Installation instructions
There are five steps to setting up NVisF. Everything past the first
are very simple point, click, and type-a-few-characters operations.
The software will install and run on most systems in under 10
minutes, not counting the download time that depends on the speed
of your internet connection. If you do run into any difficulties,
please let us know.
- Confirm that your system has OpenGL installed (OpenGL is a 3D
graphics library). If yes, all is well; if no, all is much messier.
- Install Java version 2, if you don't have it already. This requires
about 5MB of disk space for the Runtime environment, or 65MB if you want
the full development kit (including the compiler).
- Install the Java3D extension to Java. This requires 3MB.
- Download the NVisF framework itself. This requires <1MB.
- If interested, download the
demo applications (a few KB) and their
associated data files (4.5MB and 3.5MB).
Step 1: OpenGL support
NVisF depends on the Java3D framework, which in turns requires your
operating system to have OpenGL support. Many modern OSs already come
with this.
Linux
With the appropriate support libraries installed, any graphics adapter
supported by XFree86 can display
OpenGL 3D applications. The Mesa
3D graphics library provides OpenGL support to all versions of XFree86.
Version 4.0 and later have Mesa support built-in, while earlier versions
require the installation of stand-alone Mesa packages.
OpenGL performance is often substantially better with a graphics adapter
which provides hardware GL support. With XFree86 versions 4.0 and
later this is achieved using the Direct Rendering Infrastructure (DRI)
and is built into the X server. XFree86 version 3.x requires the
installation of stand-alone glx libraries created as part of the Utah-GLX
project. For the best possible performance XFree86 4.x users
should generally use the X server supplied by their video card manufacturer.
The Matrox G400/G450 adapters,
cards based on the NVidia GEForce,
and some cards from 3dfx
and ATI provide hardware GL support
under XFree86.
Linux OpenGL support is also available in commercial X servers from
Xi
Graphics and Metro
Link.
Solaris
Solaris provides genuine SGI OpenGl support on Sparc workstatins with the
TCX, SX, GX, ZX, PGX/PGX24/PGX32, Creator/Creator3D, Elite3D, or Expert3D
framebuffers. A third-party shell script - fbinfo
- is useful in determining the type of framebuffer installed in your workstation.
Solaris 2.5.1 is required. The OpenGL drivers and more information
is available from the Sun
OpenGL web pages.
IRIX:
version 6.2 or newer comes standard with sufficient
OpenGL support; older versions will not work.
Windows
OpenGL comes standard with Windows NT 4.0 or newer, Windows 98, and
newer versions of Windows 95 (released circa 1997). Older versions of
Windows 95 can be upgraded with a patch from
Microsoft's download page.
The patch is called OpenGL95.exe; use the keyword search option and
search for "OpenGL".
Important: Your Windows machine must be running in at least
8 bit color for the applications to display properly.
Step 2: Install Java 2
NVisF is built with the current major release of Java, termed Java 2.
Version 1.2 or better is required; NVisF 0.1 was built with version
1.3. To download, go to
the Java2SE web site and follow
the download directions. This site includes versions for Solaris, Windows,
and Linux operating systems. I think there is also a version for IRIX,
but I haven't been able to find a download location yet.
Java 2 comes in two versions: a lightweight runtime environment, that
only includes the minimum needed to run Java applications, and a much
larger development version that includes all the support for building
your own code, including the Java compiler and the "jar" archiving
utility that allows you to unpack the code distribution. Get the former
if you only want to look at the demos, and the latter if you want to
play with the code itself.
Important!! If you are downloading the Windows version,
write down the directory into which it installs. You will need this in
the next step.
Step 3: Install Java3D
Java3D is an extension to the Java environment with support for 3D
graphics. It is not a standard extension, so it must be downloaded
separately. Go to
the Java3D API
Home Page and search for the version appropriate for your operating
system. Get version 1.2, with which NVisF was built, or newer.
Important!! If you are downloading the Windows version,
it will, by default, install into the wrong directory. Replace its
suggested directory with the one you used in the previous step (the only
change will be the last directory, the version number).
Step 4: Download the NVisF framework
Get the jar archive here. You can save the
file anywhere on your system. For information on using the framework,
see the demos page.
Step 5: Download demos and data files
NVisF comes with two demo applications. The source code is small, but
the associated data files are quite large (4.5 MB and 3.5 MB, respectively).
Go to the demos page for a more detailed
description.
Home NVisF
This page last updated Jan 5 2001.