5 ms·

Python and OpenGL for Scientific Visualization

235 points by dsego 7y ago

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
mirekrusin 7y ago
Wow, that is one beautiful online book.
- rougier 7y ago
  Thanks.
mmtml 7y ago
Very nice, when will the rest of the chapters be available? If anyone knows
missosoup 7y ago
One of the best introductions to graphics pipeline and primitives that I've seen. And I've seen a lot.
elabftw 7y ago
I guess I'll just need to wait for the traffic to go down again...
s5ma6n 7y ago
Is it down? I cannot access it.
- danzig13 7y ago
  He does say This: “Last point, I wrote the book in a kind of modern Kerouac's style such that you can download it once and continue reading it offline. Initial loading may be slow though.” I do think the entire book is on a single HTML page
  - swebs 7y ago
    Still, the entire page/book only looks to be 1.2 MB. Apparently the server is under some stress right now.
  - rougier 7y ago
    Yes, sorry for that. The post on hacker news put our server under some stress.
- swebs 7y ago
  The source for the book is also on Github. It seems like running make.sh will compile to HTML, though I haven't tried it myself. https://github.com/rougier/python-opengl https://github.com/rougier/python-opengl
  - s5ma6n 7y ago
    Ah thanks for the link. As other commenters also mention, it looks like a single giant HTML page is causing the server loads.
- danso 7y ago
  You can clone the Github repo and then run a local webserver to access it at localhost:8000/book.html (there is a `make.sh` build script, but the repo already contains the produced HTML). You can also fork the repo, enable Github Pages, and then access it at yourgithubname.github.io/python-opengl/book.html I just made a Github issue suggesting to the author, if he's not opposed to using Github pages himself: https://github.com/rougier/python-opengl/issues/38 https://github.com/rougier/python-opengl/issues/38
  - rougier 7y ago
    Thanks, I'll look into that and it would make sense t ohost it on github.
axegon 7y ago
Absolutely astonishing work!
saboot 7y ago
What a great resource, I am learning opengl right now and also working on a scientific visualization project. Very much looking forward to rendering meshes. Right now I'm trying to convert a ROOT based 3D event display to a blender plugin using python. Very curious to hear about the work and resources of others also doing sciviz work.
DouglasDiniz 7y ago
Very cool reading...
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
danso 7y ago
I remember this domain/author name from his fantastic Matplotlib tutorial a few years back, which is still the best matplotlib tutorial I've seen in the wild, and made me realize matplotlib could be as viable as ggplot2 for good data viz: https://github.com/rougier/matplotlib-tutorial https://github.com/rougier/matplotlib-tutorial
- avshyz 7y ago
  Jesus, I've just realized it's the author of the best numpy tutorial I've ever read! https://www.labri.fr/perso/nrougier/from-python-to-numpy/ https://www.labri.fr/perso/nrougier/from-python-to-numpy/
hsaliak 7y ago
This tutorial helped me to step away from the Fixed Function pipeline and finally grok the shader based programmable pipeline. (I am a hobbyist). Glumpy, which is used in this tutorial -https://glumpy.github.io/ https://glumpy.github.io/, is IMO the best way to work through https://thebookofshaders.com/ https://thebookofshaders.com/ in python for a deeper understanding of fragment shaders.
rougier 7y ago
Thanks all. There is a new and ongoing book project at https://github.com/rougier/scientific-visualization-book https://github.com/rougier/scientific-visualization-book
julienfr112 7y ago
Great book ! Does any one does know of a similar material but for opencl/Vulcan for gpgpu ?
criddell 7y ago
Why is GLUT deprecated? This and just about every other tutorial I've seen uses it. Since it's deprecated, is there something else I should be using?
- pcwalton 7y ago
  There's nothing horribly wrong with using GLUT; it's just a badly designed library (lack of a context parameter on callbacks requiring use of globals, tons of missing functionality). GLFW is the "spiritual successor" to GLUT and is generally preferred nowadays. SDL2 is also a fine alternative.
- gmueckl 7y ago
  The original GLUT has been abandoned two decades ago, it seems. Freeglut, a drop in replacement still seems to get regular updates and releases. Alternatives that come to my mind are GLFW and SDL and you can also grab ImGUI for a nice, easy to use UI library that covers simpler use cases very well. They all deviate from how you use GLUT, but they aren't substantially harder to use.
sleavey 7y ago
@rougier, one thing I noticed reading it: the link to your research page in the Preface goes to a 404 (for me, at least).

