TesselSphere-1.3.0-beta for MS-Windows and Linux has been released. This
version has an new GUI for cell morphing and fixes some bugs in the Linux
version. The Linux build process now uses CMake (Windows and Mac OSX will
follow). This is a pre-release prior to version 1.4.0; feedback would be
appreciated as it has only been tested on MS-Windows-98SE and Linux
Mandrake 10.2 (Mandriva Special Edition 2005). Sources and a binary for
MS-Windows may be downloaded at URL:

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/oaktree/nshea/tesselsphere/download.html

N.Shea

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"Nicholas Shea" <nic### [at] tiscalicouk> wrote...

 Thank you Nicholas - an enjoyable afternoon was had. All seems to be 
working well on XPHome SP2 here.

   ~Steve~





> N.Shea
>

Post a reply to this message

"St." <dot### [at] dotcom> wrote:

>  Thank you Nicholas - an enjoyable afternoon was had. All seems to be
> working well on XPHome SP2 here.
>
>    ~Steve~

Thanks for taking the time to report this Steve. Information like this is
important to me.

N.Shea

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"Nicholas Shea" <nic### [at] tiscalicouk> wrote:

> Thanks for taking the time to report this Steve. Information like this is
> important to me.

Steve, can you tell me where you installed the prefs folder called
"nicholassheaATtiscali.co.uk" on XP Home SP2 ?

Post a reply to this message

"Nicholas Shea" <nic### [at] tiscalicouk> wrote in message 
news:web.4337d840111fc894d2a235120@news.povray.org...
> "Nicholas Shea" <nic### [at] tiscalicouk> wrote:
>
>> Thanks for taking the time to report this Steve. Information like this is
>> important to me.
>
> Steve, can you tell me where you installed the prefs folder called
> "nicholassheaATtiscali.co.uk" on XP Home SP2 ?

      Yes, it's the same as win98: C:\WINDOWS\Application Data

       BTW Nicholas, I'm having a little trouble trying to save a file. When 
I open the save to PovRay 3.6 box, there is already a highlighted line: 
"C:/Documents and Settings/sp/Desktop/TesselSphere-Win-1.3.0-beta/" in the 
filename field. If you delete this line, and then try to add your own 
filename, say, tess1, you can type the 't', but when you try to type the 
next letter 'e', it will add the same line again for every key-stroke, so 
you end up with something like this if you're not looking:

"C:/Documents and 
Settings/sp/Desktop/TesselSphere-Win-1.3.0-beta/C:/Documents and 
Settings/sp/Desktop/TesselSphere-Win-1.3.0-beta/C:/Documents and 
Settings/sp/Desktop/TesselSphere-Win-1.3.0-beta/C:/Documents and 
Settings/sp/Desktop/TesselSphere-Win-1.3.0-beta/te"

   If you just add your filename to the end of "C:/Documents and 
Settings/sp/Desktop/TesselSphere-Win-1.3.0-beta/tess1", then, when it's 
compiling all the vertices and lines co-ordinates etc., it will crash the 
program when it gets to "Making Cell edges unique[pass2]"  - but then the 
file is still saved, (incompletely? On checking, it does end in "#end").

     ~Steve~


>
>
>

Post a reply to this message

"St." <dot### [at] dotcom> wrote:
> "Nicholas Shea" <nic### [at] tiscalicouk> wrote in message
> news:web.4337d840111fc894d2a235120@news.povray.org...
> > "Nicholas Shea" <nic### [at] tiscalicouk> wrote:
> >
> >> Thanks for taking the time to report this Steve. Information like this is
> >> important to me.
> >
> > Steve, can you tell me where you installed the prefs folder called
> > "nicholassheaATtiscali.co.uk" on XP Home SP2 ?
>
>       Yes, it's the same as win98: C:WINDOWSApplication Data
>
>        BTW Nicholas, I'm having a little trouble trying to save a file. When
> I open the save to PovRay 3.6 box, there is already a highlighted line:
> "C:/Documents and Settings/sp/Desktop/TesselSphere-Win-1.3.0-beta/" in the
> filename field. If you delete this line, and then try to add your own
> filename, say, tess1, you can type the 't', but when you try to type the
> next letter 'e', it will add the same line again for every key-stroke, so
> you end up with something like this if you're not looking:
>
> "C:/Documents and
> Settings/sp/Desktop/TesselSphere-Win-1.3.0-beta/C:/Documents and
> Settings/sp/Desktop/TesselSphere-Win-1.3.0-beta/C:/Documents and
> Settings/sp/Desktop/TesselSphere-Win-1.3.0-beta/C:/Documents and
> Settings/sp/Desktop/TesselSphere-Win-1.3.0-beta/te"
>
>    If you just add your filename to the end of "C:/Documents and
> Settings/sp/Desktop/TesselSphere-Win-1.3.0-beta/tess1", then, when it's
> compiling all the vertices and lines co-ordinates etc., it will crash the
> program when it gets to "Making Cell edges unique[pass2]"  - but then the
> file is still saved, (incompletely? On checking, it does end in "#end").
>
>      ~Steve~

