Rick Bono's DOME Program

DOME 4.80ar.02

DOME is a program, by Rick Bono, for creating models of geodesic domes, spheres and related models.

I have modified DOME 4.80 slightly to add support for OFF output, which can then be processed and displayed by Antiprism and other packages (but see also, the Antiprism geodesic program, which will make Class I, II, and III models based on general polyhedra).

While I was looking at this I fixed some small problems I had getting DOME to build. I converted the build to use the Autotools, which will hopefully help with portability. I also made minor changes to the POV-Ray output to make it compatible with the latest version of POV-Ray.

As the program no longer seems to have an official web page I am making my changes available on this page.

I don't plan on making any further changes to the code, but I will look at any problems with the build.

DOWNLOAD AND INSTALL

There are two packages available, both contain source code (also available from the dome-4.80ar Git repository) Windows users: unzip the package, optionally copy 'dome.exe' from the top level directory to somewhere more convenient.

Everyone else...

BUILDING THE DOME PROGRAM FROM SOURCE

Unpack the source tarball. (Note: If using source from the git repository there will be no configure script. The configure script can be created by running autoreconf -v -i -W all.)

In the top level directory, run

   ./configure
   make
After a successful build the dome executable will be in the src directory. Copy it where you want it manually, or optionally install it with
   make install
Please, let me know if there are any problems with the build.

README FILE

NOTE: This is a copy of DOME 4.80, 08/10/2002 with very minor modifications.

    Changes:       Changes to code to ease building on modern systems.
                   Changes to POV output for compatibility with latest POV-Ray.
                   Added OFF output.
                   Removed dxftopov.
                   Fixed reporting of angles greater than 90 degrees.
    Version home:  http://www.antiprism.com/other/dome
    Changes by:    Adrian Rossiter <adrian@antiprism.com>
                   http://www.antiprism.com/
    Issues:        some models are not consistently oriented.

Geodesic Dome Design
DOME
Version 4.80ar.02
16 March 2014

=============
What is DOME?
=============
DOME is a program which calculates the properties of a geodesic dome symmetry
triangle. DOME calculates spherical vertex coordinates, symmetry triangle topological
abundance, and chord factors. DOME supports class I (alternate) and class II (triacon)
breakdowns for Icosahedron, Octahedron and Tetrahedron polyhedron types. DOME also
supports "Buckyball" formations as well as elliptical geodesics and geodesic parabolic dishes. 

=============
Why DOME?    
=============
DOME began as a set of geodesic math test algorithims for use in investigating
properties of generalized geodesic structures. This continues to be the main purpose
of my development of the DOME code. DOME should serve as a basic tool for those interested 
in geodesic dome design and modeling. All source code is also included in this package
and is freely modifiable under the conditions of the GNU General Public License.
             
====================
System Requirements 
====================
Dome frequency is limited by the amount of memory available.

=========================================
Changes From Previous Release Version 4.6
=========================================
-Rewrote several functions into modules.
-Added Windows GUI front-end
-Upgraded VRML output to the VRML97 specification

======
Usage
======
DOME is run as a console application. The program will terminate with an error
message if there is not enough memory to allocate array space for the coordinate matrix.
If this occurs, re-run DOME and request a smaller subdivision frequency. Only even
frequencies are allowed when using class II.

