Visualization in the Lab

Generating good pictures is one of the biggest uses of computation in mathematics. All machines in the lab have color monitors and are oriented towards visualization. In addition, our Indigo 2, ``Superior'' is a very powerful graphics workstation (from the people who brought us Jurassic Park ...) with remarkable 24 bit display capabilities.

Particularly valuable graphics software on the Indigo 2 include the following. Most are located in directories below /local on superior. Looking at /local and /usr/local/bin on Superior will reveal most extras which are present on the system.

• Geomview: Extremely versatile high end graphics from the Geometry Center at Minnesota. Typing ``geomview'' fine to start. The 100 page reference manual and man pages (below /usr/catman/local) are useful if you want to generate your own objects. There are also Maple procedures to write geomview format (OOGL) files. An external reference is Geomview Organization.
• Xv: A very general image viewing and conversion utility. Hit right mouse to see the controls. Reference manual available.
• Xpsview, Ghostscript, Ghostview: Postscript preview. Typing ``ghostview filename.ps'' is a good start.
• Kali: 17 Euclidean wallpaper groups. The file /local/kali-2.1/HELP is a good reference. Also on all Macs. Some external resources on Kali include:
  • A tour of Frieze Groups Using Kali
  • Wallpaper Patterns Using Kali
  • Mac Manual for Kali
  • Starting Kali
  • Symmetry and the Shape of Space (Geometry Center Version)
  • Symmetry and the Shape of Space (Arkansas Version)
  • Kali-Jot.
  • Geometry and the Imagination in Minneapolis
• Lafite: Triangle groups in the hyperbolic plane. Invoked as in ``lafite 237''. Exit by escape.
• Gnuplot General graphics. There is a 30 page reference manual which has been printed out as well as a help command. Also exists on Macs.
• DsTool: Dynamical systems. Can also import data for display and printing. DsTool requires that $OPENWINHOME/lib be on one's LD_LIBRARY_PATH to run. The aliases setld and unsetld help with this. Extensive manuals on DsTool are available. The page DsTool at the Geometry Center should become more important when Version 3.0 is released.
• ImageMagick: Collection of graphics conversion and display tools.
• PbmPlus Utilities: Graphics conversion. Accessible on skylight in /users/local/bin, and below /users/pbmplus10dec91.
• TriTile: Tesselations of constant curvature surfaces. Ancestor of Kaleidotile on the Macs. Exit by escape. Some external resources on Kaleidotile include:
  • Introduction to Kaleidotile
• Qhull: Convex hulls of points. Can write in geomview format. Older version also exists for Macs. (Maple may also be used with the Mac version for viewing.) Start by looking at the file /local/qhull/README. An external reference is Qhull at the Geometry Center.
• SnapPea: Hyperbolic 3 manifolds. Basic information is in /local/snappea-iris/README. Also exists on Macs (Mathlab Fileserver). An external reference is Snappea at the Geometry Center.
• Scatter2graph: May be used as a frontend to geomview for graphing points in space. Information in /local/scatter2graph/README.
• Symmetric Tensegrities

On the Mac side, Geometer's Sketchpad is a very rich dynamic geometry exploration program.

Additions, Corrections or Feedback on these pages to:

mathlab@math.cornell.edu

Last Update: Januuary 29, 2001