solved 'Empty' Object (Helper/Pivot)

[Kreeba]

Hi. I am sure this is a quick question,  but I can't seem to find the answer anywhere.

I come from a Blitz3D background and in that engine we had 3D objects called 'Pivots'. They were basically the Position, Rotation and Scaling functionality of a full Mesh but without any Mesh data. They were used to be empty placeholders/parents of groups, anything a 3D object can do, but just didn't render anything.

I think Blender calls them 'Empty's and Maya calls them 'Helper's

 

Does the concept exist in Babylon, if so what are they called/how do I make them? Or do I create a Mesh without any vertex/face data?

[gryff]

@Kreeba: Blender is capable of exporting "empties" . See part of the code below. Three cubes were created then an empty and the cubes then parented to the empty.The code below is is just a little part of the .babylon file produced on export from Blender. Note how the mesh named "Empty" has no data for positions etc.

"meshes":[

{"name":"Empty","id":"Empty","position":[0,0,0],"rotation":[0,0,0],"scaling":[1,1,1],"isVisible":false,"isEnabled":true,"checkCollisions":false,"billboardMode":0,"receiveShadows":false,"tags":""}
,
{"name":"Cube.002","id":"Cube.002","parentId":"Empty","billboardMode":0,"position":[-3.5553,0,3.3553],"rotation":[0,0,0],"scaling":[1,1,1],"isVisible":true,"freezeWorldMatrix":false,"isEnabled":true,"checkCollisions":false,"receiveShadows":false,"tags":""
,"positions":[-1,1,1,-1,-1,1,-1,-1,-1,1,1,1,1,-1,1,1,1,-1,1,-1,-1,-1,1,-1]
,"normals":[-0.5773,0.5773,0.5773,-0.5773,-0.5773,0.5773,-0.5773,-0.5773,-0.5773,0.5773,0.5773,0.5773,0.5773,-0.5773,0.5773,0.5773,0.5773,-0.5773,0.5773,-0.5773,-0.5773,-0.5773,0.5773,-0.5773]
,"indices":[0,1,2,3,4,1,5,6,4,7,2,6,1,4,6,3,0,7,7,0,2,0,3,1,3,5,4,5,7,6,2,1,6,5,3,7]
,"subMeshes":[{"materialIndex":0,"verticesStart":0,"verticesCount":8,"indexStart":0,"indexCount":36}]
,"instances":[]}

...

],

 

I use them as a way  to show/hide/disable the  meshes that are children of the empty (and to simplify the Properties Panel in Blender).

Sorry if you are looking for a coding only method - but I'm sure others can help.

cheers, gryff

[JohnK]

mypivot = new BABYLON.Mesh("name",scene);
mymesh.parent = mypivot;

See also http://babylonjsguide.github.io/advanced/Pivot

 

[Kreeba]

Thanks.

Marked as solved