VPython Architecture
Bruce Sherwood
Professor emeritus, Department of Physics
North Carolina State University
Ruth Chabay
Professor emerita, Department of Physics
North Carolina State University
Empowering Nonexpert Programmers
• VPython: Python programming language plus 3D graphics
• Novice programmers can create navigable real-time 3D
animations
• Main users: students, educators, researchers
Examples of VPython Programs
• A complex program can run in multiple environments
• A simple program
• Well-designed defaults
• Vector computations
• 3D animations as side effects of computations
• Can embed in web pages
Web VPython
Browser
Server RapydScript: GlowScript
(webvpython.org) Python to graphics
JavaScript library
Datastore
WebGL web page
This architecture is also used by trinket.io
VPython in Python Installations
Local server
Browser
Python
GlowScript
vpython graphics
module JavaScript
library
process
HTTP server
websocket
server
WebGL web page
other Python
modules
user program
VPython with Jupyter Notebook
Local server
Browser
Python
GlowScript
vpython graphics
module JavaScript
library
process
Jupyter browser
communication
other Python
modules WebGL notebook
user program
Web VPython:
Compilation Details
User code Pre-
RapydScript-NG
(Python) processing
Operator Post-
JavaScript
overloading processing
Executable
Operator Overloading:
How Vector Addition Works
• Using the PaperScript library with the Acorn parser of JavaScript,
convert
a + b => a[‘+’](b)
• JavaScript permits changing the behavior even of built-in classes
such as Number and String
• String.prototype['+'] = function(r) { return this + r }
• Number.prototype['+'] = function(r) {
return (r instanceof vec) ? add_error() : this + r }
• vec.prototype['+'] = function(r) {
return (r instanceof vec) ?
new vec(this.x + v.x, this.y + v.y, this.z + v.z) add_error() }
Rendering of 3D images
About 60 Send object
times/sec: data to WebGL
GPU “vertex GPU GPU “fragment
shaders” rasterizer shaders”
Web page
Animation Loop
• rate(200): no more than 200 loop iterations/s
• About 60 renders/s
• Sleep for remaining time
• Assigning to an object attribute (pos, size, etc.) sets a
“changed” flag for that object, and at render time its
current attributes are repackaged to send to GPU
• Five 4-vectors: pos, axis, size, color, up, with texture,
opacity, shininess, emissive packed into 4th slots; total of
80 bytes per object instance
Object Models in GPU Memory
• A “model” box object is stored in GPU memory
• Represented by 12 triangles, each described by 3 vertex
objects specifying position, normal, color, and texture
coordinates
• Data for a particular box (an instance of the box class)
plus model information is sufficient for the GPU to
display that box appropriately in 3D
• GPU memory has models of a box, sphere, cylinder,
cone, and pyramid; compounds treated like primitives
• Arbitrary objects built from triangles; extrusions, 3D text
Speed Issues
• Python is an interpreted language and so execution is
significantly slower than compiled languages.
• Computationally intensive Web VPython programs run
several times faster than VPython 7 programs, because
they are compiled to (fast) JavaScript (but there is no
access to Python modules).
Additional Technical Details
• Portions of objects hidden behind other objects are not
seen thanks to “z-depth” blocking by GPU hardware
• Transparency handled by “depth peeling” algorithm
• Mouse “picking” uses false colors
Major Contributors to
Web VPython and VPython 7
• David Scherer: originator of VPython; major contributions
to the start of the GlowScript project
• John Coady: originator of Jupyter VPython
• Matt Craig: installers for VPython 7
• Steve Spicklemire: restructing webpython.org to use
Python 3 for the server side
Brief History
• 2000: Classic VPython created by David Scherer, an undergraduate
student at Carnegie Mellon University, in collaboration with Chabay
and Sherwood
• 2011 GlowScript begun by Scherer and Sherwood
• 2014 Web VPython by Sherwood
• 2015 Jupyter VPython begun by John Coady
• 2016 VPython 7: Jupyter VPython made consistent with Web
VPython by Chabay and Sherwood, in collaboration with Coady;
Classic VPython no longer supported
See brucesherwood.net for a detailed history
For More Information
• vpython.org – obtaining and using VPython
• webvpython.org – full VPython documentation, many examples
• trinket.io – embed both editing and execution of VPython in your
own web page
• matterandinteractions.org – calculus-based contemporary intro
physics curriculum in which VPython plays an important role
• matterandinteractions.org/student – includes a large number
of physics demo programs written in VPython
