Tools and Software
Throughout the course, we will use the following software. Please install with all the default options and recommended settings. You can use Windows or Mac as you prefer.
Take note of the installation directories. This will help us help you in case of problems.
Anaconda
Anaconda is a free and open source distribution of Python (and R) programming language that aims to simplify package management and deployment. It supports multiple versions of Python and associated packages, including the packages that will be used during the course
Visual Studio Code
Visual Studio Code is a code editor with support for development operations like debugging, task running, and version control. In this course we will use VS Code for all coding examples and exercises. Instructions for installing VS Code and recommended extensions are available in the COMPAS documentation.
Rhino 3D
Rhinoceros 3D (6.0 or 7.0) will be used as the NURBS-based 3D modelling environment for the course.
Blender LTS
Blender is the free and open source 3D creation suite based on mesh modelling. Its features include 3D modeling, UV unwrapping, texturing, physically-based simulation, rendering, etc.
Git
Git is a free and open source distributed version control system designed to handle everything from small to very large projects with speed and efficiency. Git tracks the changes you make to files, so you have a record of what has been done, and you can revert to specific versions should you ever need to. Git also allow changes by multiple people to all be merged into one source, to ensure there are no code conflicts between the developers. We will upload the course material to the course github repository, and you can use git to track the code changes.
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