Clarifications on Features and Uses

[cadop]

Starting this thread to be a catch-all for now.

[cadop]

Current tips:

1. Python documentation is the easiest way to get an overview of the project and features, at minimum by clicking through the examples
2. The easiest way to get started with the C# interface (besides individual functions) is to go through the Unity tutorial. [Feature wish to add a Rhino one]. Basically it's an issue of visualizing things without adding extra external visualization libraries.
3. Depending on what language you are comfortable with, python docs style might be easier to find things, like the modules

I think somewhere is a conceptual graph of the library that needs to get posted. Probably the main things to think about are:

• There are 'packages' or 'modules' that make up the repo
• They are largely meant to be independent, but some do rely on others
• Because they are modular, parts like the navgraph and visibility graph are actually separate things that use the same data structure (called spatialstructures)

Visibility Example

• This disconnect is typically nice from the API and backend perspective (avoids duplicating or forced links)... but can be confusing at times, specifically; the visibility graph actually returns a graph object graph = VisibilityGraphGroupToGroup(bvh, nodes_a, nodes_b, 1.7, -1) which has nodes, edges, and values. Those values can really be used and modified by the user anyway they would like.
  • However, there are some convenience functions for performance sake, such as aggregating the values (hence, the printout in the example is actually a method on the graph print(graph.AggregateEdgeCosts(CostAggregationType.AVERAGE, True)))
  • Since it is a graph object, the enumeration key is really found under spatial structures.
• Because things might be confusing, the library doesn't use import *. If you look at the imports for the examples, you can see which module it comes from (e.g. the Enum for aggregates).