Hi Steve.

The FLTK file chooser widget can be little strange when first coming
from windows. If the text below is not immediately obvious, I have
taken some screen shots which you can download from here:

http:://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/oaktree/nshea/tesselsphere/download/filesave-pics.zip

filesave1.jpg
When saving a file, the current path (usually the TesselSphere app)
is already highlighted in the path field of the Save Dialogue.

filesave2.jpg
Click after the path and start typing the name of your file.

filesave3.jpg
As you type, the dialogue will try to auto-complete the file name if
it finds a match in the current directory.

filesave4.jpg
Keep typing until the filename is unique.

filesave5.jpg
You can click on the path-buttons to navigate the file system or...

filesave6.jpg
Add the path to the favourites for next time.

WARNING: There is no check for a file with the same name yet! I know this is
pretty awful. Make sure your file has a unique name or an existing file
with the same name will get over-written.

The saved INC file should end with the auto initialization macros.
They look like this:

// ------------------------------------------------------------------
//
// #include auto initialization
//
// ------------------------------------------------------------------
// including this file will auto initialize the Polyhedron data:
TS_Init_Vertces()
TS_Init_Vertces_Array()
TS_Init_Centrum_Vertices()
TS_Init_Centrum_Vertices_Array()
TS_Init_Apex_Vertices()
TS_Init_Apex_Vertices_Array()
TS_Init_Cell_Arrays()
TS_Init_Edges_Array()

A successful save should be reported in the log window. Eg:

<----------------------------------------------------->
Wrote file: C:/my-docs/dev/tesselsphere-mingw-1.3.0/tesselsphere/test.inc
   Vertices: 3366
   cells: 908
   unique edges: 3372
<----------------------------------------------------->

Make sure you are using the 1.3.0-beta.
There was a bug when saving files that was introduced in a previous version
but I thought I'd fixed it. If you can repeat the bug with 1.3.0-beta,
please let me know the details so I can try to replicate it. Thanks for
your time in reporting this.

It is great to get genuine feedback :) I sometimes wonder if my site is
really public at all!

Best wishes

N.Shea

Post a reply to this message

"Nicholas Shea" <nic### [at] tiscalicouk> wrote in message

news:web.4337fc5d111fc894d2a235120@news.povray.org...
> "St." <dot### [at] dotcom> wrote:

> Hi Steve.

   Hi Nicholas - sorry for the delay, it's been one of *those* weeks at 
work!  ;)

>
> The FLTK file chooser widget can be little strange when first coming
> from windows. If the text below is not immediately obvious, I have
> taken some screen shots which you can download from here:
>
> http:://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/oaktree/nshea/tesselsphere/download/filesave-pics.zip

   Thanks, got that. Yes, I didn't realise it was doing the autocomplete 
thing. Like you've said, I just add a unique filename now, and that works 
fine.

>
> filesave1.jpg...
   <snip>


> The saved INC file should end with the auto initialization macros.
> They look like this:
>
> // ------------------------------------------------------------------
> //
> // #include auto initialization
> //
> // ------------------------------------------------------------------
> // including this file will auto initialize the Polyhedron data:
> TS_Init_Vertces()
> TS_Init_Vertces_Array()
> TS_Init_Centrum_Vertices()
> TS_Init_Centrum_Vertices_Array()
> TS_Init_Apex_Vertices()
> TS_Init_Apex_Vertices_Array()
> TS_Init_Cell_Arrays()
> TS_Init_Edges_Array()


   Well, I definately wasn't getting this...

