rick@hanauma.Stanford.EDU (Richard Ottolini) (09/07/90)
"The Algorithm Beauty of Plants" by Prusinkiewicz and Lindmayer. A collection of algorithms for botanical modeling, programs and pretty pictures. The algorithms are mostly of the fractal variety.
jamesd@techbook.com (James Deibele) (09/08/90)
In article <2064@med.Stanford.EDU> rick@hanauma.Stanford.EDU (Richard Ottolini) writes: >"The Algorithm Beauty of Plants" by Prusinkiewicz and Lindmayer. >A collection of algorithms for botanical modeling, programs and pretty pictures. >The algorithms are mostly of the fractal variety. Lots of color plates and a good bibliography. The first chapter explains L (for Lindenmayer) systems and then goes on to model trees, plant organs, cellular layers, etc. There's a chapter on the fractal aspects of plants and a little appendix on the lab programs they used, including a nice shot of a Silicon Graphics screen. I suspect that a lot of these may end up as holiday presents. Springer-Velag, $39.95, ISBN 0-387-97297-8. -- jamesd@techbook.COM ...!{tektronix!nosun,uunet}!techbook!jamesd Public Access UNIX at (503) 644-8135 (1200/2400) Voice: +1 503 646-8257 Technical books mailing list --- mail "techbook!tbj-request" "Sitting on the console all day, watching the news scroll away ..."
rick@hanauma.stanford.edu (Richard Ottolini) (09/12/90)
In article <1990Sep8.023346.1099@techbook.com= jamesd@techbook.com (James Deibele) writes: =In article <2064@med.Stanford.EDU> rick@hanauma.Stanford.EDU (Richard Ottolini) writes: =>"The Algorithm Beauty of Plants" by Prusinkiewicz and Lindmayer. =>A collection of algorithms for botanical modeling, programs and pretty pictures. =>The algorithms are mostly of the fractal variety. = =Lots of color plates and a good bibliography. The first chapter explains =L (for Lindenmayer) systems and then goes on to model trees, plant organs, =cellular layers, etc. There's a chapter on the fractal aspects of plants and =a little appendix on the lab programs they used, including a nice shot of a =Silicon Graphics screen. I suspect that a lot of these may end up as holiday ^^^^^^^ =presents. I hope that is not a negative comment. There is a whole slew of new computer graphics books that try to survey the domain. It was refreshing to see one that concentrates on a small aspect, and does so in a thorough and beautiful manner. (I did get a little bored only seeing L-system mathematics.) The first fractal graphics books were like this until they exhausted the subject. I hope to see other monographs like this about narrow, artistic subjects in graphics.
smb@datran2.uunet (Steven M. Boker) (09/12/90)
My copy of the Algorithmic Beauty of Plants arrived yesterday and I was much impressed. I have followed much of the work through SIGGRAPH and have seen much of the material before, but this is a great compilation with enough connective tissue to make it accessible to a wider audience. In the back there are descriptions of a number of programs that the authors used including the ever popular rayshade. Does anyone know where to get the other programs that deal specifically with L-systems? I am particularly interested in pgf which converts L-systems specifations into postscript or rayshade input. Steve. -- #====#====#====#====#====#====#====#====#====#====#====#====#====#====#====# # Steve Boker # Black holes are how God divides by zero. # # smb@datran2.uunet.uu.net # ....I have my own methods. # #====#====#====#====#====#====#====#====#====#====#====#====#====#====#====#
kmc@cup.portal.com (Kevin P McCarty) (09/13/90)
Steve Boker remarks on the new book, The Algorithmic Beauty of Plants, Przemyslaw Prusinkiewicz and Aristid Lindenmayer, and asks about software mentioned in the appendix. The preface of this book notes that some of it came from Lindenmayer Systems, Fractals, and Plants, Przemyslaw Prusinkiewicz and James Hanan, Springer-Verlag Lecture Notes in Biomathematics 79, 1989 ISBN 0-387-97092-4 The appendix to that book gives program listings, in C, for the pfg program (pfg = Plant and Fractal Generator). The code includes a generator for generating L-systems with brackets and left and right context, as well as an interpretor for producing two-dimensional images specified by the resulting L-systems with turtle interpretation. I coded it up, and hooked in graphics drivers for drawing line segments etc. It works. No, I won't distribute it to requestors. The code is copyrighted. The book is copyrighted. Go buy the book-- it's $20 (about half the price of the new expanded coffee-table version), and last I checked, places like Computer Literacy in Sunnyvale CA had it on the shelf. They take orders by phone (408-435-1118) and they ship to anywhere. Kevin McCarty
craig@weedeater.uucp (Craig Kolb) (09/13/90)
In article <463@datran2.uunet> smb@datran2.uunet (Steven M. Boker) writes: >In the back there are descriptions of a number of programs that the >authors used including the ever popular rayshade. Does anyone know >where to get the other programs that deal specifically with L-systems? >I am particularly interested in pgf which converts L-systems specifations >into postscript or rayshade input. Przemyslaw Prusinkiewicz has asked me to ask people interested in pfg to send mail to him (prusink@uregina1.bitnet). He and his co-authors would like to make the software available, and are trying to decide how to distribute it. Craig