Hypnagogic Software is pleased to announce that KnotPlot 1.0, the World's most elaborate knotting software is now available for the low price of only $29.99 (Canadian dollars). Buy now and enjoy the following advantages:
If you wish to evaluate the software before purchasing it, just download it using one of the links below. The evaluation version of KnotPlot is completely free, but many features have been disabled. You can always upgrade your KnotPlot version by simply returning to this web page and purchasing a key later. The free evaluation version becomes the full version when the key is installed.
KnotPlot 1.0 is available now for all Windows platforms, MacOSX (both PowerPC and Intel), Linux, and IRIX. Click on the button below to purchase KnotPlot using PayPal (you can use a credit card). All transactions are secure.
You don't need a PayPal account, most credit cards are accepted. After you purchase KnotPlot, you will receive an email from customerservice@hypnagogic.net with your key. Just install the software and your key, and you will be set to start plotting knots!
University and college departments may wish to purchase a departmental site license. Please visit hypnagogic.net/KnotPlot/sitelicense to find out how.
To see what KnotPlot can do, check out the KnotPlot Site where all images (except a few) were generated with KnotPlot.
NEW! Join the KnotPlot Site Bulletin Board and post your questions on how to run KnotPlot, on knot theory or on knots in general!
Rob Scharein (hypnagogic.net/rob)Installing KnotPlot is easy, just click on one of the links below to install the software. When you first install KnotPlot, it will be the free evaluation version (which has features disabled). If you wish to have the full version of KnotPlot, purchase a key using the Buy now button above. Fairly soon after you make the purchase, you will receive an email from customerservice@hypnagogic.net with a key and instructions on how to install it. After the key is installed, you will be up and running KnotPlot with all features enabled.
Here are the downloads for KnotPlot. KnotPlot needs two components, the executable, which is the program itself, and the KnotPlot distribution, which is the approximately 5,959 files that KnotPlot just can't live without. If you're installing on a Windows or MacOSX machine, you only need one file, which contains both the executuable and the distibution. The MacOSX distribution is provided in two versions, one for the older PowerPC Macs, and one for the new Intel-based Macs. The Intel Macs will actually run both versions, but performance is much better if you use the version compiled for Intel. On Linux platforms, you need to download the executable and the distribution separately. NOTE: Some browsers may strip the file name extensions (such as .gz) without actually gunzipping the file. If you're downloading one of the files below, make sure that your browser saves it with the correct file name.
One thing to make sure of is that you have the proper OpenGL driver installed! On Macs, this is always the case, but many Windows machines with good graphics cards sometimes do not have the OpenGL driver installed, and may be using software rendering (i.e., no hardware acceleration). A similar situation exists for Linux platforms.
| Platform | Executable | Distribution | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Download | File size (kilobytes) | Last updated (UTC) | Download | File size (kilobytes) | Last updated (UTC) | |
| Microsoft Windows 95/98/NT/ME/2000/XP/Vista | InstallKnotPlot.exe MD5 file hash: 63c99d75cd5aa5b34f5b0bc87a31d84e |
9546 | 22h37m 23Feb10 | included with executable | ||
| Apple MacOSX compiled for Intel (iMac, Mac mini, Mac Pro, MacBook etc.) This version should work on 10.5 (Leopard) and 10.6 (Snow Leopard) for any 64-bit capable Mac. |
KnotPlotDiskImageIntel.dmg.gz MD5 file hash: 69432bfb83444f72a28905cf54e5eeda |
10516 | 20h08m 6Mar10 | included with executable | ||
| Apple MacOSX compiled for first generation 32-bit only Intel Macs (iMac, Mac mini, Mac Pro, MacBook etc.) running 10.5 (Leopard) or for any Intel Mac running 10.4 (Tiger). |
KnotPlotDiskImageIntel32.dmg.gz MD5 file hash: 9be82bcb5ba891fa25be242bded0bd3b |
10510 | 5h09m 5Jan10 | included with executable | ||
| Apple MacOSX compiled for PowerPC (G3, G4, G5, iBook etc.) |
KnotPlotDiskImagePPC.dmg.gz MD5 file hash: 196292169cb53a5d076599f3d3ac98ef |
10509 | 5h56m 5Jan10 | included with executable | ||
| Linux | knotplot.gz MD5 file hash: ded2afd8c808a632af284b6b1c93a7a0 |
539 | 17h42m 6Jan10 | kpdist.tar.gz MD5 file hash: afcd6f1ff0a0c61a40bd2ac7ac2f80f7 |
8333 | 17h47m 6Jan10 |
| Silicon Graphics IRIX | knotplot.gz MD5 file hash: 75c248c089df60ff35fac5e2f617effa |
925 | 6h14m 1Apr08 | kpdist_sgi.tar.gz MD5 file hash: 5f208e2939b39ff7078ca1299f50634d |
7550 | 6h16m 1Apr08 |
KnotPlot installation and distribution files are copyright © 2010 by Rob Scharein. All rights reserved. See below for terms of use.
