Name
qhull, rbox 2002.1 August 20, 2002
Convex hull, Delaunay triangulation, Voronoi diagrams, Halfspace intersection
Documentation:
html/index.htm
Available from:
<http://www.geom.umn.edu/software/qhull>
<http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/qhull>
<http://www.thesa.com/software/qhull>
Version 1 (simplicial only):
<http://www.geom.umn.edu/software/qhull/qhull-1.0.tar.gz>
<http://www.geom.umn.edu/software/qhull/qhull.sit.hqx>
News and a paper:
<http://www.geom.umn.edu/~bradb/qhull-news.html>
<http://www.geom.umn.edu/software/qhull/qhull-96.ps>
Purpose
Qhull is a general dimension convex hull program that reads a set
of points from stdin, and outputs the smallest convex set that contains
the points to stdout. It also generates Delaunay triangulations, Voronoi
diagrams, furthest-site Voronoi diagrams, and halfspace intersections
about a point.
Rbox is a useful tool in generating input for Qhull; it generates
hypercubes, diamonds, cones, circles, simplices, spirals,
lattices, and random points.
Qhull produces graphical output for Geomview. This helps with
understanding the output. <http://www.geomview.org>
Environment requirements
Qhull and rbox should run on all 32-bit and 64-bit computers. Use
an ANSI C or C++ compiler to compile the program. The software is
self-contained.
Qhull is copyrighted software. Please read COPYING.txt and REGISTER.txt
before using or distributing Qhull.
To contribute to Qhull
Qhull is on Savannah, http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/qhull/
Qhull on Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP
The zip file contains rbox.exe, qhull.exe, qconvex.exe, qdelaunay.exe,
qhalf.exe, qvoronoi.exe, documentation files, and source files.
To install Qhull:
- Unzip the files into a directory. You may use WinZip32 <www.hotfiles.com>
- Open a DOS window for the directory.
- In Windows 95, the DOS window needs improvement.
- Double-click on qhull\eg\qhull-go.bat to call doskey (arrow keys).
- Increase the size of the screen font to 8x12.
- If the text is too dim, fix the screen colors with shareware (e.g., crt.exe)
- If you use qhull a lot, consider using the Cygwin Unix shell,
Cygwin tools (http://sources.redhat.com/cygwin/)
- Execute 'qconvex' for a synopsis and examples.
- Execute 'rbox 10 | qconvex' to compute the convex hull of 10 random points.
- Execute 'rbox 10 | qconvex i TO file' to write results to 'file'.
- If an error occurs, Windows 95 sends the error to stdout instead of stderr
- use 'TO xxx' to send normal output to xxx and error output to stdout
- Browse the documentation: qhull\html\index.htm
Compiling for Unix
The gzip file, qhull.tgz, contains documentation and source files for
qhull and rbox.
To unpack the gzip file
- tar zxf qhull.tgz
- cd qhull
Compiling with the Debian Make:[R. Laboissiere]
- cd src
- ./Make-config.sh
- cd ..
- configure
- make
Compiling with Makefile (i.e., Makefile.txt)
- cd src
- in Makefile, check the CC, CCOPTS1, PRINTMAN, and PRINTC defines
- the defaults are gcc and enscript
- CCOPTS1 should include the ANSI flag. It defines __STDC__
- in user.h, check the definitions of qh_SECticks and qh_CPUclock.
- use '#define qh_CLOCKtype 2' for timing runs longer than 1 hour
- type: make
- this builds: qhull qconvex qdelaunay qhalf qvoronoi rbox libqhull.a
- type: make doc
- this prints the man page
- See also qhull/html/index.htm
- if your compiler reports many errors, it is probably not a ANSI C compiler
- you will need to set the -ansi switch or find another compiler
- if your compiler warns about missing prototypes for fprintf() etc.
- this is ok, your compiler should have these in stdio.h
- if your compiler warns about missing prototypes for memset() etc.
- include memory.h in qhull_a.h
- if your compiler is gcc-2.95.1, you need to set flag -fno-strict-aliasing.
- This flag is set by default for other versions [Karas, Krishnaswami]
- if your compiler reports "global.c: storage size of 'qh_qh' isn't known"
- delete the initializer "={0}" in global.c, stat.c and mem.c
- if your compiler warns about "stat.c: improper initializer"
- this is ok, the initializer is not used
- if you have trouble building libqhull.a with 'ar'
- try 'make -f Makefile.txt qhullx'
- if the code compiles, the qhull test case will automatically execute
- if an error occurs, there's an incompatibility between machines
- For gcc-2.95.1, you need to set flag -fno-strict-aliasing.
It is set by default for other versions of gcc [Karas, Krishnaswami]
- If you can, try a different compiler
- You can turn off the Qhull memory manager with qh_NOmem in mem.h
- You can turn off compiler optimization (-O2 in Makefile)
- If you find the source of the problem, please let us know
- if you have Geomview (www.geomview.org)
- try 'rbox 100 | qconvex G >a' and load 'a' into Geomview
- run 'q_eg' for Geomview examples of Qhull output (see qh-eg.htm)
- to install the programs and their man pages:
- define MANDIR and BINDIR
- type 'make install'
Compiling for Windows NT, 2000, XP with cygwin (www.cygwin.com)
- install cygwin with gcc, make, ar, and ln
- cd qhull/src
- make -f Makefile.txt
Compiling for Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000, XP
Qhull compiles as a console application in Visual C++ 5.0 at warning
level 3.
