- Qt 6.11
- Qt Quick 3D
- Qt Quick 3D Examples and Tutorials
- Qt Quick 3D - Custom Geometry Example
- Qt Quick 3D | Commercial or GPLv3

# Qt Quick 3D - Custom Geometry Example

Demonstrates providing custom vertex data from C++ and QML.

This example makes use of QQuick3DGeometry and the geometry property of Model to render a mesh with vertex, normal, and texture coordinates specified from C++ and QML instead of a pre-baked asset.

In addition, the GridGeometry is also demonstrated. GridGeometry is a built-in QQuick3DGeometry implementation that provides a mesh with line primitives suitable for displaying a grid.

The focus on this example will be on the code that provides the custom geometry, so let's first have a look at the `ExampleTriangleGeometry` C++ header file:

     class ExampleTriangleGeometry : public QQuick3DGeometry
     {
         Q_OBJECT
         QML_NAMED_ELEMENT(ExampleTriangleGeometry)
         Q_PROPERTY(bool normals READ normals WRITE setNormals NOTIFY normalsChanged)
         Q_PROPERTY(float normalXY READ normalXY WRITE setNormalXY NOTIFY normalXYChanged)
         Q_PROPERTY(bool uv READ uv WRITE setUV NOTIFY uvChanged)
         Q_PROPERTY(float uvAdjust READ uvAdjust WRITE setUVAdjust NOTIFY uvAdjustChanged)

     public:
         ExampleTriangleGeometry();

         bool normals() const { return m_hasNormals; }
         void setNormals(bool enable);

         float normalXY() const { return m_normalXY; }
         void setNormalXY(float xy);

         bool uv() const { return m_hasUV; }
         void setUV(bool enable);

         float uvAdjust() const { return m_uvAdjust; }
         void setUVAdjust(float f);

     signals:
         void normalsChanged();
         void normalXYChanged();
         void uvChanged();
         void uvAdjustChanged();

     private:
         void updateData();

         bool m_hasNormals = false;
         float m_normalXY = 0.0f;
         bool m_hasUV = false;
         float m_uvAdjust = 0.0f;
     };

The most important thing to notice is that our `ExampleTriangleGeometry` class inherits from QQuick3DGeometry and that we call the `QML_NAMED_ELEMENT(ExampleTriangleGeometry)` macro, making our class accessible in QML. There are also a few properties defined through the `Q_PROPERTY` macro which are automatically exposed in our QML object. Now, let's look at the QML Model:

     Model {
         id: triangleModel
         visible: false
         scale: Qt.vector3d(100, 100, 100)
         geometry: ExampleTriangleGeometry {
             normals: cbNorm.checked
             normalXY: sliderNorm.value
             uv: cbUV.checked
             uvAdjust: sliderUV.value
         }
         materials: [
             PrincipledMaterial {
                 Texture {
                     id: baseColorMap
                     source: "qt_logo_rect.png"
                 }
                 cullMode: PrincipledMaterial.NoCulling
                 baseColorMap: cbTexture.checked ? baseColorMap : null
                 specularAmount: 0.5
             }
         ]
     }

Note that we specify the `geometry` property to use our `ExampleTriangleGeometry` class, with the relevant properties specified. This is all that is needed on the QML side to use a custom geometry.

Now, lets look at the other important part of the C++ code, namely the `updateData()` method. This method creates and uploads the data for our custom geometry whenever a `ExampleTriangleGeometry` class is created or any of its QML properties are updated.

     void ExampleTriangleGeometry::updateData()
     {
         clear();

         int stride = 3 * sizeof(float);
         if (m_hasNormals)
             stride += 3 * sizeof(float);
         if (m_hasUV)
             stride += 2 * sizeof(float);

         QByteArray vertexData(3 * stride, Qt::Initialization::Uninitialized);
         float *p = reinterpret_cast<float *>(vertexData.data());

         // a triangle, front face = counter-clockwise
         *p++ = -1.0f; *p++ = -1.0f; *p++ = 0.0f;
         if (m_hasNormals) {
             *p++ = m_normalXY; *p++ = m_normalXY; *p++ = 1.0f;
         }
         if (m_hasUV) {
             *p++ = 0.0f + m_uvAdjust; *p++ = 0.0f + m_uvAdjust;
         }
         *p++ = 1.0f; *p++ = -1.0f; *p++ = 0.0f;
         if (m_hasNormals) {
             *p++ = m_normalXY; *p++ = m_normalXY; *p++ = 1.0f;
         }
         if (m_hasUV) {
             *p++ = 1.0f - m_uvAdjust; *p++ = 0.0f + m_uvAdjust;
         }
         *p++ = 0.0f; *p++ = 1.0f; *p++ = 0.0f;
         if (m_hasNormals) {
             *p++ = m_normalXY; *p++ = m_normalXY; *p++ = 1.0f;
         }
         if (m_hasUV) {
             *p++ = 1.0f - m_uvAdjust; *p++ = 1.0f - m_uvAdjust;
         }

         setVertexData(vertexData);
         setStride(stride);
         setBounds(QVector3D(-1.0f, -1.0f, 0.0f), QVector3D(+1.0f, +1.0f, 0.0f));

         setPrimitiveType(QQuick3DGeometry::PrimitiveType::Triangles);

         addAttribute(QQuick3DGeometry::Attribute::PositionSemantic,
                      0,
                      QQuick3DGeometry::Attribute::F32Type);

         if (m_hasNormals) {
             addAttribute(QQuick3DGeometry::Attribute::NormalSemantic,
                          3 * sizeof(float),
                          QQuick3DGeometry::Attribute::F32Type);
         }

         if (m_hasUV) {
             addAttribute(QQuick3DGeometry::Attribute::TexCoordSemantic,
                          m_hasNormals ? 6 * sizeof(float) : 3 * sizeof(float),
                          QQuick3DGeometry::Attribute::F32Type);
         }
     }

The method starts by calling `clear()` to clear all previously uploaded data. It then computes the stride for the vertices, taking into account the presence of normals and uv coordinates. Then a byte array is created to hold the vertex buffer, which is then filled with vertices for a single triangle with corners in (-1, -1, 0), (1, -1, 0) and (0, 1, 0).

Then the vertex data is uploaded and the stride is set by calling `setVertexData()` and `setStride()`. The bounds of the geometry is set by calling `setBounds`. Although not used in this example setting the bounds is needed for shadows to work. Then the primitive type is set by calling `setPrimitiveType()`. Lastly, we specify how the attributes for position, normal and uv coords are laid out in memory in the previously uploaded buffer by calling `addAttribute()` for each attribute.

Example project @ code.qt.io