Softimage SDK Programmer's Guide > Customizing Softimage using the SDK > Custom Filters >

# Filter Types

When you register a custom filter, the second parameter to PluginRegistrar.RegisterFilter specifies the filter type. In addition to 3D object filters, you can also have subcomponent filters (for points, edges, or polygons), property filters, and generic object filters.

siFilterType constants | Description
--- | ---
siFilter3DObject | Filter for objects that belong to the 3D Object family, such as X3DObject, Null, Light, Camera, Model, ChainBone, and ParticleCloud.
siFilterSubComponentEdge siFilterSubComponentPoint siFilterSubComponentPolygon | Selection filter for edges, points, and polygons.
siFilterProperty | Filter for properties, such as constraints, joints, materials, and operators.
siFilterObject | Generic filter for any type of object (SIObject objects and objects of classes derived from SIObject). Not available as a selection filter. Object filters are available in explorer views for certain scopes (such as Sources/Clips, Animation, Audio, Images, Materials, and Models).

Softimage uses the filter type to determine when and where a filter is available. For example, in the Select panel, subcomponent filters are not available when the current selection includes nulls or implicit objects. In an explorer view, only 3D object and object filters are available, and object filters are available only for certain scopes.

Note that for filters, the SIObject.Typeproperty returns siFilterFundamentalTypevalues, not siFilterTypevalues. For example, for a point filter, SIObject.Type returns the string SubComponentFilter, not the number 5 (the value of the siFilterSubComponentPoint constant).