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3D Graphics Systems
(Maya, LightWave 3D, 3ds Max, PovRay, Renderman, trueSpace, Blender, Yafray, Sunflow, Winosi, Kerkythea, Indigo, MentalRay, ...)
If one sees a mathematical or algorithmic 3D graphic in a technical book or article today, there is an overwhelming likelihood that it was produced with Mathematica. With its integration of easy interactive programming with the world's largest web of sophisticated algorithms, Mathematica provides a unique environment for generating 3D graphics automatically from equations, formulas, algorithms, models, data or any other form of description.
Mathematica's core symbolic architecture allows it to use a symbolic representation for graphics, making possible such things as immediate
translation of arbitrary structures to graphical form, full high-level manipulation of graphical constructs, and instant creation of interactive interfaces for exploration and animation of 3D graphics created in any way.
Building on its unparalleled breadth of capabilities and original algorithms, Mathematica brings a new level of automation to the graphics workflow—automatically implementing high-level aesthetic specifications, applying sophisticated polyalgorithmic methods to generate geometry from arbitrary descriptions, and rendering live results in full-featured scrollable documents—as well as having integrated support for modern distributed computing, and immediately exporting to all standard 3D, image and multimedia formats.
Long important in both prototyping and production for games and movies, as well as in research, education, design and art, Mathematica occupies a unique and increasingly important place in the future of algorithmic content creation.
3D Graphics System Features in Mathematica:
- 3D lines, polygons, meshes and other geometric elements »
- Full support for transparency and parametrized surface properties »
- Global and local light sources, smooth shading, etc. »
- Affine transformations of all graphics elements »
- Real-time 3D rotation, zooming, etc.
- Seamless support for OpenGL, Direct3D and graphics accelerators
- Fully compatible on all standard and emerging computer platforms »
- Integrated support for 3D controllers, haptic devices and other HIDs »
- Import and export of all standard 3D formats »
- Full scriptability of all operations »
Key Advantages of Mathematica for 3D Graphics:
- Broad system with world's largest collection of built-in algorithms
- Full support for geometric, numeric, symbolic, and discrete computation »
- Rich scalable modern multiparadigm programming language »
- Fully manipulable symbolic graphics representation »
- Automatic adaptive visualization of functions, equations and inequalities »
- Generalized implicit function-based meshing, coloring and clipping »
- Full symbolic computation, with traditional mathematical notation input
- General n-dimensional symbolic geometrical transformations »
- Maximum efficiency platform-optimized numerical linear algebra »
- Built-in support for solving differential equations and other models »
- Built-in cellular automata; immediate support for L-systems, agent-based models, etc. »
- Surface reconstruction from unstructured 3D data »
- Automated computational aesthetics for algorithmic parameter choices »
- Seamless resolution-independent rendering for screen, print, etc.
- Instant creation of dynamic interfaces for all parameters »
- Arbitrary mixing of code, text, interfaces and live graphics in notebook documents »
- Built-in library of 3D mathematical and everyday objects »
- 500+ examples of algorithmic 3D graphics in The Wolfram Demonstrations Project »
- Integrated support for modern distributed computing architectures
- Full modern integrated development environment for large projects »
- Integrated support for sound generation »
Interoperability with 3D Graphics Systems:
- Immediate export for photorealistic finishing in standard formats
- Import and export of PLY, OFF, NOFF, BYU, OBJ, X3D, JVX, VRML, Maya, POV, LWO, 3DS, RIB, DXF, STL, ZPR, XYZ, MOL, PDB, DEM, ... »
- Import and export of vector and raster formats including GIF, JPEG, TIFF, PNG, JPEG2000, BMP, PICT, WMF, PBM, PXR, TGA, SCT, SVG, PDF, etc. »
- Export of multimedia formats including AVI, FLV, MOV, SWF, etc. »
- Seamless support for OpenGL, Direct3D, and all standard graphics drivers
- Automatic sensing and support for USB and other human interface devices »
- General MathLink API with C/C++, Java, .NET, etc. support »
Interesting Tidbits:
- Mathematica is the primary prototyping environment for a major family of computer games
- Mathematica's graphics have appeared in many films and television shows
- Mathematica is routinely used for physical modeling in major feature films
- Mathematica created the algorithms for the world's largest 3D display
- Mathematica has generated the 3D graphics for tens of thousands of technical papers
- Mathematica has created many award-winning computer art pieces in many media
- Mathematica has been used in many architecture projects
- Stephen Wolfram's Mathematica-based computational systems have been widely used to generate 3D forms
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