Code

You can (and should!) use these modules in your work for this class. Just make sure not to modify them — when I grade your work, I'll use my own copy. To use, for example, helper_module.py, just download it, put it in your working directory, and execute this line (in either the Python REPL or your script):

from helper_module import *

Most modules include extensive comments with usage recommendations, so make sure to open them up and read the source code.

• gfx_helper_repl.py — REPL / interactive interpreter only! Basic calls to get Numpy and Matplotlib tools in your namespace. Invoke this as the first step in whatever you do.
• gfx_helper_script.py — Script / non-interactive use only! Basic calls to get Numpy and Matplotlib tools in your namespace. Invoke this as the first line in your script.
• gfx_helper_plotting.py — Plotting functions for 2D and 3D, including drawPolyline(), drawPolygon(), drawPointCloud(), and drawImage().
• gfx_helper_mayavi.py — Plotting functions for 3D surfaces, using the Mayavi renderer package.

Here are various snippets of example code to illustrate different ideas.

• plotting_script_example.py — Using Matplotlib's 2-D plotting function in a non-interactive script, to show a graph of a simple function.
• multidimensional_arrays.py — Using advanced array manipulation to avoid loops and write more descriptive, faster code.
• even_sphere.py — A function for generating a very regular and uniform triangle mesh for a sphere, using a subdivision surface technique.