>
> A successful save should be reported in the log window. Eg:
>
> <----------------------------------------------------->
> Wrote file: C:/my-docs/dev/tesselsphere-mingw-1.3.0/tesselsphere/test.inc
>   Vertices: 3366
>   cells: 908
>   unique edges: 3372
> <----------------------------------------------------->

   ...or this. (But I'm getting it now on simple files).


>
> Make sure you are using the 1.3.0-beta.

     Yes, definately.

> There was a bug when saving files that was introduced in a previous 
> version
> but I thought I'd fixed it. If you can repeat the bug with 1.3.0-beta,
> please let me know the details so I can try to replicate it. Thanks for
> your time in reporting this.
>
> It is great to get genuine feedback :) I sometimes wonder if my site is
> really public at all!

     Glad to at least try and help - I'm no programmer, so please bare with 
me, and I'll help if I can. If you want me to do anything specific, then 
just fire away with what you want.  :)

     Ok, first of all, here's my setup if it's of any use to you:

       XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2
       AMD Duron(tm) Processor ,  MMX,  3DNow, ~600MHz
       512MB RAM
       NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700LE

   I've had a good play with Tesslesphere this morning, and I've noticed a 
couple of things. When I first started playing with it earlier this week, I 
think I was a little too impatient and not giving TS a chance to do its 
thing after clicking around on various buttons, which is why all of a 
sudden, it would just disappear from the screen, (literally, it would just 
disappear without any warning). So I learnt to watch the FPS field and let 
it go up to around the 40 to 50 mark - that helped a lot.

    The other thing that I found was that TS will save a simple file, but 
won't save a complicated file, (even after doing the above). I don't know 
what a 'complicated' file is when using TS, but I've uploaded a screenshot 
so you can at least see what will cause TS to crash when trying to save a 
file: http://website.lineone.net/~25ct/test.htm

    Again, this crashed TS as soon as it got to the "Making Cell Edges 
unique [pass2]" stage. It also took about thirty minutes to get to this 
stage, so would this be normal? I'm thinking it might be my setup, and maybe 
it's not powerful enough?


     ~Steve~



>
> Best wishes
>
> N.Shea

Post a reply to this message

"St." <dot### [at] dotcom> wrote:

<*snip*>
>      Glad to at least try and help - I'm no programmer, so please bare with
> me, and I'll help if I can. If you want me to do anything specific, then
> just fire away with what you want.  :)

Thanks Steve :)

>      Ok, first of all, here's my setup if it's of any use to you:
>
>        XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2
>        AMD Duron(tm) Processor ,  MMX,  3DNow, ~600MHz
>        512MB RAM
>        NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700LE

It's always helpful to know how the program is being used and on what
system.

>    I've had a good play with Tesslesphere this morning, and I've noticed a
> couple of things. When I first started playing with it earlier this week, I
> think I was a little too impatient and not giving TS a chance to do its
> thing after clicking around on various buttons, which is why all of a
> sudden, it would just disappear from the screen, (literally, it would just
> disappear without any warning).

Hmmm... seems like a crash. I'll upload a degug version for windows so you
can trace out what's going on. I'll also code a progress box for big data
sets to give more user feedback.

> So I learnt to watch the FPS field and let  it go up to around the 40 to
> 50 mark - that helped a lot.

>     The other thing that I found was that TS will save a simple file, but
> won't save a complicated file, (even after doing the above). I don't know
> what a 'complicated' file is when using TS, but I've uploaded a screenshot
> so you can at least see what will cause TS to crash when trying to save a
> file: http://website.lineone.net/~25ct/test.htm

Thanks for the screen shot. I managed to export this to an INC file on Linux
using TesselSphere 1.3.3. I can send it to you, but please read on...

>     Again, this crashed TS as soon as it got to the "Making Cell Edges
> unique [pass2]" stage. It also took about thirty minutes to get to this
> stage, so would this be normal? I'm thinking it might be my setup, and maybe
> it's not powerful enough?

Your set up is well powerful enough. But even so, that's a pretty big file:
you are trying to export 14400 cells; the _ts_V array alone contains 41400
vertices. One way round this is to just export a single geodesic particle.
You can then write POV macros that use the symmetry of the system to rotate
the particle to other locations on the sphere. I will update the POV-Macros
so that you can do this. Of course, 30 minutes to export a file is not
normal. The reason for the delay is outlined below...

