just sets the camera in OnEnable(), and I've set it to execute before most other scripts in the scene (definitely before anything that uses Vectrosity). Is this a reasonable approach to setting up the Vectrosity camera, or is there a better way?

 

Yes, that's probably what I'd do.

--Eric

 

I am trying to do something similar to the DrawLines example but I would like to draw the lines using the 3D option. I want the lines to be in a constant Z so x,y should be taken from the mouse/touch position. In particular I am not sure how this code will be adjusted

transform.RotateAround(Vector2(Screen.width/2, Screen.height/2), Vector3.forward, Time.deltaTime * rotateSpeed * Input.GetAxis("Horizontal"));

Thanks!

 

I think that would be

Code (csharp):

1. var cam = Camera.main.transform; // or whatever your camera is
2. transform.RotateAround(cam.position + cam.forward*distance, Vector3.forward...

where "distance" is the distance from the camera that you want to rotate around.

--Eric

 

Hi Eric5h5,

Is it possible to animate textures on a spline?

Thanks.

 

What sort of animation? A couple of possibilities are SetTextureScale, or renderer.material.SetTextureOffset.

--Eric

 

Hi Eric,

I was looking to have a moving plasma animation via sprite sheet. I'll look into your suggestions. Thanks