Update 3D scene through extension setting

[thomassedlmayer]

Is it possible to somehow trigger an immediate scene update for the 3D viewer panel from an extension (no panel extension but message converter)? We only use the message converter to display entities in the integrated 3D panel and don't use PanelExtensionContext.

Switching a custom extension settings could lead to a modification of the output (SceneEntities) of a message converter call, meaning that the visualization of the message would look different. When the viewer is paused and such extension setting is modified, a 3D panel re-render is not triggered. I have to press play and the modification is applied in the next frame when the converter function is called. This differs in behavior compared to the default Color and Show outline settings as those immediately trigger a re-render.

Is there a way to do this or is this not a supported feature yet?

@aneuwald-ctw @ctw-joao-luis

[jdsika]

This is an important one!

[carolinabamorim]

thank you @jdsika, this will be considered internally.

[carolinabamorim]

Hi @thomassedlmayer , thank you for the input!

Yes this is a limitation we have for now when using settings API on the extensions.

This is different from the rest of the settings because is triggered by a message converter, which is called only when computing a new frame. It works something like this:

1. You change a setting during pause (nothing happens);
2. You press play;
3. Lichtblick will get the necessary messages to draw the new next frame;
4. It will check which message converters are related to this message / schema;
5. It will convert your message (using the modification you did in the step 1;
6. It will draw the frame with the new settings.

It is different from "Color" and "Draw outline" which trigger only a visualization change, and not a mechanism to convert a message. Those actions happens only in the "canvas", in the screen and not in the message pipeline.

But it should be possible to trigger the message converter again when a settings is updated, it should be analyzed carefully as it would involve a change on the message pipeline. We will take this in consideration as other users have already mentioned that too, however we will need to check internally how it would fit in terms of priority. For now, you should use the workaround to play and pause in order to see it.

Additionally, if you feel comfortable tackling it on your own, we always encourage contributions from our open source community! It would be awesome to see a feature like this come from the community. 😄