An arbitrary-dimensional particle simulator Mark J Stock [email protected]

http://markjstock.org/part-nd/

The Windows binaries are prebuilt and should run on most Windows computers. E-mail me if, for some reason, they do not. I use MinGW to compile the Windows versions.

Compiled Linux binaries are included, too. If those don't work on your Unix-like system, building the program should be easy. I hope it is easy. If you have problems, please e-mail me. I almost always help. Plus, if you tell me where you are having difficulty, I will be able to improve the code and documentation for all future users.

In the directory that this file is in, just type

make

and binary executables for 1D to 4D will be made.

Edit a sample*.pnd file, making sure to match all coordinate input with the number of dimensions in the problem. Unix users can then run the desired program as shown:

part-3d sample_part-3d.pnd
part-3d < sample_part-3d.pnd

grav-2d sample_grav-2d.pnd
grav-2d < sample_grav-2d.pnd

Windows users have several options. You can drag the .pnd file onto the appropriate .exe file, whereupon the output files will either appear in the current working directory, or your home directory (which in my case was C:\Documents and Settings\mstock).

You can also run cmd to enter the DOS-like command prompt. From there, you can run

part-3d.exe sample_part-3d.pnd

Lastly, you can download and install MSYS, a Unix-like environment, and run the program from within MSYS using

part-3d.exe sample_part-3d.pnd
part-3d.exe < sample_part-3d.pnd

If your .pnd file is set up to read in another file, you need to make sure that the other file is in either (or both) your current working directory or your home directory. As a windows novice, this confused me.

Feel free to monkey with the code. If you look in Makefile, and the first part of structs.h, you'll quickly see how to make executables that can track ANY number of dimensions. So, if you want to run a 27-dimensional pool table, all you need is a large-enough computer.

Thanks for taking the time to check this out. If you are having fun, I'd love to hear from you.

Mark [email protected] 2005-09-14 2011-06-07

v1.5 Output window is fixed-size, initial velocities for "sphere" are better, OpenMP directives for multithreading added (65% efficient)

v1.4 Windows and Linux executables included

v1.3 added libpng support, removed GIF support and related system calls added bit depth parameter to output file merged image_size and density pixel sizes---all output images use image_size now fixed bounds on sim-> construction variables fixed moving_particle problem in replace_all_particles() allowed input file to enter via stdin (to help Windows users)

v1.2 upgraded part3d to part-nd upgraded all forces except for strand forces to arbitrary dimensions fixed particle-box gravitational force, now more accurate many other minor improvements

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02110-1301  USA