Program Options

These are general settings which affect polyscope’s behavior as a library. It is often convenient to set them just before calling polyscope.init(), but they may generally be set anywhere.

import polyscope as ps

# a few options
ps.set_program_name("important app")
ps.set_verbosity(0)
ps.set_use_prefs_file(False)

# initialize
ps.init()

Options

set_program_name(name)

program name

A general name to use when referring to the program in window headings, etc. Default: Polyscope.

Example:

import polyscope as ps
ps.set_program_name("important app")

set_verbosity(v)

verbosity

How much useful info should polyscope print to stdout? Default: 1.

• 0 print nothing
• 1 print occasionally
• >= 2 print a lot

Example:

import polyscope as ps
ps.set_verbosity(0)

set_print_prefix(p)

print prefix

A string used as a prefix for all messages printed to the terminal by polyscope. Default: [polyscope].

Example:

import polyscope as ps
ps.set_print_prefix("[MYAPP] ");
# prints now look like "[MYAPP] loaded openGL"

set_errors_throw_exceptions(b)

errors throw execptions

If true, errors in polyscope raise execptions. If false, a polyscope error is shown in the UI, but processing attempts to continue. Default: False.

set_enable_render_error_checks(b)

render error checks

If true, the rendering subsystem will eagerly check for and report errors. This comes at some small performance cost, but can help catch problems.

Default: True when compiled in Debug mode, False in Release mode (this python library is generally compiled in release mode)

set_SSAA_factor(n)

SSAA anti-aliasing factor

Enable super-sampling anti-aliasing for a prettier rendered scene. SSAA renders the scene at multiple samples for each pixel, then averages them to resolve final pixel values.

Cost scales quadratically with the value of this parameter, so it will quickly become expensive. Reasonable values are in the range 1 to 4. Using 2 is generally sufficient for anti-aliasing.

Default: 1 (no anti-aliasing)

set_max_fps(f)

max fps

The main loop will not run at more than maxFPS iterations per second. -1 disables, running the loop as fast as possible. Default: 60.

set_use_prefs_file(b)

use prefs file

Polyscope can read and write to a preferences file to save state between invocations. For now, this is primarily used to restore the window position on the desktop. The preference file is a json-formatted plaintext file called .polyscope.ini.

This option controls the use of the preferences file. If False, if will be neither written nor read. Default: True.

set_always_redraw(b)

always redraw

Polyscope is designed to use lazy rendering: the scene is only re-drawn if it has changed since the last time it was drawn. This can dramatically reduce resource consumption, and keeps the immediate GUI responsive even on scenes which are irresponsibly large for the machine’s graphics capabilities.

If this option is True, the scene will be redrawn on every main loop iteration no matter what, circumventing the lazy drawing features. Default: False.

set_build_gui(b)

build gui

This option can be used to disable all of Polyscope’s ImGui UI elements, which may be useful for advanced applications which wish to build a fully-custom UI on top of Polyscope.

If false, Polyscope will not create any ImGui UIs at all, but will still set up ImGui and invoke its render steps each frame. The allows advanced users to create their own UIs totally from scratch and circumvent the standard Polyscope UIs.

Default: True.

set_open_imgui_window_for_user_callback(b)

open imgui window for user callback

If true, an ImGui window will be created and docked to the side of the UI when the user callback function is invoked. This means you can immediately start making ui calls like polyscope.imgui.Button("do stuff").

If false, no ImGui anything will be pushed on the stack when the callback is invoked, and the user is entirely responsible for making any ImGui calls (or not making any).

Default: True.

set_invoke_user_callback_for_nested_show(b)

invoke user callback for nested show

Suppose you call polyscope.show(), and within your callback, another instance of polyscope.show() is called—this is a nested show.

Depending on the situation, you might or might not want your user callback to continue being executed on each render loop iteration of this nested viewer; this setting exposes the option.

If true, your callback will be executed as normal for every main loop iteration, even in nested show windows.

If false, your callback will only be executed for initial, outermost calls to polyscope.show().

Default: False.

set_give_focus_on_show(b)

give focus on show

If true, the Polyscope window will request focus from the window manager whenever show() is called. If false, the focus state will be left unchanged.

Default: False.