icosahedron/README.md
2019-07-04 23:08:05 -04:00

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Generates the shapes and then serializes them to a file with a list of vertices
(`positions`) and a list of triangle faces (`cells`) that index into the list of
vertices. Suitable for input into [Three.js's
BufferGeometry](https://threejs.org/docs/#api/en/core/BufferGeometry) or
[regl](https://github.com/regl-project/regl/blob/gh-pages/example/camera.js).
Icosahedrons can be generated significantly faster than Three.js's version in
JavaScript (which I pretty much copied into Rust).
Trunacated icosahedrons (I call them hexspheres) are a bit slower to generate
since they are made by generating a icosahedron and then truncating every point
into hexagon and pentagon faces.
The program can also add color to each face by assigning each vertex a color,
but this comes at the cost of duplicating the shared vertices in the base model
so each face has a unique set of vertices, greatly increasing the size of the
mesh.
When rendering hexspheres of detail level 5 and higher and icosahedrons of
detail level of 7 and higher in WebGL, make sure to enable the
[`OES_element_index_uint`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/OES_element_index_uint)
extension since the number of vertices might overflow the normal int index.
## Screenshots
To generate a detailed hexsphere, it starts with base icosahedron:
![icosahedron](img/icosahedron_colored_1.png)
Subdivides it's sides into a more detailed icosahedron:
![subdivided icosahedron](img/icosahedron_colored_3.png)
Then, truncates every point in the icosahedron into hexagons and 12 pentagons:
![hexsphere detail 3](img/hexsphere_colored_3.png)
Up to any detail level:
![hexsphere detail 7](img/hexsphere_colored_7.png)
## Install
To install, either run `cargo install icosahedron` or checkout the repo and run
`cargo build --release`.
## Usage
Run it with the following options:
```
icosahedron 1.0
Tyler Hallada <tyler@hallada.net>
Generates 3D icosahedra meshes
USAGE:
icosahedron [FLAGS] [OPTIONS] [OUTPUT]
FLAGS:
-c, --colored Assigns a random color to every face (increases vertices count).
-h, --help Prints help information
-t, --truncated Generate truncated icosahedra (hexspheres).
-V, --version Prints version information
OPTIONS:
-d, --detail <detail> Maximum detail level to generate. Each level multiplies the number of triangles by 4.
[default: 7]
-f, --format <format> Format to write the files in. [default: Bin] [possible values: Json, Bin]
-r, --radius <radius> Radius of the polyhedron, [default: 1.0]
ARGS:
<OUTPUT> Directory to write the output files to. [default: output/]
```
## Output Format
Outputs in either JSON or custom binary format. The binary format (all little
endian) is laid out as:
1. 1 32 bit unsigned integer specifying the number of vertices (`V`)
2. 1 32 bit unsigned integer specifying the number of triangles (`T`)
3. `V` * 3 number of 32 bit floats for every vertex's x, y, and z coordinate
4. `V` * 3 number of 32 bit floats for the normals of every vertex
5. `V` * 3 number of 32 bit floats for the color of every vertex
6. `T` * 3 number of 32 bit unsigned integers for the 3 indices into the vertex
array that make every triangle
An example of reading the binary format in JavaScript:
```javascript
fetch(binaryFile)
.then(response => response.arrayBuffer())
.then(buffer => {
let reader = new DataView(buffer);
let numVertices = reader.getUint32(0, true);
let numCells = reader.getUint32(4, true);
let shape = {
positions: new Float32Array(buffer, 8, numVertices * 3),
normals: new Float32Array(buffer, numVertices * 12 + 8, numVertices * 3),
colors: new Float32Array(buffer, numVertices * 24 + 8, numVertices * 3),
cells: new Uint32Array(buffer, numVertices * 36 + 8, numCells * 3),
})
```