CMSC 437 Utah Graphics Format Examples

 File format

The utah graphics format is one of many ways to define a 3D object.
First line has two numbers  number-of-points  number-of-polygons 
the next number-of-points lines have 3 coordinates of a point,
                          x y z in floating point
the next number-of-polygons lines have the number-of-point in polygon,
                followed by that many point numbers,
                points are numbered  1 2 3 ... number-of-points
Just space separated numbers, no commas.

Many samples below, the  .dat  files.
 
To get sample files, when on linux.gl.umbc.edu, use command:
 cp  /afs/umbc.edu/users/s/q/squire/pub/download/? .

 Examples

These examples were used in other programs and thus needed one extra
condition, all faces need to have index of points in counter clockwise
order when seen from the outside. Click on file name to see it.

To check the .dat file for geometry and face orientation,
many of the images below use the program  light_normal  that
shows the direction of the outward normal
from a green dot on the surface to a red dot that should be outside.
You can download and run the program  light_normal  and its dependencies
and then use the three rotations to see the view you desire.

tetrahedron
tetra.dat


tetraspike.dat


cube
cube.dat


cubespike.dat



dodecahedron
dodecahedron.dat


dodecspike.dat


maze  started with a sequence of coordinates, a path
maze.path
maze.dat
maze.png click to see
maze2d.dat
maze3d.dat
maze3d.png  click to see
maze3dc.png

maze_spiral.png
Find your way to the center of the spiral maze:


star  started with a sequence of coordinates, a path
star.path
star3.dat


bull
bull.dat
bull.jpg


skull
skull.dat
skull.jpg


 Source code for reading, writing, displaying UTAH graphics .dat files
datread.h
datread.c
light_normal.c requires OpenGL

datread.java
datwrite.java
light_normal.java

Other graphics formats I use:

STL STereo Lithography  (also used in 3D printing)
cube2.stl

UCD Uniform Closing Dataset  (also used in numerical solution of PDE's) 
pde_ucd2.inp

for comparison of formats, 3 pronged blivet in  .dat  .stl  .inp
blivet.dat  UTAH format
blivet.stl  STL format
blivet.inp  UCD format
blivet.png  with vertex numbers
File format

Examples

Source code for reading, writing, displaying UTAH graphics .dat files

Other graphics formats I use:

other links and files to download
