1.5. Property Types

Note that K-3D properties are strongly typed - that is to say that every property stores a specific type of data: a string, an integer number, a floating-point number, a boolean value, a bitmap image, geometry, etc. The controls that are displayed by the user interface vary based on the property type.

Although the preceeding examples have focused on the flow of geometric data, there is nothing preventing other property types from being interconnected - in other words, any data type can move through the pipeline, so long as there are nodes that provide inputs and/or outputs for that type. K-3D includes a number of image processing nodes that work with bitmap image data in the same way that other nodes work with geometric mesh data. Strings, matrices, vectors, scalars, colors, etc. - all can flow through the visualization pipeline, affecting and being-affected-by the nodes they flow through.

The only limitation on property connections is that properties can only be connected to properties that share the same type - i.e. geometry properties can only be connected to other geometry properties, string properties can only be connected to string properties, etc.