Python Reference

Last revision: ver. 4.2-alpha6 - 28 August 2013

omegalib exposes most of its API to Python, so the vast majority of omegalib applications are developed as python scripts. Using python instead of C++ to develop your omegalib application offers several advantages:

• You can port your application to different systems without recompiling. For instance you can develop a script on your laptop, then copy it to CAVE2 and just launch it. Configuration files will do the rest.
• You can modify your application at runtime using the interactive python console
• If you need integration with C++ or need access to advanced omegalib functionality, you can write C++ code as an omegalib module and import it into your python script.

omegalib uses its own python interpreter to run python scripts. The interpreter executable is called orun, and is built with omegalib when you enable python support.

Running python omegalib programs: orun

To run python omegalib programs, you need the orun application. orun is part of the standard omegalib distribution. You have two ways to start a script using orun:

• Though the command line using a command in the form: orun -s <filepath.py>
• After starting orun, typing: :r <applicationName>. This is an example of a quick command. For more information on quick commands check the QuickCommands page.

To stop an orun program, press esc, type oexit() or :q or press control-C (on linux) at the orun console, or run orun -K on another terminal.

omegalib Python Reference

module omega

[[module omega|Python-Reference#module-omega]] contains all the core functionality of omegalib like scene graph management and event handling. It also offers a few utility functions to manage verious aspects of an omegalib application. omega is always imported by default in omegalib applications, so you do not need to write any import statement to access its classes and functions.

Core
Callbacks	Application Control	Data Access
Event	Color	MissionControlClient
PixelData	Sound Management
Scene
SceneNode	Camera	Actor
CameraController
Other
Stat	Diagnostics and Configuration	DrawInterface
Font		DisplayConfig
DisplayTileConfig
Math
[Vector]	Quaternion	Matrix
[Point]	Plane	[Line, Ray, LineSegment]
Circle	Sphere	Misc Math Functions

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module omegaToolkit

omegaToolkit is a utility module for omegalib. It exposes some non-core functionalities such as

• a 2D / 3D graphical user interface
• a set of object manipulator techniques based on mouse / touch, 3d wands and kinect tracking

General
omegaToolkit Functions	ToolkitUtils	PortholeService
ImageBroadcastModule
GUI
Container3dSettings	UiModule	WidgetFactory
Widget	Container	Button
Label	Image	Slider
Menu System
MenuManager	Menu	MenuItem

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module cyclops

Cyclops is a utility library that sits on top of omegalib and OpenSceneGraph. It is designed to speed-up development of simple graphical applications, without having to deal with the low-level details of osg. In a sense, cyclops is the GLUT library of omegalib. Some of cyclops features are:

• Support for loading scenes defined in a simple xml format
• Easy creation of primitive shapes, like planes, spheres, cubes and so on
• Out-of-the-box support for soft shadows
• An expandable shaders and effects library

Core
cyclops misc functions	SceneManager	ModelLoader
ModelInfo	Light
SkyBox	ModelGeometry	RigidBody
SceneLayer	LightingLayer	CompositingLayer
Entities
Entity	SphereShape	PlaneShape
BoxShape	CylinderShape	LineSet
StaticObject	AnimatedObject	Text3D
Materials and Shading
ProgramAsset	Uniform	Uniforms
Material	ShadowMap

Additional cyclops modules

Cyclops extension modules, like any other omegalib module, can be installed through cmake based on user's needs. Some cyclops extension modules offer basic functionality, and are installed by default when you install cyclops. Here is a list of them with links to their info pages:

• The sprite module: create efficient 3D sprites (https://github.com/omega-hub/sprite)