COMBMEM(nged)

💅 COMBMEM — get or set combination member transformation matrices (decomposed, bestie)

okay so this is combmem, a page from the nged manual, and it's genuinely one of the more underrated little commands out there. it gets or sets the per-member transformation matrices of a combination, except instead of making you stare at a big scary 4×4 grid, it lets you speak in decomposed form: azimuth (az), elevation (el), twist (tw) rotation angles, translation (x, y, z), and scale factors — uniform (sa) plus per-axis (sx, sy, sz). iconic behavior, honestly 🎀

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

combmem [-i type] [-r type] comb [op1 name1 az1 el1 tw1 x1 y1 z1 sa1 sx1 sy1 sz1 ...]

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so like. combmem gets or sets the per-member transformation matrices of a combination, and it expresses them in a decomposed form: azimuth (az), elevation (el), twist (tw) rotation angles, translation (x, y, z), and scale factors (uniform sa, and per-axis sx, sy, sz). that's the whole vibe 💖

• give it just the combination name and no member arguments → combmem returns the current transformation for each member, in the decomposed form. read-only mode, no notes 🫶
• give it member arguments → it sets the transformation for each listed member, building the full 4×4 matrix from the decomposed parameters you handed over. main character energy, it constructs the matrix for you ✨

🌸 Options

• -i type — sets the input format type for interpreting transformation data. this affects how the az el tw x y z sa sx sy sz parameters get parsed and assembled into a matrix. iykyk 🔥
• -r type — sets the representation type for matrix output when reading.

💜 Member specification

every single member is described by 12 values that come right after the Boolean operator (u, +, or -) and the member name:

op name az el tw x y z sa sx sy sz

where, for the record:

• az, el, tw — azimuth, elevation, and twist, in degrees ⭐
• x, y, z — translation
• sa, sx, sy, sz — uniform and per-axis scale factors

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🍓 EXAMPLES 🍓

Example 1. Read the transformation of combination members

mged> combmem vehicle.c

returns the Boolean operator, name, and decomposed transformation (az/el/tw, x/y/z, sa/sx/sy/sz) for each member of vehicle.c. lowkey the easiest way to peek at what's going on in there 👀

Example 2. Set member transformations

mged> combmem vehicle.c u hull.r 0 0 0 100 0 0 1 1 1 1 u turret.r 45 0 0 100 0 200 1 1 1 1

sets hull.r with no rotation and a translation of (100, 0, 0), and turret.r with a 45° azimuth rotation, no elevation, and translation of (100, 0, 200). both slay, no cap 💅

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💀 SEE ALSO 💀

• comb(nged)
• matrix(nged)
• aet(nged)

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👑 AUTHOR 👑

BRL-CAD Team — literal icons, we stan 🫶

🌈 BUG REPORTS 🌈

found a bug or got a problem? don't suffer in silence, bestie — reports of bugs or problems should be submitted via electronic mail to devs@brlcad.org 📧

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not me ending on a footer note but fr fr: this page is from BRL-CAD, it's the COMBMEM(nged) command page, and that's the whole thing. mwah 💖🎀✨