The Surface Evolver
Version 2.14
August 18, 1999

My Surface Evolver is an interactive program for the modelling of liquid surfaces shaped by various forces and constraints. The program is available free of charge.

Download the Surface Evolver for various systems.
Browse Surface Evolver documentation.
Surface Evolver examples:
Some other people's pages using the Surface Evolver:
- N.I.S.T. Solder Interconnect Design Team
- Morwen Thistlethwaite's minimal energy knots
- Jim Hoffman's LEDG tool for automating the creation of certain classes of Surface Evolver datafiles.
Special translation of this page for native Georgians.

If you have a problem downloading files on this page, try my ftp site.

Unix version of the Surface Evolver

Download evolver.tar.Z (careful; some browsers mangle the default save name). This is a compressed tar file containing source code, makefile, sample datafiles, the manual in TeX dvi format, and an HTML version of the documentation. This will untar into a READ.ME file and three subdirectories, src (source files), fe (datafiles), and doc (manual in PostScript format, and an HTML version). To build, edit the Makefile in src to choose your appropriate system and options. The HTML version of the documentation contains most of what is in the printed manual, except the parts with lots of mathematical formulas. This can be browsed with any standard Web browser, starting with default.htm. It is also used by the Evolver's "help" command.
The manual file manual.ps can be downloaded by itself, if you wish. You should also get these files for figures the manual refers to: cube.ps, mound.ps, sphere.ps, and tank.ps.
Download cmd.tar. Some examples of the Evolver command language. Best place for these is the fe subdirectory.

Geomview

Evolver graphics on unix systems are best viewed with the geomview program from the Geometry Center. Unfortunately, the current version 1.6.1 introduced a bug in it that prevents picking in the geomview window from reporting correctly to the Evolver. There are patched versions in ftp://geom.umn.edu/priv/slevy. Get patch level p7 or higher. It is sufficient to get just the patched version of gvx, which is the central geomview executable file.

Windows 95/98, Windows NT versions of the Surface Evolver

You should create subdirectories to hold datafiles, command files, and the HTML files. Create an environment variable EVOLVERPATH that lists these directories, in the same way the standard PATH variable lists directories to be searched.

Download the appropriate version of the executable, and place in some directory on your PATH:
- Download evolver-NTgl.zip. This is the executable for Windows NT or Windows 95/98, using OpenGL. OpenGL is NT's official 3D graphics interface, and a lot of graphics cards provide hardware acceleration for OpenGL. (Windows 95 release A users may need to download gl-dll.zip, unzip, and put glu32.dll and opengl32.dll in your system directory.)
- Download evolver-NT.zip. This is the executable for Windows 95 without OpenGL graphics.
- Download evolverLD.zip. This is compiled with 10-byte long doubles instead of 8-byte doubles for floating point arithmetic, for 19 digits precision instead of 15. For precision freaks only. Non-OpenGL graphics.
- Download evolw32s.zip. Version compiled for Windows 3.1 with Win32s.
Download manual.ps. This is a PostScript version of the manual, made from the TeX dvi file. You should also get files for figures the manual refers to: cube.ps, mound.ps, sphere.ps, and tank.ps.
Download cmd.zip. Some examples of the Evolver command language.
Download fe.zip. The sample datafiles.
Download ev-html.zip. The HTML version of the documentation. This contains most of what is in the printed manual, except the parts with lots of mathematical formulas. This can be browsed with any standard Web browser, starting with default.htm. It is also used by the Evolver's "help" command.

MS-DOS version of the Surface Evolver

This older version is still provided in case there are people out there without Windows on their PC. You should create subdirectories to hold datafiles, command files, and the HTML files. Create an environment variable EVOLVERPATH that lists these directories, in the same way the standard PATH variable lists directories to be searched.

Download evol-dos.zip. This contains a README file, executable for MS-DOS, and sample datafiles.
Download manual.ps. This is a PostScript version of the manual, made from the TeX dvi file. You should also get files for figures the manual refers to: cube.ps, mound.ps, sphere.ps, and tank.ps.
Download cmd.zip. Some examples of the Evolver command language.
Download fe.zip. The sample datafiles.
Download ev-html.zip. The HTML version of the documentation. This contains most of what is in the printed manual, except the parts with lots of mathematical formulas. This can be browsed with any standard Web browser, starting with default.htm. It is also used by the Evolver's "help" command.

Macintosh version of the Surface Evolver

I am not a Mac person, and have only occassional access to a Mac, so the Mac versions do not have all the Mac bells and whistles. There is a new PowerPC version of Evolver 2.14.

Download the archive suitable for your type of Mac. These have the executable, a README.MAC explaining the Mac version idiosyncracies, the sample datafiles in Mac format, and the HTML version of the documentation.
- Download Evolver68K.sea.Hqx, Surface Evolver version 2.01 compiled for 68K Mac.
- Download EvolverPPC.sea.Hqx, Surface Evolver version 2.14 compiled for Power PC Mac (native code).
Download manual.ps. This is a PostScript version of the manual, made from the TeX dvi file. You should also get files for figures the manual refers to: cube.ps, mound.ps, sphere.ps, and tank.ps.

Ken Brakke's home page

The Surface Evolver Version 2.14 August 18, 1999