wireframe version 1.0; February 19, 2013

wireframe is a simple program for creating 3d surfaces, and outputting them in a variety of formats. It is designed especially to create .eps figures for inclusion in mathematics papers.

file formats

The program reads files in two different formats, wire format, and graph format. To read a file in wire format, run the command

./wireframe -w filename

To read a file in graph format, run the command

./wireframe -g filename

A file in wire format specifies precisely a triangular mesh in space, in vertex-vertex format. The program reads this mesh in, and displays it in a graphical window, where it can be further manipulated. A file in graph format specifies precisely a polyhedral graph in space, also in vertex-vertex format. The program reads this graph in, and generates a triangular mesh surface obtained as the boundary of a thickened neighborhood of the graph. Thus the advantage of this format is that a complicated surface topology can be entered with relative ease.

interactive commands

After the program is launched, a graphical window opens and displays the mesh. The following commands are available:

• [f] toggles between solid and wireframe
• [v] toggles between verbose and silent
• [i] toggles between shaded and isobar rendering
• [1/2] makes isobars sparser/denser
• [s] subdivides and smooths mesh
• [r] retriangulates to shorten edges
• [c] flows the surface by curvature (really, energy)
• [t] trims pyramids (3-valent vertices)
• [arrow keys] to rotate mesh
• [+/-] to make mesh bigger/smaller
• [e] for output to file in .eps format
• [w] for output to file in wire format
• [p] for output to file in povray format
• [q] to quit

manual

The manual (i.e. the file manual.pdf) contains a much more detailed description of file formats.

copyright

This program is released under the terms of the GNU GPL version 3.0. See the attached license file.