Import and Export

From K-3D

Overview

Users often wish to load and save data (usually-but-not-necessarily mesh data) using file formats specific to other applications. This is commonly referred to as "importing" and "exporting" data. K-3D provides four types of plugins related to the task:

• Importers
• Exporters
• Readers
• Writers

Importers and Exporters work to load and save entire documents (or subsets of documents) in a single pass. As an example, when you save a K-3D document using K-3D's native .k3d file format, you are using the K3DDocumentExporter plugin. When you reload the document from disk, you are using the K3DDocumentImporter plugin.

Readers and Writers are individual nodes that become part of a document and the Visualization Pipeline. A Reader is a data source, and a Writer is a data sink. Once a Reader or Writer is created and hooked into the pipeline, you can modify its properties (such as pointing it to a different data file) and the pipeline will automatically update with the new data.

Note the dualities among the different plugin types. An Importer creates nodes based on the contents of an external file, while a Reader is-a node that reads data from an external file. An exporter copies nodes to an external file, whereas a Writer is-a node that writes data to an external file. Stated differently: an Importer copies data from an external file into your document, so that the data becomes part of the document and is stored and loaded along with the rest of its contents. A Reader "references" data in an external file, loading it into memory when needed, but the data remains external to the document.

Understanding the distinctions among the external file plugin types is important because there may be more than one type implemented for a given file format. In this case, you will have to choose the correct plugin for your needs. As an example, file format "foo" might eventually have both "FooReader" and "FooDocumentImporter" plugins.

Usage

Importers

• Select the File > Import menu item.
• A file dialog will appear allowing you to choose a file to be imported.
• The file dialog will also contain a dropdown list of available Importers.
• You may explicitly choose the Importer you want to use, or you may use automatic detection, which will attempt to choose the correct Importer for the file you selected.

Exporters

• Select the File > Export menu item.
• A file dialog will appear allowing you to choose a file to be exported.
• The file dialog will also contain a dropdown list of available Exporters.
• You may explicitly choose the Exporter you want to use, or you may use automatic detection, which will attempt to choose the correct Exporter for the file you selected.

Readers

• Use the Create menu to create a Reader node.
• Check the Reader's properties in the Node Properties Panel.
• Choose a filename that will become the Reader's input.
• See Managing External Files for details on how paths to external files are stored.

Writers

• Use the Create menu to create a Writer node.
• Check the Writer's properties in the Node Properties Panel.
• Choose a filename where the Writer will save its output.
• You must manually make a connection from the Visualization Pipeline into the Writer's input.
• See Managing External Files for details on how paths to external files are stored.