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Re: Mathematica Graphics - speed bottleneck

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  • Subject: [mg97692] Re: [mg97664] Mathematica Graphics - speed bottleneck
  • From: "David Park" <djmpark at comcast.net>
  • Date: Thu, 19 Mar 2009 02:08:49 -0500 (EST)
  • References: <3288260.1237372223411.JavaMail.root@m02>

You don't tell us quite enough about your dynamic presentation. There might,
or might not, be a solution within Mathematica.

A Graphics3D object that is extremely dense with objects is going to be slow
to update. For example, it may be sluggish just in using the mouse to rotate
the image. (In examples I tried I was surprised to see that the use of
VectorStyle -> "Arrow3D" produced images that seemed easier to rotate than
with the simpler default arrows.)

If you MUST show many hundreds of objects and they ALL change with some
dynamic variable, then there may be no practical solution within Mathematica
or on a PC. But if only a few things change, then you could write a custom
dynamic presentation where only the few things are updated and that should
be much faster. (I hardly ever write Manipulate statements anymore, finding
custom dynamics much easier.)

We must also recognize that a graphical image with a thousand objects, say,
is something that may be difficult for a viewer to grasp or to prevent from
being cluttered. It might be possible to use multiple images. One image
might be detailed, but non-dynamic. Other images might be dynamic but using
a simplified representation that somehow captured the essential changes. It
might be possible to dynamically show pairs of images, one that illustrated
the configuration of dynamic variables and a second that illustrated the
effect at some limited region with a smaller set of objects. Thinking about
how to make such presentations might actually lead to a better understanding
of the phenomenon.

But if everything is dynamic, interconnected, and equally important, then
you will probably have a problem with practical real-time presentations in
Mathematica.


David Park
djmpark at comcast.net
http://home.comcast.net/~djmpark/  


From: robert prince-wright [mailto:robertprincewright at yahoo.com] 

Mathematica 7. has lured me back into using Mathematica at work and I am
wondering if it really has reached a point where it can be used to deploy
applications / solutions. I had some success with one small application but
found the graphics became a bottleneck which slowed to a grinding halt when
applied to a real problem. Key culprits were the vector field plotting
functions, and Graphics3D's ability to manipulate objects comprising
hundreds of tubes. It was fine for tens but not hundreds. This led me to
wonder if there are alternative approaches. I recall LiveGraphics3D but it
seems to have stopped at v5. Basically I want to manipulate 3D graphics
through use of DynamicModule, Sliders, etc. and see the changes in realtime
(as opposed to geological time!)


Any thoughts?


      




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