polyform.py

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The program requires Qhull to be installed.

There are many options (see program help), although not all are available for all output formats.

Points are drawn as spheres (of a chosen size, and optionally numbered), the faces of the convex hull can be displayed and the edges shown as rods (of a chosen size).

The camera and model position can be controlled. For POV output there are two different stereo views available and also a four-view option.

polyform.py -s -e -f -O pov Povray (POV)	polyform.py -e -f -O pov Povray (POV)	polyform.py -s -e -f -O vrml FreeWRL (VRML)	polyform.py -s -e -f -O off JavaView (OFF)

Program Help

usage: polyform.py [options] [input_file]

This program takes a set of coordinates and generates a pov or
vrml file using spheres, rods, etc to help with visualisation

input_file
   File containing the coordinates. Can be a pov file,
   with the coordinates in sphere statements, or a simple list
   of coordinates in a text file (three numbers per line
   separated by spaces or commas.) The program reads from standard
   input if no file given.

options
   -h       this help message
   -s       create default size sphere points (maximum without overlap)
   -S val   create sphere points with radius of val
   -e       create default size edge rods (0.2*sphere_radius)
   -E val   create edge rods with radius of val
   -f       create faces
   -n       show vertex numbers
   -k       if input is a pov file then just rewrite sphere radii
           to maximum without overlap
   -o file  write output to file, if this option is not used
            the program writes to standard output.
   -O fmt   Output format, fmt can be pov (default), vrml, off or coff

   Viewing options
   --camdist=val      distance to camera
   --centre=val       points centre, in form "x_val,y_val,z_val"
   --origin=val       point to look at, in form "x_val,y_val,z_val"
                      (default, points centre)
   --rotate=val       rotate about axes through points centre, in
                      form "x_val,y_val,z_val" (degrees)
   --persp=val        narrow the angle of perspective (0-100, default
                      2 mono, 4 stereo)

   Povray options
   --pov-shadow=val   use lighting with shadows, val is 0 (default, yes
                      for mono, no for stereo), 1 (always), or  2 (never
   --pov-stereo=val   produce stereo output, val is 0 (default, mono),
                      1 (stereo, one image file) or 2 (stereo, two image
                      files, use something like povrays +KFF2 option for
                      output). 3 (mono, four views around the object)