This node sets the current shape complexity value. This is a heuristic value which provides a hint at what geometric complexity to render shape nodes. Values range from 0 to 1, where 0 means minimum complexity and 1 means maximum complexity. Each shape node interprets complexity in its own way.

Shape complexity always affects rendering and primitive generation for the SoCallbackAction. For some shapes, it also affects picking.

There are three ways to interpret shape complexity, depending on the type field. BOUNDING_BOX complexity ignores the value field and renders all shapes as bounding boxes, using the current material, drawing style, etc. The other two types use the value field to determine the tessellation of shapes into polygons. OBJECT_SPACE complexity uses value directly to determine the tessellation. SCREEN_SPACE complexity depends on value and the projected size of the shape on the screen; a value of 0 produces the minimum tessellation for a shape, and a value of 1 produces a tessellation that is fine enough that each edge of a polygon is about 1 or two pixels in length. Since the projected size depends on the camera position, objects may be tessellated differently every frame if the camera is moving; note that this may have adverse effects on render caching in SoSeparator nodes.

The SoComplexity node also sets a hint for the quality of textures applied to shapes, based on the value of the textureQuality field. The texture quality will take effect at the next Texture2 node; Texture2 nodes previously traversed will not be affected.