Visual C++ quickstart for qhull.exe:
- create a "Win32 console application" called "qhull"
- add the following files:
geom.c geom2.c global.c io.c mem.c merge.c poly.c poly2.c qhull.c
qset.c stat.c unix.c user.c
- create a "Win32 console application" called "rbox"
- add rbox.c
Visual C++ quickstart for qhull library, qconvex.exe, etc.
- To simplify setting up lots of projects,
- create a temporary "Win32 console application" called "source"
- add all .c files from .../src/...
- In Tools::Options::Tab
Set tab size to 8 and indent size to 2
- create a "Win32 console application" called "rbox"
- move rbox.c from "qhull source"
- for Project:Settings..., Link
you only need the default libraries
- build the project
- create a "Win32 static library" called "library"
- move these files from "qhull source"
geom.c geom2.c global.c io.c mem.c merge.c poly.c poly2.c qhull.c
qset.c stat.c user.c
- set the library file (use the same for debug and release)
- build the project
- create a "Win32 console application" called "qhull"
- move unix.c from "qhull source"
- Set the library file in Project:Settings..., Link
- Qhull does not use other libraries
- create a "Win32 console application" called "qconvex"
- move qconvex.c from "qhull source"
- Set the library file in Project:Settings..., Link
- do the same for qdelaun.c, qhalf, qvoronoi.c, user_eg.c, user_eg2.c
- delete "qhull sources" since it is no longer needed
- Set the library file in Project:Settings..., Link
- use Project:Settings to make any changes
- use batch build to rebuild everything
Qhull compiles with Borland C++ 5.0 bcc32. A Makefile is included.
Execute 'make -f MBorland'. If you use the Borland IDE, set the ANSI
option in Options:Project:Compiler:Source:Language-compliance.
Qhull compiles with Borland C++ 4.02 for Win32 and DOS Power Pack.
Use 'make -f MBorland -D_DPMI'. Qhull 1.0 compiles with Borland
C++ 4.02. For rbox 1.0, use "bcc32 -WX -w- -O2-e -erbox -lc rbox.c".
Use the same options for Qhull 1.0. [D. Zwick]
Qhull compiles with Metrowerks C++ 1.7 with the ANSI option.
If you turn on full warnings, the compiler will report a number of
unused variables, variables set but not used, and dead code. These are
intentional. For example, variables may be initialized (unnecessarily)
to prevent warnings about possible use of uninitialized variables.
Compiling for the Power Macintosh
Qhull compiles for the Power Macintosh with Metrowerk's C compiler.
It uses the SIOUX interface to read point coordinates and return output.
There is no graphical output. For project files, see 'Compiling for
Windows 95'. Instead of using SIOUX, Qhull may be embedded within an
application.
Version 1 is available for Macintosh computers by download of qhull.sit.hqx
It reads point coordinates from a standard file and returns output
to a standard file. There is no graphical output.
Compiling for other machines
Some users have reported problems with compiling Qhull under Irix 5.1. It
compiles under other versions of Irix.
If you have troubles with the memory manager, you can turn it off by
defining qh_NOmem in mem.h.
You may compile Qhull with a C++ compiler.
Distributed files
README.txt // instructions for installing Qhull
REGISTER.txt // Qhull registration
COPYING.txt // copyright notice
Announce.txt // announcement
Changes.txt // change history for Qhull and rbox
qh-faq.htm // Frequently asked questions
qh-home.htm // Home page
qh-get.htm // Download page
html/index.htm // Manual
Makefile.txt // Makefile for Unix or cygwin 'make'
MBorland // Makefile for Borland C++/Win32
Make-config.sh // Create Debian configure and automake
src/
rbox consists of:
rbox.exe // Win32 executable (.zip only)
rbox.htm // html manual
rbox.man // Unix man page
rbox.txt
rbox.c // source program
qhull consists of:
qhull.exe // Win32 executables (.zip only)
qconvex.exe
qdelaunay.exe
qhalf.exe
qvoronoi.exe
qhull-go.bat // DOS window
qconvex.htm // html manuals
qdelaun.htm
qdelau_f.htm
qhalf.htm
qvoronoi.htm
qvoron_f.htm
qh-eg.htm
qh-impre.htm
qh-in.htm
index.htm
qh-opt*.htm
qh-quick.htm
qh--4d.gif,etc. // images for manual
qhull.man // Unix man page
qhull.txt
q_eg // shell script for Geomview examples
q_egtest // shell script for Geomview test examples
q_test // shell script to test qhull
top-level source files:
src/index.htm // index to source files
qh-...htm // specific files
user.h // header file of user definable constants
qhull.h // header file for qhull
unix.c // Unix front end to qhull
qhull.c // Quickhull algorithm with partitioning
user.c // user re-definable functions
user_eg.c // example of incorporating qhull into a user program
user_eg2.c // more complex example
qhull_interface.cpp // call Qhull from C++
other source files:
qhull_a.h // include file for *.c
geom.c // geometric routines
geom2.c
geom.h
global.c // global variables
io.c // input-output routines
io.h
mem.c // memory routines, this is stand-alone code
mem.h
merge.c // merging of non-convex facets
merge.h
poly.c // polyhedron routines
poly2.c
poly.h
qset.c // set routines, this only depends on mem.c
qset.h
stat.c // statistics
stat.h
Authors:
C. Bradford Barber Hannu Huhdanpaa
bradb@geom.umn.edu hannu@geom.umn.edu
c/o The Geometry Center
University of Minnesota
400 Lind Hall
207 Church Street S.E.
Minneapolis, MN 55455
This software was developed under NSF grants NSF/DMS-8920161 and
NSF-CCR-91-15793 750-7504 at the Geometry Center and Harvard
University. If you find Qhull useful, please let us know.
