A new graphical user interface for a 3D topological mesh modeler

Abstract

In this thesis, I present a new platform-independent, open source, intuitive graphical user interface for TopMod, an application designed for interacting with 3-dimensional manifold meshes represented by a Doubly Linked Face List (DLFL). This new interface, created using the Trolltech Qt user interface library, enables users to construct and interact with complex manifold meshes much faster and more easily than was previously possible. I also present a method for the rapid creation of a successful online community of users and developers, by integrating a variety of open source web-based software packages. The new website, which includes a discussion forum, a news blog, a collaborative user and developer wiki, and a source code repository and release manager, received an average of 250 unique visits per day during the first two months of its existence, and it continues to be utilized by a variety of users and developers worldwide.