README.md

VRL-VRN-Generator

A VRL-Studio project for neuron mesh generation with a visual programming workflow and configuration of parameter values and packaging respectively containerizing generated meshes into a .vrn archive for the virtual reality project.

The project enables the end-user to create meshes and mesh bundles in our custom container format (.vrn) derived from the zip file format and is supported to be read and modified in our virtual reality project developed for the Unity gaming platform.

There is only one prerequisite which is a valid installation of the VRL-Studio IDE (and the existence of a precompiled UG4 binary, see ughub for how to build). In particular for this project see the section on howto build and generate meshes below if you have fulfilled the prerequisites.

Please note: For now the path to a precompiled UG4 (ugshell) binary has to be provided manually until further notice. If the developers of the UG4 project will allow our project to include the binary into a derived project, in particular to allow to include the binary as a resource for this project then the only requirement which remains is a valid installation of the VRL-Studio IDE which is supported on Linux, OSX and Windows.

Build status

Linux	Windows (WSL)	OSX

Currently JDK >=8 (up to JDK 13) and Gradle >=6 is supported on the operating systems listed above.

Releases, documentation, license and code metrics

Workflow for mesh generation in VRL-Studio and a user neuron

Workflow for mesh generation in VRL-Studio and a shipped neuron

Howto build the project and generate meshes

From source

1. Clone this repository
2. (Optional) Edit build.properties and set path to your VRL installation
3. Either ./gradlew installVRLplugin or ./gradlew jar and manual installation of the compiled project

From release (precompiled)

1. Download a release from the tab on the right (Chose the file vrl_plugin.zip from any release)
2. Decompress the vrl-plugin.zip which will create the file VRL-VRN-Generator.jar.
3. Open VRL-Studio and install the plugin via Plugins->Install Plugin and select VRL-VRN-Generator.jar.

In both cases (re-)start VRL-Studio and then open any of the provided template projects from the menu File->New Project from template from within VRL-Studio.

Familarize with the example workflow, then provide a neuron geometry file in the .swc format from a database like NeuroMorpho.org.

The project ships with an example 1D neuron geometry for which we will create the corresponding 3D geometry, choose the template Mesh Generation - Example workflow with geometry. The user can also provide their own geometry in this project or load explictly the template project anticipated for custom input geometries by choosing Mesh Generation - Example workflow.

Latest ten nightly builds

• Fri Mar 19 14:42:03 UTC 2021
• Mon Mar 22 11:31:31 UTC 2021
• Tue Mar 23 07:12:37 UTC 2021
• Mon Mar 29 13:46:21 UTC 2021
• Wed Mar 31 13:09:36 UTC 2021
• Thu Apr 1 13:50:53 UTC 2021
• Tue Apr 6 08:56:00 UTC 2021
• Wed Apr 7 06:59:06 UTC 2021
• Thu Apr 8 07:00:16 UTC 2021
• Wed Apr 14 12:57:02 UTC 2021