235 points by dsego 7y ago

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

mirekrusin 7y ago

Wow, that is one beautiful online book.

rougier 7y ago
Thanks.

mmtml 7y ago

Very nice, when will the rest of the chapters be available? If anyone knows

missosoup 7y ago

One of the best introductions to graphics pipeline and primitives that I've seen. And I've seen a lot.

elabftw 7y ago

I guess I'll just need to wait for the traffic to go down again...

s5ma6n 7y ago

Is it down? I cannot access it.

danzig13 7y ago
He does say This: “Last point, I wrote the book in a kind of modern Kerouac's style such that you can download it once and continue reading it offline. Initial loading may be slow though.” I do think the entire book is on a single HTML page
- swebs 7y ago
  Still, the entire page/book only looks to be 1.2 MB. Apparently the server is under some stress right now.
- rougier 7y ago
  Yes, sorry for that. The post on hacker news put our server under some stress.
swebs 7y ago
The source for the book is also on Github. It seems like running make.sh will compile to HTML, though I haven't tried it myself. https://github.com/rougier/python-opengl https://github.com/rougier/python-opengl
- s5ma6n 7y ago
  Ah thanks for the link. As other commenters also mention, it looks like a single giant HTML page is causing the server loads.
danso 7y ago
You can clone the Github repo and then run a local webserver to access it at localhost:8000/book.html (there is a `make.sh` build script, but the repo already contains the produced HTML). You can also fork the repo, enable Github Pages, and then access it at yourgithubname.github.io/python-opengl/book.html I just made a Github issue suggesting to the author, if he's not opposed to using Github pages himself: https://github.com/rougier/python-opengl/issues/38 https://github.com/rougier/python-opengl/issues/38
- rougier 7y ago
  Thanks, I'll look into that and it would make sense t ohost it on github.

axegon 7y ago

Absolutely astonishing work!

saboot 7y ago

What a great resource, I am learning opengl right now and also working on a scientific visualization project. Very much looking forward to rendering meshes. Right now I'm trying to convert a ROOT based 3D event display to a blender plugin using python. Very curious to hear about the work and resources of others also doing sciviz work.

DouglasDiniz 7y ago

Very cool reading...

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

danso 7y ago

I remember this domain/author name from his fantastic Matplotlib tutorial a few years back, which is still the best matplotlib tutorial I've seen in the wild, and made me realize matplotlib could be as viable as ggplot2 for good data viz: https://github.com/rougier/matplotlib-tutorial https://github.com/rougier/matplotlib-tutorial

avshyz 7y ago
Jesus, I've just realized it's the author of the best numpy tutorial I've ever read! https://www.labri.fr/perso/nrougier/from-python-to-numpy/ https://www.labri.fr/perso/nrougier/from-python-to-numpy/

hsaliak 7y ago

This tutorial helped me to step away from the Fixed Function pipeline and finally grok the shader based programmable pipeline. (I am a hobbyist). Glumpy, which is used in this tutorial -https://glumpy.github.io/ https://glumpy.github.io/, is IMO the best way to work through https://thebookofshaders.com/ https://thebookofshaders.com/ in python for a deeper understanding of fragment shaders.

rougier 7y ago

Thanks all. There is a new and ongoing book project at https://github.com/rougier/scientific-visualization-book https://github.com/rougier/scientific-visualization-book

julienfr112 7y ago

Great book ! Does any one does know of a similar material but for opencl/Vulcan for gpgpu ?

criddell 7y ago

Why is GLUT deprecated? This and just about every other tutorial I've seen uses it. Since it's deprecated, is there something else I should be using?

pcwalton 7y ago
There's nothing horribly wrong with using GLUT; it's just a badly designed library (lack of a context parameter on callbacks requiring use of globals, tons of missing functionality). GLFW is the "spiritual successor" to GLUT and is generally preferred nowadays. SDL2 is also a fine alternative.
gmueckl 7y ago
The original GLUT has been abandoned two decades ago, it seems. Freeglut, a drop in replacement still seems to get regular updates and releases. Alternatives that come to my mind are GLFW and SDL and you can also grab ImGUI for a nice, easy to use UI library that covers simpler use cases very well. They all deviate from how you use GLUT, but they aren't substantially harder to use.

sleavey 7y ago

@rougier, one thing I noticed reading it: the link to your research page in the Preface goes to a 404 (for me, at least).