Surface Evolver Aquisition and Installation

• UNIX
• MS-Windows 95/98, Windows NT
• MS-DOS
• Macintosh

• Documentation
• EVOLVERPATH environment variable

• Downloading
• Environment variable
• Compiling
• Screen graphics
• Installing geomview

Set it up as usual in your system, in .profile or .login or .cshrc or wherever:

Unix C shell:

             setenv EVOLVERPATH /usr/you/evolver/fe:/usr/you/evolver/doc

             EVOLVERPATH=/usr/you/evolver/fe:/usr/you/evolver/doc
             export EVOLVERPATH

             set EVOLVERPATH=c:\evolver\fe;c:\evolver\doc

If you want Evolver to be able to use geomview, include -DOOGL in CFLAGS.

If you want Evolver to operate in a higher space dimension n than the default maximum of 4, include -DMAXCOORD=n in CFLAGS. This sets the upper limit of dimensionality, and is used for allocating space in data structures. You can use -DMAXCOORD=3 to save a little memory.

If your system supports the long double data type, you can compute in higher precision by compiling with -DLONGDOUBLE in CFLAGS.

You can let the compiler optimize better if you hard-wire the space dimension into the code with the compiler option -DSDIM=n, where n is the desired dimension of space. But such an Evolver can handle only the given space dimension, nothing higher or lower.

Silicon Graphics systems with multiple processors may compile a version that will use all processors for some calculations by including -DSGI_MULTI in CFLAGS. This version will run fine with one processor, also. Currently, the only calculations done in parallel are the "named quantities". The number of processes actually done in parallel can be controlled with the -pn command line option.

The file include.h lists the include files for various systems. If your system isn't listed, you will have to put in a list of your own. Try copying the generic list (or one of the others) and compiling. Your compiler will no doubt be very friendly and helpful in pointing out unfound header files. include.h also has various other system-specific defines. See the GENERIC section of it for comments on these, and include the appropriate ones for your system.

Now try compiling. Hopefully, you will only have to change the system-specific parts of Makefile and include.h to get things to work. If significant changes to other files are needed, let me know.

Test by running on the cube sample file as described in the Tutorial.

Screen graphics interfaces

Installing geomview

Set the environment variable EVOLVERPATH to contain all directories that you want the Evolver to search when looking for files (the current directory is always searched first).

This is my first Windows program, so it is a bare bones port. No bells and whistles like pull-down menus or icons. For both versions, you have to start the graphics window with the 's' command. In the graphics window, you can use the mouse to move the surface. Simply press the left mouse button and drag the object as if it were a trackball. When you release, the object will redraw. There is also an OpenGL version for Windows 95/98/NT that has screen graphics much like geomview. Get this version if you can run it!! Hit the 'h' key with the mouse focus on the graphics window to get a summary of the commands.

One major difference between the Windows and unix versions is that in the Evolver command language in Windows piping is to files, not commands. So do

    list vertices | "vlist.txt"

    list vertices | "cat >vlist.txt"

To install, download the relevant files. Set the environment variable EVOLVERPATH to contain all directories that you want the Evolver to search when looking for files (the current directory is always searched first).

Evolver requires go32.exe to be available on your path. This is the DOS extender interface, and is included in this archive. You need at least a 386 with math coprocessor. Since it uses extended or expanded memory, there may be conflicts with your memory manager. Try it with your regular setup, and if it bombs, boot vanilla DOS and try.

The command line is the normal

c:> evolver filename 

c:> evolver e:/data/cube.fe

VGA graphics are included (see Video section below). If you have a mouse, then in graphics mode you can use the mouse to move the object. Simply press the left mouse button and drag the object as if it were a trackball. When you release, the object will redraw. Hitting any key exits graphics mode to the "graphics command" prompt, from which "q" will return to the main prompt.

One major difference between the Windows and unix versions is that in the Evolver command language piping is to files, not commands, in the DOS version. So do

     list vertices | "vlist.txt"

     list vertices | "cat >vlist.txt"

Beware of leftover swap files building up in your tmp directory due to crashes.

From the DJGPP README file, about video drivers:

The GO32 environment variable:

This variable controls the options available in go32 or debug32.  The
syntax of this variable is:

  SET GO32=[parm [value]] [parm [value]] . . .

