Scene

new Scene(options)

The container for all 3D graphical objects and state in a Cesium virtual scene. Generally, a scene is not created directly; instead, it is implicitly created by CesiumWidget.

contextOptions parameter details:

The default values are: { webgl : { alpha : false, depth : true, stencil : false, antialias : true, premultipliedAlpha : true, preserveDrawingBuffer : false failIfMajorPerformanceCaveat : true }, allowTextureFilterAnisotropic : true }

The webgl property corresponds to the WebGLContextAttributes object used to create the WebGL context.

webgl.alpha defaults to false, which can improve performance compared to the standard WebGL default of true. If an application needs to composite Cesium above other HTML elements using alpha-blending, set webgl.alpha to true.

webgl.failIfMajorPerformanceCaveat defaults to true, which ensures a context is not successfully created if the system has a major performance issue such as only supporting software rendering. The standard WebGL default is false, which is not appropriate for almost any Cesium app.

The other webgl properties match the WebGL defaults for WebGLContextAttributes.

allowTextureFilterAnisotropic defaults to true, which enables anisotropic texture filtering when the WebGL extension is supported. Setting this to false will improve performance, but hurt visual quality, especially for horizon views.

Name Type Description
options Object optional Object with the following properties:
Name Type Default Description
canvas Canvas The HTML canvas element to create the scene for.
contextOptions Object optional Context and WebGL creation properties. See details above.
creditContainer Element optional The HTML element in which the credits will be displayed.
mapProjection MapProjection new GeographicProjection() optional The map projection to use in 2D and Columbus View modes.
Throws:
Example:
// Create scene without anisotropic texture filtering
var scene = new Cesium.Scene({
  canvas : canvas,
  contextOptions : {
    allowTextureFilterAnisotropic : false
  }
});
See:
Source: Scene/Scene.js, line 170

Members

backgroundColor :Color

The background color, which is only visible if there is no sky box, i.e., Scene#skyBox is undefined.
Default Value: Color.BLACK
See:
Source: Scene/Scene.js, line 316

readonlycamera :Camera

Gets the camera.
Source: Scene/Scene.js, line 553

readonlycanvas :Element

Gets the canvas element to which this scene is bound.
Source: Scene/Scene.js, line 465

completeMorphOnUserInput :Boolean

Determines whether or not to instantly complete the scene transition animation on user input.
Default Value: true
Source: Scene/Scene.js, line 249

debugCommandFilter :function

This property is for debugging only; it is not for production use.

A function that determines what commands are executed. As shown in the examples below, the function receives the command's owner as an argument, and returns a boolean indicating if the command should be executed.

The default is undefined, indicating that all commands are executed.

Default Value: undefined
Example:
// Do not execute any commands.
scene.debugCommandFilter = function(command) {
    return false;
};

// Execute only the billboard's commands.  That is, only draw the billboard.
var billboards = new Cesium.BillboardCollection();
scene.debugCommandFilter = function(command) {
    return command.owner === billboards;
};
See:
  • DrawCommand
  • ClearCommand
Source: Scene/Scene.js, line 374

readonlydebugFrustumStatistics :Object

This property is for debugging only; it is not for production use.

When Scene.debugShowFrustums is true, this contains properties with statistics about the number of command execute per frustum. totalCommands is the total number of commands executed, ignoring overlap. commandsInFrustums is an array with the number of times commands are executed redundantly, e.g., how many commands overlap two or three frustums.

Default Value: undefined
Source: Scene/Scene.js, line 718

debugShowCommands :Boolean

This property is for debugging only; it is not for production use.

When true, commands are randomly shaded. This is useful for performance analysis to see what parts of a scene or model are command-dense and could benefit from batching.

Default Value: false
Source: Scene/Scene.js, line 388

debugShowFramesPerSecond :Boolean

This property is for debugging only; it is not for production use.

Displays frames per second and time between frames.

Default Value: false
Source: Scene/Scene.js, line 419

debugShowFrustums :Boolean

This property is for debugging only; it is not for production use.

When true, commands are shaded based on the frustums they overlap. Commands in the closest frustum are tinted red, commands in the next closest are green, and commands in the farthest frustum are blue. If a command overlaps more than one frustum, the color components are combined, e.g., a command overlapping the first two frustums is tinted yellow.

Default Value: false
Source: Scene/Scene.js, line 405

readonlydrawingBufferHeight :Number

The drawingBufferWidth of the underlying GL context.
See:
Source: Scene/Scene.js, line 480

readonlydrawingBufferWidth :Number

The drawingBufferHeight of the underlying GL context.
See:
Source: Scene/Scene.js, line 495

farToNearRatio :Number

The far-to-near ratio of the multi-frustum. The default is 1,000.0.
Default Value: 1000.0
Source: Scene/Scene.js, line 342

readonlyframeState :FrameState

Gets state information about the current scene. If called outside of a primitive's update function, the previous frame's state is returned.
Source: Scene/Scene.js, line 596

fxaa :Boolean

When true, enables Fast Approximate Anti-aliasing even when order independent translucency is unsupported.
Default Value: false
Source: Scene/Scene.js, line 437

fxaaOrderIndependentTranslucency :Boolean

If true, enables Fast Aproximate Anti-aliasing only if order independent translucency is supported.
Default Value: true
Source: Scene/Scene.js, line 428

globe :Globe

Gets or sets the depth-test ellipsoid.
Source: Scene/Scene.js, line 522

readonlyimageryLayers :ImageryLayerCollection

Gets the collection of image layers that will be rendered on the globe.
Source: Scene/Scene.js, line 624

