Visualization of Mathematical Surfaces: the IZIC Server Approach

This paper presents IZIC, a stand-alone high-quality 3D graphic tool driven by a command language. IZIC is an interactive version of ZICLIB , a 3D graphic library allowing efficient curve and surface manipulations using a virtual graphic device. Capabilities of ZICLIB include management of pseudo or true colors, illumination model, shading, transparency, etc. As an interactive tool, IZIC is run as a Unix server which can be driven from one or more computer algebra systems, including Maple, Mathematica, Macsyma, and Reduce, or through an integrated user interface such as CAS/PI. Connecting IZIC with a different system is a very simple task which can be achieved at run-time and requires no compilation. Also important is the possibility to drive IZIC both through its freely-reconfigurable menu-button user interface, and through its command language. This brings a high level of programmability and interoperability, allowing, for instance, the remote animation of surfaces from the symbolic computation engine.