PlantGL : a Python-based geometric library for 3D plant modelling at different scales

Christophe Pradal (1, 2) , Frédéric Boudon (1, 2) , Christophe Nouguier (1, 2) , Jérôme Chopard (1, 2) , Christophe Godin (1, 2)

1 VIRTUAL PLANTS - Modeling plant morphogenesis at different scales, from genes to phenotype
2 UMR DAP - Développement et amélioration des plantes

In this paper, we present PlantGL, an open-source graphic toolkit for the creation, simulation and analysis of 3D virtual plants. This C++ geometric library is embedded in the Python language which makes it a powerful user-interactive platform for plant modelling in various biological application domains. PlantGL makes it possible to build and manipulate geometric models of plants or plant parts, ranging from tissues and organs to plant populations. Based on a scene graph augmented with primitives dedicated to plant representation, several methods are provided to create plant architectures from either field measurements or procedural algorithms. Because they reveal particularly useful in plant design and analysis, special attention has been paid to the definition and use of branching system envelopes. Several examples from different modelling applications illustrate how PlantGL can be used to construct, analyse or manipulate geometric models at different scales.

Domaines: Synthèse d'image et réalité virtuelle [cs.GR]; Modélisation et simulation; Botanique; Sylviculture, foresterie

Christophe Pradal, Frédéric Boudon, Christophe Nouguier, Jérôme Chopard, Christophe Godin. PlantGL : a Python-based geometric library for 3D plant modelling at different scales. [Research Report] RR-6367, INRIA. 2007. ⟨inria-00191126v3⟩