Usage: dome [-fnnn] [-cn] [-px] [-s or -sb] [-en] [-v] [-w] [-h] [filename.xxx]
Where: -fnnn is geodesic frequency (default nnn=2) -cn is class type (n=1 or 2; default n=1) -px sets the polyhedron type where x is: i for icosahedron (default) o for octahedron t for tetrahedron -s generate full sphere data (default: symmetry triangle) -sb generate a buckyball. Must use class I with frequency equal to a multiple of three. -en enable elliptical formation (default: n=1 circle) n=elliptical eccentricity (n > 0.0 and n < 2.0) -v verbose data display at run-time -dn enables parabolid and specifies focus location -rn sets Outer radius of paraboloid. -w enable wire-frame VRML or DXF output (default: face data) -h displays a help screen filename.xxx is a standard DOS filename where xxx is: DXF, DAT, WRL, POV, PRN or OFF ================= Examples of Usage ================= -A 5 frequency, class I, icosahedron sphere in DXF format (note class I and icosa are the defaults): dome -f5 myfile.dxf -A 3 frequency buckyball in POV format: dome -f3 -sb myfile.pov -A 10 frequency, class II, octahedron symmetry triangle in DXF format: dome -f10 -c2 -po myfile.dxf ============ File Formats ============ DOME currently supports five file formats: 1.) DXF - DXF face data which can be input into most computer aided design packages. Each polyhedron face is saved on a seperate level if spherical data generation is requested. DXF data for Buckyballs are saved as LINE data. The default DXF data for all other structures is 3D POLYFACE data. This can be changed to LINE data with the -w option. Note that not all applications support DXF line data. In these cases, use polyface instead. 2.) DAT - An ASCII report format. Shows only symmetry triangle parameters. This format displays chord factors, face angles and axial angles. Not available for Buckyballs. 3.) PRN - An ASCII comma delimited format. Contains vertex coordinate and chord coordinate data. Suitable for parsing into custom routines and spreadsheets. Only data for the symmetry triangle is saved. Not available for Buckyballs. 4.) POV - POV-ray script file. Generates spheres for vertexia, cylinders for chords and triangles for faces. Faces are not saved when using the Buckyball option. The POV script consists of two files. The .POV file contains the scene description while the dome.inc file contains the dome geometry. Note that DOME references "up" as the z-axis while POV references the y-axis. The Sky statement in the camera definition compensates for this. 5.) WRL - VRML file for use with a VRML enabled browser such as the Cortona plugin from ParallelGraphics. Only wire-frame output is available with Buckyball option. WinDome supports the VRML97 Specification. 6.) OFF - Can be processed, analysed and viewed by the Antiprism tools (use off_util to merge elements), Geomview and JavaView. ===================== Elliptical Structures ===================== DOME allows the creation of elliptical geodesic structures. The -en switch enables this feature. The "n" parameter is the elliptical eccentricity. This value is simply the ratio of the ellipse major axis to ellipse minor axis. A circle has an eccentricity of 1.0. Dome allows eccentricity values greater than 0.0 but less than 2.0. An eccentricity less than 1.0 results in an ellipse having a semimajor axis = 1.0 and aligned along the x-axis. Likewise, an eccentricity greater than results in an ellipse having a semiminor axis = 1.0 and major axis aligned along the z-axis. ==================== Parabolic Structures ==================== DOME now includes functions which allow the design of geodesic parabolic dishes. Two command line switches have been added to enable parabolics: -dn where n = the distance from the dish center to the focus. -rn Where n = the radius of the dish. This defaults to 2 x focus. The parabolic functions work with: 1.) Class I or Class II geodesics 2.) All supported polyhedron types. The following restrictions apply to the use of parabolics: 1.) A DXF filename must be included with the parabolic switches. 2.) The -w wireframe option should not be used. 3.) The ratio of focal length to dish diameter (f/d) must be greater than or equal 0.25. 4.) No other output file type aside from the 3DFACE DXF file is supported at this time. 5.) Frequency is based on a spherical formation. Large values of f/d will reduce the number of faces used in the structure. Compensate by further increasing the frequency. DOME produces a DXF file containing the dish face data and an ASCII text file named parabolic.txt containing the raw data for each face. The following data is output: 1.) Index data for each triangle vertex (A, B, C see map.gif) 2.) Chord lengths for each triangle side (a, b, c) 3.) Face angles (A, B, C). This data is given for each polyhedron face. In the case of the class I icosahedron 20 faces will be output. The class II structure will use up to 60 triangles. Many of these faces may not contain data as this is dependent on the truncation used. The enclosed file map.gif contains a graphical representation one polyhedron face as well as the nomenclature used for each triangle. The units used for the focus location will determine the units of chord length. If -d6 is used where 6 is the focal length in feet, then the chord lengths will be output in feet as well. The parabolic.txt file is designed to be read by a spreadsheet application such as Microsoft Excel. When importing this file into a spreadsheet, set the field delimiter to 'tab', the text delimiter to '"' and make sure that the first three columns are read as text fields. ============= Other Goodies ============= See the Applied Synergetics Homepage for image samples and links to other Synergetics Web sites. The latest DOME info can be found at http://www.applied-synergetics.com/ashp/html/domes.html ================== UNIX/Linux Install ================== See INSTALL file, or run ./configure make optionally followed by make install ================ Other Platforms ================ Check the DOME web page for versions which support other platforms including 32-bit Windows. ==================== Source Code Comments ==================== Releases of DOME prior to 4.0 had all the source code in one file. DOME 4.80 has the source code split across several files: dome.txt - this file Dome.cpp - Source code for main program loop. Geodesic.h - Header file containing variables, structures and class member function prototypes. Geodesic.cpp - Source code for geodesic class member functions. Most of the work is done by these routines. Dxfsave.cpp - Geodesic class DXF save routines. Povsave.cpp - Geodesic class POV save routines. Wrlsave.cpp - Geodesic class WRL (VRML) save routines. Offsave.cpp - Geodesic class OFF save routines. Cartesian.cpp - cartesian and spherical coordinate conversion and data structures Cartesian.h - header for cartesian.cpp Chords.cpp - class containing chord data structures Chords.h - header for chord.cpp Command.cpp - class implementing input parameter data structures Command.h - header for command.cpp Faces.cpp - class containing triangle face data structures Faces.h - header for faces.cpp Labels.cpp - class containing vertex label data structures Labels.h - header for labels.cpp Points.cpp - class containing vertex position data structures Points.h - header for points.cpp ThetaTruncation.cpp - class for collecting truncation data ThetaTruncation.h - header for ThetaTruncation.cpp ============= DOME Updates ============= This is some of the stuff I'd like to see in future versions of DOME and WinDome -Provide Buckyball topological abundance in reports -Buckyball face data -Dihedral Face Angles -INI file input for customizing POV-ray and other settings. -Enhanced non-spherical support -Space frame support -Enhanced VRML Support -Graphical Display Feel free to contact me at rjbono@applied-synergetics.com for suggestions, bug reports or questions. ===================== Copyright Information ===================== DOME 4.80, Copyright (C) 1995 - 2002 Richard J. Bono This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. Please direct inquiries, comments and modifications to: Richard J. Bono 44 Augusta Rd. Brownsville, TX 78521 email: rjbono@applied-synergetics.com =============================== Acknowledgements and References =============================== The main reference used in the creation of this code was: "Geodesic Math and How to Use It" by Hugh Kenner, 1976, University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-02924-0; Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 74-27292. Many thanks to Hugh for putting this data in an accessible format. Also, many thanks to: -J. F. (Jym) Nystrom for turning me on to Bucky back in the summer of 1984. -My wife and my daughters for their de-finite patience. -Chris Fearnley for pushing me to release this code, providing uploading tips, general comments, GNU POV scripts and UNIX/LINUX make files. -Kirby Urner for introducing me to POV-ray and for providing DOME with a home in cyberspace. -R. Buckminster Fuller for changing the way I view Universe.