the Interactive OpenGL Based Viewer for

MathGL3d is a free interactive viewer for Mathematicas 3d graphics, it is the only OpenGL based viewer for unix. Here is a screen shot of the MS-Windows version. Here is a small picture gallery of images created with MathGL3d and/or together with POVRay. The new pictures for version 2.0 are collected in a second gallery. Pictures and VRML models created with the MathGL3d 3.0 beta version can be seen here. MathGL3d comes with a 17 MByte tutorial notbook and a reference notebook for the command line options as well as for the new Mathematica functions. You may preview the tutorial (1.3 MByte) and the reference section (84 kByte) in pdf format.
Please notice that even when the executable is called mathview3d and the context path is MathView3D` the name of the Mathematica and C-code together with the other files is MathGL3d.

Features of Version 1.1

direct communication with Mathematica via MathLink
calculation of averaged surface normals
POVRay 3.0 export
free rotation of 3d graphics objects
animation of 3d objects
can run as standalone program to show and animate the 3Scripts saved in a Mathematica session
read 3Script files generated by Mathematica
write DXF files
adds a hull around lines and exports this "thick lines" to POVRay as well as into DXF files.

Features of MathGL3d 1.2

compiled with GLUT 3.6
the bug in the light calculation is fixed
graphical selection of view point and light source editing
smooth shaded, resolution independent PostScript output
import of DXF files
read and write Geomviews OFF file format
the render window can be saved as PNG graphics
copy the 3d data back to Mathematica
copy the contents of the render window into Mathematica notebooks

New Features in Version 2.0

support of colormesh in 3Script files
introduction of the new graphics type MeshGraphics3D[] as result of ParametricPlot3D[]with color support per face
export of VRML 2.0 files
export of QuickDraw3D Meta files
texture support for textures from PNG files, Mathematica Graphics-objects and RasterArray[]s. Textures are supported for the whole scene as well as for individual MeshGraphics3D[]-objets. For regular textures generated by Mathematica itself the Plane Tiling package from Xah Lee is recommended.
the manual was replaced by a tutorial and a reference notebook with help browser support where created.

New in Version 2.2

polygon reduction
the bug in the light position calculation where removed
enhanced animation features (see the options for MVTranslate[] and MVRotate[])
compatible with the next version of Mathematica

Supported Systems

Installation

Download the archive

Copy it into the $TopDirectory of your Mathematica installation

Decompress and expand the archive

Open the Mathematica frontend and rebuild the Help Index

Look if the online help in the Add-ons section has an "OpenGL Viewer" entry

On Unix machines look if the binary mathview3d has the executable attribute

Try to load the OpenGL viewer with Get["MathGL3d`OpenGLViewer`"] and some examples from the tutorial in $TopDirectory/AddOns/MathGL3d/Documentation/English/MVManual.nb

Optional, edit the OpenGLViewer.m package and insert the correct path for the binary and add custom texture search path.

The line

$MVLink=
Install[
    LinkOpen[
      "<your $TopDirectory>/AddOns/Applications/MathGL3d/Binaries/<your os>/mathview3d -mathlink"
     ]
   ]

and

AppendTo[
$MVTexturePath,
ToFileName[
{$TopDirectory,"AddOns",
"Applications","MathGL3d","Textures"}]
];

may need some modifications.

Microsoft Windows 95/98/NT

Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98/NT

Download the compressed archive (4 MBytes) for Windows. NT and Windows 98 user should use the second link, The only difference is that the Windows 95 version comes with the OpenGL libraries. The Source is in the Documentation/Source directory

Solaris, Linux & SiliconGraphics

Download the gziped tar file with the binaries for

	Solaris 2.x
	Linux ELF, 386
	SiliconGraphics

The binaries are compiled with the Brian Pauls Mesa 3D graphics library (except SGI). If you have a commercial OpenGL you must recompile it for your platform. Explore the makefile.* to change the include and library directories. For a new compilation a OpenGL 1.1, a GLUT 3.6 (with MUI) , the PNG as well as the zip library are needed. Look to the links to find the libraries on the web. The original source files are MathView3D.w and savepng.w. There are no reason to change this files. The true source files for mprep and your C-compiler are MathView3D.tm and savepng.c. For changes of the original CWeb source you need a running CWeb system. If you really like to change something of the 17000 lines C-source please contact me by e-mail. If you do your own changes I can't offer any support for this changed program.

The port to other UNIX systems should be easy and change files that list the modifications are welcome. As long as I get a binary of the port, I will assist the compilation as much as I can.

Power Macintosh

Thanks to Wolfram Research and a Visiting Scholar Grant a Macintosh version is now available. This is the first Macintosh version and only tested on a few systems. Please report all problems with the program, I will try to fix it. Since Macintosh has no command line the command line swiches and the standalone modus are not working. The OpenGL Viewer can only run as a MathLink program.

Power Macintosh, the directory tree and the binary and the palettes
or as BinHex encoded stuffit archive

Before one can use the OpenGL Viewer the Mesa 3D library for Macintosh must be installed. The folder with the shared librarys for Mesa 3D (OpenGL replacment) and the GLUT mut be placed in the system Extensions folder. It runs also with the OpenGL librarys from Conix but the GLUT library is still needed. Place the unpacked MathGL3d folder in the
$TopDirectory:AddOns:Applications folder and the palette notbooks in the $TopDirectory:SystemFiles:FrontEnd:Palettes folder of the Mathematica installation.

Many thanks to all the people that encourage me to bring MathGL3d to Macintosh computers. My special thanks go to Attilio Rivoldini, Xah Lee, Flip Philips and to the people at Wolfram Research for the help.

The OpenGL interface was created last year before Apple release the OpenGL distribution for Macintosh. The old Mesa librarys can be downloaded from here. The next release von MathGL3d (version 3.0) will run with the Apple OpenGL librarys.

Bug Reports

If you found a bug send me a e-mail with "MATHGL3D BUG" as mail subject. Even if you don't find a bug send me a mail, if you have comments or suggestions for future versions of MathGl3d. Please include the operating system and the Mathematica version you are using in your e-mail!

Pay Some Hundred Dollars !

No, not for MathGL3d. MathGL3d is free software. But if you have too much money you can buy a program from Conix that does nearly the same but without the many 3d interface features. Conix has also a Linux version.
The MathLive program for MS-Windows and Mac's supports 3Scripts and textures. The third alternative is the Dynamic Visualizer from Wolfram Research.