Element schemas

Elements are the lowest-level building blocks in the schema hierarchy — primitive data types that components compose into higher-order structures. They define binary array formats, colour values, spatial coordinates, lookup tables, and the unit system.

Binary storage

The foundational storage reference used by all array elements to point to binary data.

• Binary blob — file hash, UUID, or null reference for binary data

Floating-point arrays

64-bit floating-point arrays for continuous numeric data. The base type (float-array-md) supports arbitrary width; fixed-width specialisations constrain width to match specific geometric or physical use cases.

• Float array (variable width) — base type with variable width
• Float array (width 1) — scalar values (width = 1)
• Float array (width 2) — paired values such as 2D coordinates (width = 2)
• Float array (width 3) — 3D coordinates and vectors (width = 3)
• Float array (width 6) — symmetric tensor components (width = 6)

Integer arrays

Integer arrays supporting int32 and int64 encoding. Follows the same base-plus-specialisation pattern as floating-point arrays.

• Integer array (variable width) — base type with variable width
• Integer array (width 1) — scalar integer values (width = 1)
• Integer array (width 2) — paired integer values (width = 2)
• Integer array (width 3) — triple integer values (width = 3)

Index arrays

Unsigned 64-bit integer arrays for topology and connectivity. Each width corresponds to a geometric primitive — pairs for line segments, triplets for triangles, and so on.

• Index array (1) — single indices (width = 1)
• Index array (2) — line segment connectivity (width = 2)
• Index array (3) — triangle connectivity (width = 3)
• Index array (4) — quadrilateral connectivity (width = 4)
• Index array (8) — hexahedral connectivity (width = 8)

Boolean arrays

Boolean data arrays for flags, masks, and binary-state attributes.

• Bool array (width 1) — single boolean per element
• Bool array (variable width) — multiple booleans per element

String and date-time arrays

Non-numeric array types for text and temporal data.

• String array — variable-length string values
• Date-time array — timestamp values

Colour

Colour values using 32-bit ABGR packing (alpha, blue, green, red).

• Color — single colour value
• Color array — per-element colour data

Spatial primitives

Standalone geometric primitives for point positions and part references.

• Coordinates 3D — single point in 3D space (x, y, z)
• Reversible index — part index with optional orientation reversal

Lookup and categorisation

Key-value mappings for categorical data.

• Lookup table — integer-to-string mapping for category names

Units

Physical measurement units organised by dimension.

• Unit — 125+ unit categories organised by physical dimension