Programmers too can send messages to the SoDetectorTreeKits to toggle their representation. Each level of hierarchy has a built-in material editor attached with which users can edit the material properties of any detector element that lives in an SoDetectorTreeKit. Users can employ this functionality to make the outer shells of their detector transparent, allowing them to see through to inner detectors that would otherwise be obscured. Figure 3 shows an SoDetectorTreeKit in action. A DetectorTreeKit used to construct a silicon detector.
Blue components are barrels, green components are wedges, and red components are individual wafers.
Users can expose more detail by clicking. They can also interactively change the color or transparency of any element. A third component of the Hepvis class library is viewers. They extend the set of OI viewers, already highly functional, with extra functionality. It contains a scrollable text window for programmers to use as a display area.