reorganized folder and added a README

Former-commit-id: dac8daaffaada059c06b94ea0a2bc2ab4e910775

python/README.md

@@ -0,0 +1,159 @@
+# Python wrappers for libigl
+
+
+## Work in progress
+<span style="color:#F62217">
+Everything in this folder is currently being developed and it is likely to be
+changed radically in the next couple of months, breaking compatibility between
+different version. We plan to stabilize the python API by the end of 2015.
+</span>
+
+## Introduction
+
+libigl functions can be called natively from python by compiling the wrappers
+in this folder. The wrappers supports both python 2.7 and python 3.5 and are
+generated using [pybind11](https://github.com/wjakob/pybind11).
+
+The generated library will statically link against all dependencies producing a single,
+self-contained binary.
+
+## Installation
+
+The python bindings can be compiled with the following instructions, assuming
+that your terminal is pointing to the root of libigl:
+
+```bash
+cd python
+mkdir build
+cd build; make; cd ..
+```
+
+The cmake script will complain if it is not able to find python. In that case
+you can specify the location of the interpreter by specifying the following
+cmake variables.
+
+MacOSX/Linux:
+
+```cmake
+SET(PYTHON_LIBRARIES "/usr/local/Cellar/python3/3.5.0/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.5/lib/libpython3.5m.dylib")
+SET(PYTHON_INCLUDE_DIR "/usr/local/Cellar/python3/3.5.0/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.5/include/python3.5m")
+```
+
+Windows:
+
+```cmake
+SET(PYTHON_LIBRARIES "C:/Python35/libs/python35.lib")
+SET(PYTHON_INCLUDE_DIR "C:/Python35/include")
+```
+
+## Tutorial
+
+All libigl tutorials will be ported to python and will use the same naming
+scheme. You can find the tutorials in the folder python/tutorials and you can
+launch them with the following commands:
+
+```bash
+cd python
+python 102_DrawMesh.py
+```
+
+## Matrix Representation
+
+TODO: describe in detail the wrapped eigen classes and how to convert them to
+numpy.
+
+## Viewer and callbacks
+
+The igl viewer provides a convenient and efficient way of visualizing 3D
+surfaces in python. It behaves in the same way as the C++ viewer and supports
+native python functions as callbacks. This is a simple example that loads
+two meshes and switches between the two when a key is pressed:
+
+```python
+import igl
+
+V1 = igl.eigen.MatrixXd()
+F1 = igl.eigen.MatrixXi()
+
+V2 = igl.eigen.MatrixXd()
+F2 = igl.eigen.MatrixXi()
+
+def key_pressed(viewer, key, modifier):
+    print("Key: ", chr(key))
+
+    if key == ord('1'):
+        # # Clear should be called before drawing the mesh
+        viewer.data.clear();
+        # # Draw_mesh creates or updates the vertices and faces of the displayed mesh.
+        # # If a mesh is already displayed, draw_mesh returns an error if the given V and
+        # # F have size different than the current ones
+        viewer.data.set_mesh(V1, F1);
+        viewer.core.align_camera_center(V1,F1);
+    elif key == ord('2'):
+        viewer.data.clear();
+        viewer.data.set_mesh(V2, F2);
+        viewer.core.align_camera_center(V2,F2);
+    return False
+
+
+#  Load two meshes
+igl.readOFF("../tutorial/shared/bumpy.off", V1, F1);
+igl.readOFF("../tutorial/shared/fertility.off", V2, F2);
+
+print("1 Switch to bump mesh")
+print("2 Switch to fertility mesh")
+
+viewer = igl.viewer.Viewer()
+
+# Register a keyboard callback that allows to switch between
+# the two loaded meshes
+viewer.callback_key_pressed = key_pressed
+viewer.data.set_mesh(V1, F1)
+viewer.launch()
+```
+
+### Remote viewer
+
+Whe using the viewer from an interactive python shell (iPython), it is
+inconvenient to let the viewer take control of the main thread for rendering
+purposes. We provide a simple wrapper for the viewer that allows to launch
+a remote process and send meshes to it via a TCP/IP socket. For more
+informations on how to use it see the documentation in [tcpviewer.py](tcpviewer.py)
+
+## Matlab
+
+The python wrappers can be natively being used from MATLAB.
+We provide a few examples in the folder python/matlab.
+
+## Documentation
+
+The python functions have exactly the same prototypes as their C++ counterpart.
+To get help for a certain function, please check the documentation in the
+corresponding .h file in libigl/include. We will add a proper docstring
+documentation in the future.
+
+## Known Issues
+
+## Contact
+
+Libigl is a group endeavor led by [Alec
+Jacobson](http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~jacobson/) and [Daniele
+Panozzo](http://www.inf.ethz.ch/personal/dpanozzo/). Please [contact
+us](mailto:alecjacobson@gmail.com,daniele.panozzo@gmail.com) if you have
+questions or comments. For troubleshooting, please post an
+[issue](https://github.com/libigl/libigl/issues) on github.
+
+If you're using libigl in your projects, quickly [drop us a
+note](mailto:alecjacobson@gmail.com,daniele.panozzo@gmail.com). Tell us who you
+are and what you're using it for. This helps us apply for funding and justify
+spending time maintaining this.
+
+If you find bugs or have problems please use our [github issue tracking
+page](https://github.com/libigl/libigl/issues).
+
+## Copyright
+2015 Alec Jacobson, Daniele Panozzo, Christian Schüller, Olga Diamanti, Qingnan
+Zhou, Nico Pietroni, Stefan Brugger, Kenshi Takayama, Wenzel Jakob, Nikolas De
+Giorgis, Luigi Rocca, Leonardo Sacht, Olga Sorkine-Hornung, and others.
+
+Please see individual files for appropriate copyright notices.