I'm looking to dig deeper into a 3D model which I'm using as an entity (ModelGraphics). I'm looking to both handle built-in animations on a fine grained level, as well as possibly setting properties on nodes (using getNode). However it doesn't seem to be possible on ModelGraphics.
1. Is there any legitimately way to reach the Model behind a ModelGraphics (assuming there is one)
2. Would it be better to use a Model instead of ModelGraphics, but if I understand it correctly you can't add a Model to the entities via `viewer.entities.add` (at least I can't manage it, and I think I've read that it's impossible)
Or is the most future-proof way to use nodeTransformation on the ModelGraphics? I'm perfectly fine with that, it seems super powerful.
The reason I am asking is mainly that it's no use for me to pay someone from adding several animations into the 3d model itself if the best way is to use nodeTransformation
As always, thank you for Cesium. A super awesome product and tool. Thank you everyone who makes it possible.
I actually ran into this myself just today while trying to dynamically control the speed of an animation. I had to add a new property on ModelGraphic to control that:
I was contemplating whether it would be worth exposing Model from the Entity API. If you want to experiment with that, you can see how a ModelGraphics on the Entity level is associated with the Model primitive if you go to the update function in Source/DataSources/ModelVisualizer.js. It keeps a modelHash object which links entities to models.
The popular VSCode glTF extension does use the Model instead I believe for this reason, and you can see how it handles animations here:
But you’re right, then you won’t be able to use viewer.entities.add.
We’re definitely open to suggestions here, and I think this is a good use case. This might be a good opportunity to open a feature request on GitHub (https://github.com/AnalyticalGraphicsInc/cesium/issues) to ask if Model can be exposed through the entity API to make these manipulations more straightforward.
