3D Vector Type Line-Drawing Program

[Scott David Daniels]

Ron Adam wrote:
> Scott David Daniels wrote:
>> James Stroud wrote:
>>>> I'm looking for a program to do line-drawings in 3d, with output to 
>>>> postscript or svg or pdf, etc. I would like to describe a scene with 
>>>> certain 1-3d elements oriented in 3d space with dashed or colored 
>>>> lines and filled or transparent surfaces (or maybe semitransparent).
>>
>>
>> Take a look at VPython -- easy to start, 3-D display (wall-eye /
>> cross-eye) easy to run on.
> 
> I really like VPython because of how easy it is to use once you are 
> familiar with it.
> 
> Is there a way to have the display show a wire frame image instead of 
> shaded shapes?
You can draw the edges as lines.

 > And with or without hidden line removal?
Not that I know of.  The distinction would be whether you actually build
the objects.  Certainly for something like this you would be working
with something like a "faces" object rather than a fully 3-D object.

> Is there an easy way to convert a display to something that can be printed?

You can generate POV-ray source.  This is not a system for creating
beautiful pictures, but rather a great 3-D sketch pad.


--Scott David Daniels
scott.daniels at acm.org