The problem you are experiencing with big data sets is due to TesselSphere's
INC file export code and the internal data representation. TesselSphere does
not yet use indexed cells, so it has to generate all the indices to the
vertex array when saving the INC file. This ensures that only unique
elements are stored in the _ts_V array. This delay does not occur with VRML
export as no indexing takes place.

Right now, INC file export delays with large data sets is a limitation in
the program and one I will endevour to overcome. I would really like to
thank you for your time in reporting this. User feedback is important; I
know TesselSphere's quirks, so when using it, I don't attempt the things
that others might.

Best wishes

N.Shea

Post a reply to this message

"Nicholas Shea" <nic### [at] tiscalicouk> wrote:
<snip>
> The problem you are experiencing with big data sets is due to TesselSphere's
> INC file export code and the internal data representation. TesselSphere does
> not yet use indexed cells, so it has to generate all the indices to the
> vertex array when saving the INC file. This ensures that only unique
> elements are stored in the _ts_V array. This delay does not occur with VRML
> export as no indexing takes place.

Hello Steve,

I have been working to correct the issues you raised in your last post. (I
sent you two e-mails but they bounced back - so I'm hoping you get this). A
32V Class I geodesic sphere now exports to a POV INC file in 40 seconds
(all class triangles). Convex hull generation now has progress bar for
large data sets. Implemented truncation/spherical range adjustment
(geodesic module only).

You can see how this works here:

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/oaktree/nshea/tesselsphere/geodesic/trunc_tutorial_1.html

If you are still interested in testing the program, I can post you a pre-1.4
beta. (Any further communication is probably best kept off this group). Your
time and interest has been greatly appreciated.

Best wishes,

N.Shea

Post a reply to this message

Steve

Im new to POV-Ray community and have noticed your correspondance with Nicholas
Shea over TesselSphere.  I have looked for this application for some time and
all links are dead ends.  Nicholas' own site at tiscali.. had diappeared as
well as all the links to source on OpenGL forum.

You were discussing running Window's XP version.  Did you succeed?  And have you
maintained correspondance with Nicholas?   I'm interested in getting a copy of
this program (also XP) for some research I am doing.

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Ed Popko








"St." <dot### [at] dotcom> wrote:
> "Nicholas Shea" <nic### [at] tiscalicouk> wrote in message
> news:web.4337d840111fc894d2a235120@news.povray.org...
> > "Nicholas Shea" <nic### [at] tiscalicouk> wrote:
> >
> >> Thanks for taking the time to report this Steve. Information like this is
> >> important to me.
> >
> > Steve, can you tell me where you installed the prefs folder called
> > "nicholassheaATtiscali.co.uk" on XP Home SP2 ?
>
>       Yes, it's the same as win98: C:\WINDOWS\Application Data
>
>        BTW Nicholas, I'm having a little trouble trying to save a file. When
> I open the save to PovRay 3.6 box, there is already a highlighted line:
> "C:/Documents and Settings/sp/Desktop/TesselSphere-Win-1.3.0-beta/" in the
> filename field. If you delete this line, and then try to add your own
> filename, say, tess1, you can type the 't', but when you try to type the
> next letter 'e', it will add the same line again for every key-stroke, so
> you end up with something like this if you're not looking:
>
> "C:/Documents and
> Settings/sp/Desktop/TesselSphere-Win-1.3.0-beta/C:/Documents and
> Settings/sp/Desktop/TesselSphere-Win-1.3.0-beta/C:/Documents and
> Settings/sp/Desktop/TesselSphere-Win-1.3.0-beta/C:/Documents and
> Settings/sp/Desktop/TesselSphere-Win-1.3.0-beta/te"
>
>    If you just add your filename to the end of "C:/Documents and
> Settings/sp/Desktop/TesselSphere-Win-1.3.0-beta/tess1", then, when it's
> compiling all the vertices and lines co-ordinates etc., it will crash the
> program when it gets to "Making Cell edges unique[pass2]"  - but then the
> file is still saved, (incompletely? On checking, it does end in "#end").
>
>      ~Steve~
>
>
> >
> >
> >

Post a reply to this message