3D Animations are killing my system
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg38118] 3D Animations are killing my system
- From: "Steven T. Hatton" <hattons at globalsymmetry.com>
- Date: Tue, 3 Dec 2002 04:33:08 -0500 (EST)
- Organization: Global Symmetry
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
I've been trying to run some modestly complicated animations consisting of several ParametricPlot3D curves. I can generate the sequence of images, but when I try to use ShowAnimation, Mathematica starts using all the CPU, and if there is sufficient number of frames, It starts swapping. What that happens I either have to reboot the system, or wait several minutes for Mathematica to let me have a few cycles so I can kill it. I've seen what I can do with Java 3D, so I know such animations can be run on this box. What is actually happening when the animations are run? Even if I get them to start, they never run smoothly. The always freze momentarily about every 7 frames or so, and sometimes they will stall for a fairly long period. I really think Mathematica is a wonderful program for handling mathematical problems. It's ability to graph mathematical functions is fantastic. I am interested in studying the time evolution of physical systems, and believe that 3D animation is the best way to understand the mathematical expressions used to describe these systems. When I get beyond the simplest systems, Mathematic seems unable to support this aspect of my modeling. I don't have time to write my own mapping between Java 3D and Mathematica, unless WRI wants to fund the effort. Is there a good way to handle this kind of situation using Mathematica? -- STH Hatton's Law: "There is only One inviolable Law."