CGA Shape Grammar Reference

This page provides an overview of the operations and functions available in CGA.
Visit the CGA Modeling Essentials to learn the foundations of the CGA Shape Grammar.

Operations

Geometry Creation

i (insert)	extrude	envelope	taper
roofGable	roofHip	roofPyramid	roofRidge
roofShed	offset	primitiveQuad	primitiveDisk
primitiveCube	primitiveSphere	primitiveCylinder	primitiveCone
insertAlongUV	footprint

Geometry Subdivision

split	splitArea	splitAndSetbackPerimeter	comp
innerRectangle	setback	setbackPerEdge	setbackToArea
shapeL	shapeU	shapeO	scatter

Geometry Manipulation

cleanupGeometry	convexify	deleteHoles	reverseNormals
setNormals	softenNormals	mirror	rectify
reduceGeometry	resetGeometry	trim	deleteTags
setTagsFromEdgeAttrs

Texturing

texture	setupProjection	projectUV	translateUV
scaleUV	normalizeUV	tileUV	rotateUV
deleteUV

Transformations

t (scope translate)	translate	s (scope size)	r (scope rotate)
rotate	center

Scope

alignScopeToAxes	alignScopeToGeometry	alignScopeToGeometryBBox	rotateScope
setPivot	mirrorScope

Flow Control

pop

push

NIL

Context

label

Attributes

set	color	resetMaterial	setMaterial
report	print

Shape Attributes

Shape Attributes are properties of the current shape. They can always be read (like functions) and some of them can be set with the set operation.

comp	initialShape	material	pivot
scope	seedian	split	trim

Builtin Functions

Functions always return a value and do not alter the current shape (with the exception of probability functions which change the state of the shape's random number generator).

Math Functions

abs	acos	asin	atan
atan2	ceil	cos	exp
floor	isinf	isnan	ln
log10	pow	rint	sin
sqrt	tan

Probability Functions

rand

Conversion Functions

bool	boolArray	float	floatArray
isNull	sel	str	stringArray

String Functions

count	find	len	splitString
substring

Geometry Functions

Material Functions

getMaterial

readMaterial

File Functions

fileExists	fileSearch / filesSearch	readFloatTable	readStringTable
readTextFile

Asset and Image Functions

assetInfo	assetNamingInfo / assetNamingInfos	assetsSortRatio	assetsSortSize
imageInfo	imagesSortRatio

Occlusion Functions

inside

overlaps

touches

Context Functions

minimumDistance

contextCompare

contextCount

Array Functions

array initialization	colon operator	comp	findFirst
index operator	nColumns	nRows	setElems
size	sortIndices	sortRowIndices	sum
transpose

Edge Attribute Functions

edgeAttr.getFloat

edgeAttr.getString

edgeAttr.getBool

Miscellaneous Functions

convert	getGeoCoord	getTreeKey	print
Simple types operators	Array types operators

Other Keywords

attr	const	extension	import
start	style	with	version

CGA Utility Functions Library

String Utility Functions

findFirst	findLast	getPrefix	getRange
getSuffix	replace

String List Utility Functions

String lists are a series of strings stored inside one string. The elements are separated by a semicolon (";"). The data type is "string", thus it is not any real type of array as used in other scripting languages.

listAdd	listClean	listCount	listFirst
listFromArray	listIndex	listItem	listLast
listRandom	listRange	listRemove	listRemoveAll
listRetainAll	listSize	listTerminate	listToArray

File, Asset and Image Utility Functions

assetApproxRatio	assetApproxSize	assetBestRatio	assetBestSize
assetFitSize	fileBasename	fileDirectory	fileExtension
fileName	fileRandom	imageApproxRatio	imageBestRatio

Math Utility Functions

clamp

max

min

Color Utility Functions

colorHexToB	colorHexToG	colorHexToH	colorHexToO
colorHexToR	colorHexToS	colorHexToV	colorHSVToHex
colorHSVOToHex	colorRamp	colorRGBToHex	colorRGBOToHex

Miscellaneous Information

CGA Changelog	Annotations	Asset Search	Builtin Assets
Texturing	Euler Angles	Context Queries	Component Tags

geometry.area	geometry.angle	geometry.boundaryLength	geometry.{du\|dv}
geometry.groups	geometry.hasTags	geometry.height	geometry.isClosedSurface
geometry.isConcave	geometry.isInstanced	geometry.isOriented	geometry.isPlanar
geometry.isRectangular	geometry.materials	geometry.nEdges	geometry.nFaces
geometry.nHoles	geometry.nVertices	geometry.tags	geometry.{uMin\|uMax\|vMin\|vMax}
geometry.volume