readonlymapProjection :MapProjection

Get the map projection to use in 2D and Columbus View modes.
Default Value: new GeographicProjection()
Source: Scene/Scene.js, line 582

readonlymaximumAliasedLineWidth :Number

The maximum aliased line width, in pixels, supported by this WebGL implementation. It will be at least one.
See:
  • glGet with ALIASED_LINE_WIDTH_RANGE.
Source: Scene/Scene.js, line 510

mode :SceneMode

The current mode of the scene.
Default Value: SceneMode.SCENE3D
Source: Scene/Scene.js, line 324

moon :Moon

The Moon
Default Value: undefined
Source: Scene/Scene.js, line 306

morphComplete :Event

The event fired at the completion of a scene transition.
Default Value: Event()
Source: Scene/Scene.js, line 263

morphStart :Event

The event fired at the beginning of a scene transition.
Default Value: Event()
Source: Scene/Scene.js, line 256

morphTime :Number

The current morph transition time between 2D/Columbus View and 3D, with 0.0 being 2D or Columbus View and 1.0 being 3D.
Default Value: 1.0
Source: Scene/Scene.js, line 335

readonlypostRender :Event

Gets the event that will be raised at the end of each call to render. Subscribers to the event receive the Scene instance as the first parameter and the current time as the second parameter.
Source: Scene/Scene.js, line 684

readonlypreRender :Event

Gets the event that will be raised at the start of each call to render. Subscribers to the event receive the Scene instance as the first parameter and the current time as the second parameter.
Source: Scene/Scene.js, line 670

readonlyprimitives :PrimitiveCollection

Gets the collection of primitives.
Source: Scene/Scene.js, line 540

readonlyrenderError :Event

Gets the event that will be raised when an error is thrown inside the render function. The Scene instance and the thrown error are the only two parameters passed to the event handler. By default, errors are not rethrown after this event is raised, but that can be changed by setting the rethrowRenderErrors property.
Source: Scene/Scene.js, line 656

rethrowRenderErrors :Boolean

Exceptions occurring in render are always caught in order to raise the renderError event. If this property is true, the error is rethrown after the event is raised. If this property is false, the render function returns normally after raising the event.
Default Value: false
Source: Scene/Scene.js, line 240

readonlyscreenSpaceCameraController :ScreenSpaceCameraController

Gets the controller for camera input handling.
Source: Scene/Scene.js, line 567

skyAtmosphere :SkyAtmosphere

The sky atmosphere drawn around the globe.
Default Value: undefined
Source: Scene/Scene.js, line 281

skyBox :SkyBox

The SkyBox used to draw the stars.
Default Value: undefined
See:
Source: Scene/Scene.js, line 273

sun :Sun

The Sun.
Default Value: undefined
Source: Scene/Scene.js, line 289

sunBloom :Boolean

Uses a bloom filter on the sun when enabled.
Default Value: true
Source: Scene/Scene.js, line 297

readonlyterrainProvider :TerrainProvider

The terrain provider providing surface geometry for the globe.
Source: Scene/Scene.js, line 637

Methods

completeMorph()

Instantly completes an active transition.
Source: Scene/Scene.js, line 1568

destroy() → undefined

Destroys the WebGL resources held by this object. Destroying an object allows for deterministic release of WebGL resources, instead of relying on the garbage collector to destroy this object.

Once an object is destroyed, it should not be used; calling any function other than isDestroyed will result in a DeveloperError exception. Therefore, assign the return value (undefined) to the object as done in the example.
Returns:
Throws:
  • DeveloperError : This object was destroyed, i.e., destroy() was called.
Example:
scene = scene && scene.destroy();
See:
Source: Scene/Scene.js, line 1639

drillPick(windowPosition) → Array.<Object>

Returns a list of objects, each containing a `primitive` property, for all primitives at a particular window coordinate position. Other properties may also be set depending on the type of primitive. The primitives in the list are ordered by their visual order in the scene (front to back).
Name Type Description
windowPosition Cartesian2 Window coordinates to perform picking on.
Returns:
Array of objects, each containing 1 picked primitives.
Throws:
Example:
var pickedObjects = Cesium.Scene.drillPick(new Cesium.Cartesian2(100.0, 200.0));
Source: Scene/Scene.js, line 1518

isDestroyed() → Boolean

Returns true if this object was destroyed; otherwise, false.

If this object was destroyed, it should not be used; calling any function other than isDestroyed will result in a DeveloperError exception.
Returns:
true if this object was destroyed; otherwise, false.
See:
Source: Scene/Scene.js, line 1618

morphTo2D(duration)

Asynchronously transitions the scene to 2D.
Name Type Default Description
duration Number 2.0 optional The amount of time, in seconds, for transition animations to complete.
Source: Scene/Scene.js, line 1576

morphTo3D(duration)

Asynchronously transitions the scene to 3D.
Name Type Default Description
duration Number 2.0 optional The amount of time, in seconds, for transition animations to complete.
Source: Scene/Scene.js, line 1600

morphToColumbusView(duration)

Asynchronously transitions the scene to Columbus View.
Name Type Default Description
duration Number 2.0 optional The amount of time, in seconds, for transition animations to complete.
Source: Scene/Scene.js, line 1588

pick(windowPosition) → Object

Returns an object with a `primitive` property that contains the first (top) primitive in the scene at a particular window coordinate or undefined if nothing is at the location. Other properties may potentially be set depending on the type of primitive.
Name Type Description
windowPosition Cartesian2 Window coordinates to perform picking on.
Returns:
Object containing the picked primitive.
Throws:
Source: Scene/Scene.js, line 1466