This is the README for Geomview.manual.d.tar.gz [Download] [Browse] [Up]
Geomview is an interactive geometry viewing program written by the
staff of the Geometry Center (mostly Daeron Meyer, Tim Rowley, Stuart
Levy, Tamara Munzner, and Mark Phillips). It can be used as a
standalone viewer for static objects or as a display engine for other
programs which produce dynamically changing geometry. The current
versons run on the following platforms:
SGI IRIS workstations,
Sun4 workstations running X
Dec alpha workstations running X
HP workstations running X
486 PCs running Linux and X
probably many other Unix workstations running X
NeXT workstations
HP workstations running NeXTStep
486 PCs running NeXTStep
The distribution files are listed below. Each of these names is
actually a symbolic link to a file in this directory; the link always
points to the most recent version of the corresponding file.
IMPORTANT: see the section on PATCH FILES at the end of this file to
determine whether you also need to get any of the patch files along
with the distribution files described here.
Each of the files below contain the entire Geomview distribution,
including documentation, example files, and external modules. Files
ending in .Z are compressed with the standard Unix program "compress".
Files ending in ".gz" are compressed with GNU compress (gzip) and are
generally smaller than the corresponding .Z file, but you need gzip to
uncompress them. In all cases, the .Z and .gz files contain the same
data; you only need to get one of the two.
geomview-sgi.tar.Z:
geomview-sgi.tar.gz:
Compiled binaries for the SGI IRIS. Uses GL graphics; this is
the fastest version of Geomview. If you have an IRIS, get
this one.
geomview-next.tar:
Compiled binaries for the NeXTStep operating system. This
contains fat binaries which will run on either a NeXT
workstation, 486 PC, or an HP workstation running NeXTStep
3.x. Uses Quick Renderman graphics.
geomview-alpha.tar.Z:
geomview-alpha.tar.gz:
Compiled binaries for the Dec alpha; uses XLib graphics.
geomview-sun4.tar.Z:
geomview-sun4.tar.gz:
Compiled binaries for Sun4 workstations; compiled using SunOS.
Uses XLib graphics. IMPORTANT: If you use Open Windows you
need to also get and apply the patch file
"geomview-1.5.0-sun4-patch1.tar.Z". See PATCH FILES below for
details.
geomview-hp.tar.Z:
geomview-hp.tar.gz:
Compiled binaries for HPUX; uses XLib graphics.
geomview-linux.tar.Z:
geomview-linux.tar.gz:
Compiled binaries for Linux; uses XLib graphics.
geomview-rs6000.tar.Z:
geomview-rs6000.tar.gz:
Compiled binaries for IBM RS6000; uses XLib graphics.
geomview-src.tar.Z:
geomview-src.tar.gz:
The source code distribution --- includes source for all
versions of Geomview: SGI(GL), X, and NeXTSTep (Quick
Renderman). The X version is known to compile on the
platforms listed above, and probably will compiled with
hopefully minor modifications on other Unix/X platforms.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
manual.tar.Z:
The Geomview manual. The manual is included in each of the
above distributions, but is available in this separate file in
case you just want to look at the manual without downloading
an entire distribution. This manual file (manual.tar.Z) also
includes a dvi version of the manual, and separate PostScript
versions of the figures (these things are not part of the
regular distributions).
We recommend getting the binary distribution unless you specifically want
to look at or modify the source code. The source code takes anywhere
from 15 minutes to 1.5 hours to compile, depending on the machine.
