Skip to documentation
BRL-CAD
DocumentationAll documentsEnglish

ISST(1)

NAME

isst - interactive ray-traced geometry viewer

On this page

SYNOPSIS

isst [file.g [object]]

DESCRIPTION

isst is an interactive, Tcl/Tk and OpenGL based viewer built on the Advanced Distributed Ray Tracer (ADRT) and its tie ray-tracing engine. It renders BRL-CAD geometry in real time so that a model can be inspected and navigated as it is ray traced.

If a geometry database file.g is given together with an object, that object is loaded and rendered immediately. If only file.g is given, a dialog is presented for selecting one or more objects from the database to view. With no arguments, the viewer opens empty and a database can be loaded from the File menu.

Once a view is up, the geometry window is controlled interactively:

  • 1, 2, 3 switch the render mode to phong, surface normals, and depth.

  • 0 resets the view to its initial orientation.

  • w, s, a, d walk forward and backward and strafe left and right.

  • - and = decrease and increase render resolution; Ctrl- and Ctrl-= jump to lowest and full resolution.

  • Dragging with the left mouse button aims the view; dragging with the right mouse button orbits the geometry.

  • F5 toggles fullscreen, and Esc exits.

The keyboard navigation keys act only while the pointer is over the geometry window.

EXAMPLES

Example 1. View a single object directly
isst havoc.g havoc

Opens havoc.g, loads the havoc object, and begins ray tracing it in an interactive window where it can be walked through and rotated.

Example 2. Choose objects from a database
isst moss.g

Opens moss.g and presents a list of its objects; the selected objects are loaded together into the interactive viewer. This is convenient with the shipped sample database to browse what a .g file contains before committing to a full rt(1) render.

SEE ALSO

brlcad(1), mged(1), rt(1), rtedge(1)

AUTHOR

BRL-CAD Team

This software is Copyright (c) 1989-2026 by the United States Government as represented by U.S. Army Research Laboratory.

BUG REPORTS

Reports of bugs or problems should be submitted via electronic mail to devs@brlcad.org