Adding a MeshView as part of another class not working when returned?

Question

I have a class that extends box, to get the properties to display it as a box, or else have the option to display it as a 3D image/Mesh.
I have this code
public class Face extends Box
        private MeshView image3D;
        public Face(TriangleMesh mesh)
            this.image3D = new MeshView(mesh);
    public TriangleMesh getImage3D()
        return (TriangleMesh) image3D.getMesh();
public MeshView getImage3DView()
        return image3D;
    public void setImage3D(TriangleMesh mesh)
        this.image3D = new MeshView(mesh);
Granted there are many more methods and variables I just wanted to show what I needed. Basically I have a 3D importer class, which I'll post in a second, which imports the data for the mesh. From there I return the TriangleMesh and then set it to a MeshViewer that is setup currently as a constructor call in the Face class, and then I set it to a group using the getter method.
  Face d = new Face(i.stlImporter("CylinderHead-binary.stl"));
d.setMaterial(gray);
d.setLayoutX(200);
d.setLayoutY(200);
Group s1 = new Group (d.getImage3DView());and finally
public class importer
    TriangleMesh mesh = new TriangleMesh();
   public TriangleMesh stlImporter(String s)
        StlMeshImporter stl = new StlMeshImporter();
        // Generated vertex normals result in a smoothly shaded surface
        stl.setCreaseAngle(24); 
        try
            URL cylinderHeadUrl = this.getClass().getResource(s);
            stl.read(cylinderHeadUrl);
        catch (ImportException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        // STL includes only geometry data
        mesh = stl.getImport();
        stl.close();
        return mesh;
   public TriangleMesh getStlImport()
       return mesh;
}However if I change all of the face code into MeshView it will work. So basically it seems that something is up with MeshView being used in Face.
Edited by: KonradZuse on Apr 5, 2013 8:22 PM

Answer 1

Well basically I wanted to have a class that was originally a box, but then would have a 3D image. The converter that came out a week or so ago imports it as a Mesh, so I wanted to be able to have it return a mesh if it's a 3D object.
I was just confused how it would all work. To make a box, I assumed I had to extend the box, and great it based on that, or shape. Maybe it would just be easier to save the TriangleMesh, then load it into a MeshViewer in another class. I figured I could just make a viewer in the class and just add that viewer, but maybe that's not a good idea.
Now I realize that I can just make everything a 3D mesh, box included, so I can just make it a viewer with additional properties like my box was supposed to be, or maybe just the mesh itself, then add it to a viewer later, thoughts?
I'd appreciate any insight on the class structure that I'm confused about, thanks!~!!
~KZ