All functions in the Create menu of the Scene Graph add more nodes to the scene. Generated nodes are added as children to the currently selected node. If no node is selected, the new node is a child of the Root node. The geometry, lights, and camera options in the Create menu are the same as in the Scene menu of VRED. All other options in the Scene Graph Create menu are described here.
Group - Creates a group node to which you can add objects. This is useful when wanting to move, scale, or rotate multiple objects as a unit. This does not affect the graphical representation within the Render Window. (Ctrl+G)
Shell - Creates a shell node. Edit the shell node with Scene > Node Editor.
Matrix Transform - Creates an empty matrix transformation node in the Scene Graph, called “Transform.” This node holds independent translation and transformation information. Use it to reuse positions and transformations of an object and apply them to another structure.
MaterialGroup - Creates an empty node in the Scene Graph, named “MaterialGroup”. When a material is assigned to this node, objects under this node will use the MaterialGroup’s material. The original material of the object will not be deleted.
Environment - Creates an environment group node, so you can organize your environment geometries. An environment group node provides a textured surrounding with a shadow plane on its ground. Its texture affects the representation of all scene-related materials.
Switch - Creates a Switch node with only one child visible at a time. The child to be set visible can be selected under Scene > Node Editor. Switches can also be controlled in the Variants and the Variant Set Module.
StereoSwitch - Creates a StereoSwitch node, which can draw the first two children independently of each other. While the first child is drawn on the left eye channel, the second child is drawn on the right. To activate the StereoSwitch, select a preferred stereo render mode.
HostSwitch - Creates a HostSwitch node. HostSwitch children can be rendered on any dedicated host computer. Enter the name of the host computer under Scene > Node Editor > hostname.
Billboard - Creates a Billboard node that aligns its children to the camera.
ClipPlane - Creates a ClipPlane node. This node has a border behind which its child objects are not shown.
DistanceLOD - Creates a DistanceLOD nodes that helps you set up different children to be rendered, depending on the distance between the object and camera. Usually, this is used to reduce the geometry's level of detail when the camera is far from an object and increase the detail when the camera is close, by switching between different geometries. This keeps the frame rate high. To setup which child should be drawn for which distance range, click Scene > Node Editor and edit the range property. If the DistanceLOD node has N children, specify the N-1 range values (comma separated floating point values are accepted). Each value constitutes a distance threshold between two adjacent ranges corresponding to a specific level of detail.
Sound - Creates a Sound node to embed sound into a scene. Enter the path of the sound file under Scene > Node Editor > soundFile.
SoundObstructor - Creates a SoundObstructor node, which mutes a sound file when the corresponding Sound node is covered by the SoundObstructor in the Render Window.
Custom - Creates custom nodes. Enter the custom node type.