Parameters:

  ansi           Use ANSI commands to control the color in debug32
  mono           Use the Monochrome monitor for debugging - useful when
                   debugging graphics applications
  1rm            Redirect stdout (file #1) to the monochrome monitor
  2rm            Redirect stderr (file #2) to the monochrome monitor
  1r2            Redirect stdout (file #1) to stderr (file #2)
  2r1            Redirect stderr (file #2) to stdout (file #1)

  glob           enable globbing (default)
  noglob         disable globbing

  emu [path]     Use the specified file as the 80387 emulator

  driver [path]  Use the specified file as the graphics driver
  gw [width]     Default graphics width
  gh [height]    Default graphics height
  tw [width]     Default text width
  th [height]    Default text height
  nc [colors]    Number of colors (for new-style drivers only - see cbgrx*.zip)

These parameters may occur in any order.

Note that "1rm" and "2rm" are done before "1r2" and "2r1", so "1rm 2r1" sends
stdout to the mono monitor and stderr to any redirection used.

Examples:

  C:\> set GO32=mono driver c:\djgpp\drivers\tseng4k.grd gw 1024 gh 768 tw 132 th 43 nc 256
  C:\> set GO32=ansi
  C:\> set GO32=driver c:\djgpp\drivers\tseng4k.grd ansi
  C:\> set GO32=mono 1rm 2rm

End DJGPP README excerpt.

set GO32=driver c:/djgpp/drivers/stdvga.grn gw 640 gh 480 nc 16

set GO32=driver c:/djgpp/drivers/et4000.grn gw 1024 gh 768 nc 256

   facet_colors off
   shading on

   shading off
   facet_colors on

This is my first use of this DOS extender, so please let me know of any problems.

The archive file contains:

• README.MAC - Mac-specific information.
• Evolver - the application executable file.
• *.fe - sample datafiles in Mac format (CR as end-of-line).
• *.doc - HTML documentation and help files.

Installation: All you need to do is unpack in a directory somewhere. The datafiles can go in a different directory, but then you will have to supply path names when using them.

Mac version idiosyncracies: This is a bare-bones port, so there are few Mac bells and whistles like menus. There are two windows: a text window and a graphics window. The text window provides a command-line interface to Evolver. Commands are typed in and text output appears here. All text input will go to the text window when either the text or graphics window is in front, so you can keep the graphics window in front while typing commands. Dragging the mouse in the graphics window will cause the object to rotate in 3D around an axis perpendicular to the mouse drag and with an angle proportional to the length of the drag. The redraw occurs after the mouse is released, not during the drag. Redrawing occurs in the background, so there may be some delay until the picture appears.

At start-up, you will be asked to enter the name of a datafile in the text window. If the file is not in the same directory, you will have to give the path also.

Redirecting output: The Mac doesn't have piping to other programs, so piped output of commands goes to a file. Example:

     list vertices | "outfile" 

Memory partition: The default partition size is 8 Meg. Evolver will run in 2 Meg, but your surfaces won't be able to be very complex. I suggest making the partition as large as you can. You can change the partition size with Finder GetInfo.

This is my second Mac program ever (after "Hello world"), so please excuse anything not compatible with Mac culture such as lack of menus and icons.

#define FUNC_VALUE  1
#define FUNC_DERIV  2
#define FUNC_SECOND 3
#define MAXCOORD 4   /* must be same as in Evolver!! */
#define REAL double  /* long double if Evolver compiled with -DLONGDOUBLE */ 
struct dstack { REAL value; 
		REAL deriv[2*MAXCOORD];
                REAL second[2*MAXCOORD][2*MAXCOORD]; };


void func1 ( mode, x, s )
int mode; /* FUNC_VALUE, FUNC_DERIV, FUNC_SECOND */
REAL *x;  /* pointer to list of arguments */
struct dstack *s;  /* for return values */
{ REAL value;

  s->value = x[0] + x[1]*x[1];

  if ( mode == FUNC_VALUE ) return;

  /* first partials */
  s->deriv[0] = 1.0;
  s->deriv[1] = 2*x[1];

  if ( mode == FUNC_DERIV ) return;

  /* second partials */
  s->second[0][0] = 0.0;
  s->second[0][1] = 0.0;
  s->second[1][0] = 0.0;
  s->second[1][1] = 2.0;
   
  return;
}

cc -c foo.c
ld -shared foo.o -o foo.so

To use the functions in a datafile, include a line at the top of the datafile before any of the functions are used:

load_library "foo.so"

constraint 1
formula: func1

boundary 1 parameters 2
x1: func2
x2: 3*func2 + sin(p1)

NOTE: This implementation of dynamic loading is experimental, and the interface described here may change in the future.