NAME

       SoSeparator — group node that saves and restores traversal state

INHERITS FROM

       SoBase > SoFieldContainer > SoNode > SoGroup > SoSeparator

SYNOPSIS

       #include <Inventor/nodes/SoSeparator.h>

     enum CacheEnabled {
          SoSeparator::OFF    Never build a cache
          SoSeparator::ON     Always try to build a cache
          SoSeparator::AUTO   Decide whether to cache based on some heuristic
     }

          Fields from class SoSeparator:

     SoSFEnum            renderCaching
     SoSFEnum            boundingBoxCaching
     SoSFEnum            renderCulling
     SoSFEnum            pickCulling

          Methods from class SoSeparator:

                         SoSeparator()
                         SoSeparator(int nChildren)
     static void         setNumRenderCaches(int howMany)
     static int          getNumRenderCaches()
     static SoType       getClassTypeId()

          Methods from class SoGroup:

     void                addChild(SoNode *child)
     void                insertChild(SoNode *child, int newChildIndex)
     SoNode *            getChild(int index) const
     int                 findChild(const SoNode *child) const
     int                 getNumChildren() const
     void                removeChild(int index)
     void                removeChild(SoNode *child)
     void                removeAllChildren()
     void                replaceChild(int index, SoNode *newChild)
     void                replaceChild(SoNode *oldChild, SoNode *newChild)

          Methods from class SoNode:

     void                setOverride(SbBool state)
     SbBool              isOverride() const
     SoNode *            copy(SbBool copyConnections = FALSE) const
     virtual SbBool      affectsState() const
     static SoNode *     getByName(const SbName &name)
     static int          getByName(const SbName &name, SoNodeList &list)

          Methods from class SoFieldContainer:

     void                setToDefaults()
     SbBool              hasDefaultValues() const
     SbBool              fieldsAreEqual(const SoFieldContainer *fc) const
     void                copyFieldValues(const SoFieldContainer *fc, SbBool copyConnections = FALSE)
     SbBool              set(const char *fieldDataString)
     void                get(SbString &fieldDataString)
     virtual int         getFields(SoFieldList &resultList) const
     virtual SoField *   getField(const SbName &fieldName) const
     SbBool              getFieldName(const SoField *field, SbName &fieldName) const
     SbBool              isNotifyEnabled() const
     SbBool              enableNotify(SbBool flag)

          Methods from class SoBase:

     void                ref()
     void                unref() const
     void                unrefNoDelete() const
     void                touch()
     virtual SoType      getTypeId() const
     SbBool              isOfType(SoType type) const
     virtual void        setName(const SbName &name)
     virtual SbName      getName() const

DESCRIPTION

       This  group  node  performs a push (save) of the traversal state before traversing its children and a pop
       (restore) after traversing them. This isolates the separator's children from the rest of the scene graph.
       A separator can include lights, cameras,  coordinates,  normals,  bindings,  and  all  other  properties.
       Separators are relatively inexpensive, so they can be used freely within scenes.

       The  SoSeparator  node  provides  caching  of  state  during rendering and bounding box computation. This
       feature can be enabled by setting the renderCaching and boundingBoxCaching fields. By default, these  are
       set to AUTO, which means that Inventor decides whether to build a cache based on internal heuristics.

       Separators  can  also  perform  culling during rendering and picking. Culling skips over traversal of the
       separator's children if they are not going to be rendered or picked,  based  on  the  comparison  of  the
       separator's  bounding  box  with  the current view volume. Culling is controlled by the renderCulling and
       pickCulling fields. These are also set to AUTO by default; however, render culling can be expensive  (and
       can interfere with render caching), so the AUTO heuristics leave it disabled unless specified otherwise.

FIELDS

     SoSFEnum            renderCaching
          Whether to cache during rendering traversal.

     SoSFEnum            boundingBoxCaching
          Whether to cache during bounding box traversal.

     SoSFEnum            renderCulling
          Whether to cull during rendering traversal.

     SoSFEnum            pickCulling
          Whether to cull during picking traversal.

METHODS

                         SoSeparator()
          Creates a separator node with default settings.

                         SoSeparator(int nChildren)
          Constructor that takes approximate number of children.

     static void         setNumRenderCaches(int howMany)
          By  default,  each  separator  node  maintains  2  render  caches.  (This  is  to  allow two different
          representations, such as filled and wire-frame, to both be cached.)  The  setNumRenderCaches()  method
          sets  the  number  of  render  caches  each  separator  will  have.  Each render cache uses memory, so
          increasing this number may increase the memory requirements of the application.  This  method  affects
          only  separators that are created after it is called, not separators that were created before. Setting
          the number of caches to 0 turns off render caching globally from then on.

     static int          getNumRenderCaches()
          Returns the current number of render caches.

     static SoType       getClassTypeId()
          Returns type identifier for this class.

ACTION BEHAVIOR

       SoGLRenderAction,  SoCallbackAction,  SoGetBoundingBoxAction,   SoGetMatrixAction,   SoHandleEventAction,
       SoRayPickAction, SoSearchAction
          Saves the current traversal state, traverses all children, and restores the previous traversal state.

FILE FORMAT/DEFAULTS

       Separator {
          renderCaching       AUTO
          boundingBoxCaching  AUTO
          renderCulling       AUTO
          pickCulling         AUTO
     }

SEE ALSO

       SoSelection, SoTransformSeparator

                                                                                              SoSeparator(3IV)()