Disk space required:
geomview-alpha.tar.Z, untarred 8 MB
geomview-hp.tar.Z, untarred 7 MB
geomview-linux.tar.Z, untarred 8 MB
geomview-next.tar, installed 19 MB
geomview-sgi.tar.Z, untarred 17 MB
geomview-sun4.tar.Z, untarred 11 MB
geomview-src.tar.Z
source only, untarred 14 MB
source, compiled for SGI only 86 MB
source, compiled for Sun only 50 MB
source, compiled for Next (triple fat) only 142 MB
Editing makefiles/Makedefs.global to set COPTS = -O
rather than the default COPTS = -g yields:
source, compiled for SGI only, COPTS=-O 47 MB
source, compiled for Sun only, COPTS=-O 27 MB
source, compiled for NeXT, (triple fat), COPTS=-O 62 MB
Here is a list of CHANGES occuring from version 1.4.3 to version 1.5
====================================================================
Substantial improvements to the 3D graphics in the X11 version of Geomview:
- Uses X Shared Memory extension (when available) for
quick rendering of polygons and lines to X11 framebuffer
- Support for 1, 8, or 24 bit deep X displays added
- Optional dithering for 8 bit displays
- Dithers 1 bit displays
- Optional zbuffering (for hidden line/surface removal) added
- Smooth shading added
- Support for line thickness > 1 added
- Clipping planes added
Numerous fixes/additions to the X11 Geomview Motif interface:
- Window positioning commands work (under most window managers)
except for the Load and Save panels
- fixed edit menu
- added ability to type in RGB values in color panel
- added numeric displays for sliders on material panel
- added option menu on camera panel for choosing
hidden surface removal method
- added toggle button on camera panel for activating/deactivating
dithering of colors (only shows up in 8 bit mode)
Unlike the beta-release X graphics, the new version transmits complete
images, not polygons, to the X server. It's faster for local
displays; can be slow when the display-to-geomview connection
traverses a slow network link.
Geomview motions:
INCOMPATIBLE bug fix in the GCL command language:
Motions defined with respect to the object itself, e.g.
(transform world world world translate 0 0 1)
had been interpreted with the wrong sign. This is now fixed.
Application programs which depended on this bug (including gvclock
and stereo) need to change accordingly.
Documentation fix: GCL rotations (transform/transform-incr/transform-set)
are given in radians, not degrees.
New motion-animation commands:
The (transform ...) command now allows a simple form of animation.
If given an amount of time, it arranges to move by exactly that amount
during approximately that many seconds, either at constant speed
or with smooth start and stop.
Scaling now happens with respect to the selected "center" object,
not the object's own origin. There's a new (transform ... scale ...)
subcommand.
Keyboard input:
New (event-keys) and (event-pick) commands can suppress geomview
interpreting keyboard input as commands and rightmouse-clicks as
picking, in graphics windows. Useful for modules which want to impose
their own interpretations on events.
Non-Euclidean spaces:
Newly created cameras now correctly live in the current (possibly
non-Euclidean) space. They had been always Euclidean,
despite misleading window titles.
N-D projection:
New "nOFF" object is a collection of 0-, 1- or 2-dimensional polygons
in N-dimensional space.
N-D coloring projection axes can be with respect to any coordinate system.
Two-sided surface coloring:
The "backdiffuse" material field, if defined, is interpreted as the
reverse-side's diffuse color. Works whenever software shading
is enabled (i.e. always on generic-X systems); also works on those
SGI systems whose hardware supports two-sided GL lighting. There's
no control panel for this feature yet but GCL commands can, e.g.
(merge-ap world { material { backdiffuse .7 .5 0 } })
There were a number of portability improvements in the X version,
fixing bugs for Sun/Solaris, HP-UX, Linux, DEC OSF, AIX.
Code is now more careful to avoid floating-point exceptions, which
cause trouble on some machines.
Yacc and lex, which were needed for one library, are no longer essential.
PATCH FILES
===========
The following patch files apply to version 1.5.0. To apply one of
these patches, unpack the patch file in the same directory where you
unpacked the distribution file. Both the distribution and the patch
files untar to create a subdirectory called Geomview; the patch files
untar on top of the distribution --- they replace and/or add files to
the existing tree.
geomview-1.5.0-sun4-patch1.tar.Z:
geomview-1.5.0-sun4-patch1.tar.gz:
This fixes a bug which causes the Open Windows server to crash
when Geomview is run. If you want to use Geomview with Open
Windows, you must get this patch. You can apply this patch to
the sun4 binary distribution, and/or to the source-code
distribution. To apply to the sun4 binary distribution, just
unpack it. To apply to the source distribution, unpack it and
then follow the instructions in the file
Geomview/README-sun4-patch1.
geomview-1.5.0-patch1.tar.Z
geomview-1.5.0-patch1.tar.gz
This patch provides some files that are missing from all of
the above distributions and which are necessary in order
to run certain external modules. In particular, you need
to get this file if you want to run the NDview, NDdemo,
and Not Knot Flythrough modules.
These are the contents of the former NiCE NeXT User Group NeXTSTEP/OpenStep software archive, currently hosted by Netfuture.ch.