The GL Studio C++ Runtime Application Programming Interface (API) is the set of functions and classes used to interact with objects created by the GL Studio editor.

The most fundamental classes in the object hierarchy are DisplayObject and Group. DisplayObject is the abstract base class of all objects in the GL Studio object hierarchy. Group, which is itself a DisplayObject, represents a collection of other DisplayObjects.

Ordinary drawing objects such as GLPolygon and GlsEllipse are instances of DisplayObject. Text objects like GlsTextBox and DisplayObject, which support ASCII and Unicode for languages such as Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, and GlsCTLTextBox, which supports complex text layout for languages such as Arabic, Hebrew, and Thai, are also DisplayObjects.

Collections of objects such as GlsPushButton, which collects and up state and down state as well as optional background objects, and a GlsMutexGroup, which shows one of its children at a time, are examples of Groups. (Note: Catalyzers, which use Python scripts to generate their child objects at design time, also turn into Groups at runtime.)

Other important objects include ComponentBase, which allows embedding one GLS file or Reusable Software Objects (RSOs) into another, and mesh objects such as GLTrimesh and GlsAdvancedMesh, which represent complex geometry and materials; and functional objects such as GlsEyePoint, which acts as a camera in the scene; GlsLightSource, which adds lighting to a scene, and GlsDynamicPath, which allows the animation of some object properties over time (see also the GlsAnimation package, which can animate any property over time).

The table below lists the objects that appear in the GL Studio Toolbox and a few that are created from user actions, like Groups and meshes. Click the toolbox object name for a guide on how to create each object in the editor. Click on the class name to access API documentation for that object.

Object	Description	API Documentation
Polygons
Line	Click and drag the 3D Canvas to create a line.	`GLPolygon`
Free Form	Clicking places individual vertices, dragging creates scribbles, double click to finish the shape.	`GLPolygon`
Polygon	Click once for each vertex, double click to finish the shape.	`GLPolygon`
Scribble	Click and drag to create a smooth scribble.	`GLPolygon`
Rectangle	Click and drag to size a rectangle.	`GLPolygon`
Text
Text Box	Creates a text box that uses kerning to space each glyph.	`GlsTextBox`
Text Grid	Creates a text box that lays out text in a fixed width grid.	`GlsTextGrid`
CTL Text Box	Creates a text box capable of supporting complex layouts, e.g. Thai, Arabic.	`GlsCTLTextBox`
Groups
Group Objects	Groups the selected objects as a `Group`	`Group`
Empty Group	Creates an empty group, ready for new child objects.	`Group`
Convert to 3D Cable	Groups the selected objects and allows them to be affected by gravity and tension, like a real cable would.	`Gls3DCable`
Convert to Clipping Group	Groups the selected objects and clips geometry outside of a user defined range.	`GlsClippingGroup`
Convert to Lod Group	Groups the selected objects and draws one of the children based on how far away the viewer currently is.	`GlsLodGroup`
Convert to Mimic Group	Groups the selected objects and renders all children to a texture, improving performance.	`GlsMimicGroup`
Convert to Multi-View	Groups the selected objects and allows users to define additional viewport calculations to draw objects from multiple angles.	`GlsMultiView`
Convert to Mutex Group	Groups the selected objects and draws only one child at a time based on the current state index.	`GlsMutexGroup`
2D Shapes
Angular Scale	Creates tick marks in a ring around a center point.	`GlsAngularScale`
Ellipse	Creates a circle, ellipse, or n-gon.	`GlsEllipse`
Linear Scale	Creates tick marks in a line from a starting point.	`GlsLinearScale`
Nine-Patch	Creates a rectangle that can be scaled infinitely without loss in quality.	`GlsNinePatch`
Nurb Curve	Creates a smooth curve defined by a few points.	`GlsNurbCurve`
Poly Line	Creates a scalable line.	`GlsPolyLine`
3D Shapes
Sphere	Creates a sphere.	`GlsSphere`
Cylinder	Creates a cylinder or pyramid.	`GlsCylinder`
Meshes
Trimesh	Converts selected objects to a mesh made of triangles	`GLTrimesh`
Imported Mesh	An imported mesh supporting more features than `GLTrimesh` such as reflection maps	`GlsAdvancedMesh`
Input
Convert to Knob	Groups the currently selected objects as a knob.	`GlsKnob`
Convert to Odometer	Groups the currently selected objects as an odometer.	`GlsOdometer`
Convert to Push Button	Groups the currently selected objects as a push button.	`GlsPushButton`
Convert to Switch	Groups the currently selected objects as a switch.	`GlsSwitch`
Convert to Thumbwheel	Groups the currently selected objects as a thumbwheel.	`GlsThumbWheel`
Components and References
Convert to Component	Saves the currently selected objects into a new GLS file.	`ComponentBase`
Insert an existing Component	Adds a reference to an existing GLS file or RSO into the current one.	`ComponentBase`
Catalyzer	Creates a empty group, whose children are created by Python scripts selected by the user. Catalyzers are in the GL Studio editor only. At runtime they become a `Group`.	Editor only; no runtime API.
Eyepoint and Lights
Light	Creates an adjustable light source.	`GlsLightSource`
Eyepoint	Creates a camera view point, which can be set as the primary for the application.	`GlsEyePoint`
Moving Eye	Creates a camera view point capable of smoothly moving between eyepoints.	`GlsMovingEye`
Dynamic Path
Insert a Dynamic Path	Creates an object that can store keyframes for an animation.	`GlsDynamicPath`
Insert a Path Manager	Creates links between objects and dynamic paths, allowing many animations to be managed by one object.	`GlsPathManager`
Video Toolkit
Movie Texture	Creates a polygon that can have a video file mapped to at runtime.	`GlsMovieTexture` (Windows only)
Video to Texture	Creates a polygon that can have streaming video (from a webcam) mapped to at runtime.	`GlsVideoToTexture` (Windows only)
Schematics
Schematic Poly Line Interconnect	Creates an animated scalable line used to represent flow.	`GlsSchematicPolyLineInterconnect`
Schematic Tee Interconnect	Creates a tee junction for schematic lines to intersect with.	`GlsSchematicTeeInterconnect`