NetLogo 3D: What's New?

Feedback from users is very valuable to us in designing and improving NetLogo. We'd like to hear from you. Please send comments, suggestions, and questions to feedback@ccl.northwestern.edu, and bug reports to bugs@ccl.northwestern.edu.

3D Preview 5 (December 2007)

• features:
  • NetLogo 3D Preview 5 is based on NetLogo 4.0.2 and includes nearly all of 4.0.2's features and fixes
  • known issue: topologies are not yet available in 3D (wrapping is always enabled on all three axes)
• models:
  • new Code Examples: Uniform Distribution on a Sphere 3D, Spherical Path Example 3D, Hill Climbing Example 3D
  • new GasLab models: GasLab Single Collision 3D, GasLab Two Gas 3D
  • new mathematics model: Surface Walking 3D
• bug fixes:
  • layout-spring now lays nodes out in three dimensions
  • the orbit mouse controls are no longer backwards when the world is upside down
  • load-shapes-3d reports better error messages
  • fixed bugs where custom 3D shapes sometimes got lost when exporting view or switching to fullscreen

3D Preview 4 (March 2007)

• installer:
  • updated installer works on Windows Vista
• engine fixes:
  • fixed bug where in-radius could sometimes return an incorrect answer
  • fixed bug where importing a world file containing Unicode characters caused a Java exception

3D Preview 3 (June 2006)

• models:
  • new Sample Models: DLA 3D, Fireworks 3D, GasLab Free Gas 3D, Percolation 3D, Rope 3D, and Sandpile 3D
• features:
  • NetLogo 3D Preview 3 is based on NetLogo 3.1.1
  • most features of 3.1.1 are now also available in 3D:
    • including:
      • drawing; in 3D the drawing is vector-based rather than pixel-based as it is in 2D, turtles leave behind trails that exist in the same space as the turtles and patches but they cannot be moved or sensed.
      • links suite is supported in 3D; however, layout primitives do not take advantage of the 3D space.
      • __tie and __untie allow turtles to affect the movement of other turtles in 3D space
      • picking patches and turtles from the 3D view
      • 2D shapes are usable in the 3D view
    • not including:
      • topologies (wrapping is not yet optional)
  • many updates and fixes to the 3D view, including the addition of visual wrapping of turtles
• language changes:
  • pitch-up3d, pitch-down3d, left3d and right3d no longer exist; instead, tilt-up, tilt-down, left and right turn up, down, left or right in relation to the turtle, to get the old behavior of pitch-up, pitch-down, left and right you can directly manipulate the heading and pitch variables, though this kind of manipulation is unnecessary in most models
  • other 3D primitives removed (at-points3d, patch-ahead3d, patch-left3d-and-ahead, patch-right3d-and-ahead, diffuse3d); the regular versions now function in 3D
  • diffuse6 is no longer supported in 3D
  • set-gaze-xyz is replaced with facexyz, the observer can also use face and setxyz
  • screen-size-z and screen-edge-z are replaced with world-depth, min-pzcor, and max-pzcor
  • new observer primitives orbit-left, orbit-right, orbit-up, and orbit-down, rotate the observer at a fixed distance around a central gaze point
  • the turtle variable shape3d no longer exists; use the shape variable instead
• non-3D-related language changes:
  • new reporters no-turtles and no-patches
  • new command for turtles and the observer, move-to
  • init blocks are optional on sprout and hatch and create-turtles
  • the __tie and __untie commands now take no inputs and can only be used by link turtles

3-D Preview 1 (March 2005)

• content:
  • new 3-D models based on existing models: Flocking 3-D, Follower 3-D, Life 3-D, Mousetraps 3-D, Raindrops 3-D, Sierpinski Simple 3-D, Sunflower 3-D, Tree Simple 3-D, Wave Machine 3-D, Network Example 3-D
  • new 3-D code examples based on existing code examples: Neighborhoods Example 3-D, Network Example 3-D
  • new 3-D code examples: Airplane Landing 3-D, Bouncing Balls 3-D, Shapes 3-D, Three Loops 3-D, Turtle Dance 3-D, Turtle Orientation 3-D, Turtle Perspective 3-D
  • enhanced 2-D models: Ants, Flocking, Termites
  • new tutorial: Converting Mousetraps
  • documentation: Introducing NetLogo 3-D and 3-D Primitives
  • new three-dimensional shapes: "default", "cube", "cylinder", "sphere", "cone", "line"
• features:
  • NetLogo 3-D provides an OpenGL three-dimensional rendered view of the world that allows users to zoom in and out of models, view the models from different positions, and view the models from the perspective of turtles.
  • the world is three-dimensional
• language changes:
  • added new zcor turtle variable
  • added new pzcor patch variable
  • added new pitch and roll turtle variables for three-dimensional orientation
  • added new shape3d turtle variable
  • added new screen-edge-z and screen-size-z reporters for three-dimensional world settings
  • added new diffuse3d and diffuse6 commands for three-dimensional patch diffusion
  • added new patch3d to refer to patches in three-dimensional space
  • added new reporters for three-dimensional neighborhoods: neighbors3d, neighbors6, nsum3d, nsum6
  • added new commands for three-dimensional turtle movement: left3d, pitch-down, pitch-down3d, pitch-up, pitch-up3d, right3d, roll-left, roll-right
  • added new turtle commands for navigating three-dimensional patches: patch-ahead3d, patch-at-heading-pitch-and-distance, patch-at3d, patch-left3d-and-ahead, patch-right3d-and-ahead
  • added new reporters for selecting agents: at-points3d, patch3d, turtles-at3d
  • added new turtle reporters for calculating movement in three-dimensions: distancexyz, distancexyz-nowrap, dz towards-pitch, towards-pitch-nowrap, towards-pitch-xyz, towards-pitch-xyz-nowrap
  • added new commands for changing perspectives: observe, ride, follow, watch
  • added new commands reporters for changing the observer position and view: gaze-x, gaze-y, gaze-z, oxcor, oycor, ozcor, set-gaze-xyz, setxyz
  • added new load-shapes-3d command
  • modified commands and reporters to work in three-dimensions: back, distance-no-wrap, distance, dx, dy, forward, home, in-radius-no-wrap, in-radius, jump, patches
• interface changes:
  • added 3-D view window
  • the contextual menu on the Graphics Windows now shows all patches and turtles in a column