Note: In the above, the term kilobyte means exactly 1,000 bytes (and not 1,024 bytes). For more information, see the page on SI prefixes at the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Information on installation is available for the following platforms:
To access all the features of KnotPlot, you will need to install a key. This key will be emailed to the address you supplied when you purchased KnotPlot using PayPal. This will happen fairly soon after purchase, usually within a few hours. Instructions on what to do with the key will also be provided.
The MacOSX version has a few oddities that deserve mentioning. First of all, please ignore all the information you see when you do a Get Info. The version number (something like 0.1) and the copyright information are meaningless. If anybody knows how to change that information, please let me know. In general, you should ignore all the standard Mac menus, use the KnotPlot menus instead (right-click or control-click on the KnotPlot Control Panel).
Secondly, I recommend reading the README file that comes in the distribution. It has a few suggestions, for example placing the KnotPlot application in its own folder.
A complete set of Conway polyhedra are now included, see the help page on the tangle calculator control panel.
This feature has been available in a hidden form for a long time (over a year), but now it is directly available off of the Sketch panel. Also included are a few example Celtic knot grids.
The Topological Interactive Construction Engine (TopoICE) has also been available for some time, but a new and updated version is now included. See below for more information and user manuals.
The KnotPlot `help' button finally does something useful! Well, possibly, maybe. Hope it helps!
Rollers now replace sliders in most cases. There are still some issues with rolling outside the useful range, and possibly maybe with some rollers being either too sensitive or not sensitive enough.
Double clicking on any value field (middle section) of any slider or roller will allow you to enter a value directly. The field should turn white and show a cursor. Double clicking on the label field of any slider or roller resets the slider to its initial value.
The "Beads & Sticks" button on Main has been renamed to "beads & cyls" to be consistent with other usage. Also on Main, you can now select beads to be displayed in cheapo mode (beads) or luxo mode (Beads). Beads can also be display in super cheapo mode (points).
Point mode is helpful if you have something that has thousands or tens of thousands of beads. Try the AD demo on DemoB to see an example (20,000 beads).
KnotPlot has always had a confusing method for colouring components. Hopefully, this will be less confusing with the new Surf panel. The components are coloured according to one of three methods:
These features have long been available for smooth tubes, but not for cylinders. Now setting cylinder colouring mode to auto allows individual components in cylinder mode to be coloured differently.
Zoo labels are now shown by default. It's not a fancy label and will some day be improved. Please let me know if they don't appear (they don't on at least one MacOSX machine, possibly maybe due to an OpenGL driver problem).
Anaglyph stereo now works for most KnotPlot functions and interaction modes, including most of the demos on the DemoA and DemoB panel. Also, most of the Never ending exhibitions on the DemoA panel will run in anaglyph stereo mode.
To enable anaglyph stereo, either use one of the buttons on the DemoB panel, or use the button on the Disp panel.
Some demos which use frame buffer tricks (knot painting for example) do not work properly in this display mode.
All versions now include the "Decorative knots" collection (click on the "Cat" tab when running KnotPlot).
1,672 new knots with nice symmetries! This brings the total number of (preconstructed) knots in the KnotPlot distribution to over 3,000 knots! To see some of the new knots rendered in fancy colours, check out my decorative knots pages (two versions, on white and on black).
As hard is it is to believe, KnotPlot did not have a tcsh-like command line editing facility until somebody complained the lack of this feature at an AMS meeting in May 2003. Now KnotPlot has this feature! Make sure the KnotPlot command window or control panel has keyboard focus, and try some of the following:
Note: if the view window has keyboard focus, then some of the above may be interpreted differently.
try typing in mode E, or look at the Shadows demo on the DemoA panel or the G demo in the Graphics section of panel DemoB.
Now two levels of tabs to switch between control panels. Also, new control panels Braid and Cons (for contructions) added. Nothing really new here since the same functionality was available (and still is) via the torus and chain commands, but perhaps easier to play with.
The MacOSX version, like all versions of KnotPlot, assumes a three button mouse, a workaround for this may be coming some day. Also, the MacOSX version now saves exported files in the folder containing the KnotPlot application (which can now be located anywhere). In case you have trouble installing KnotPlot for MacOSX, consult the help page.
In the new versions of KnotPlot, the "objout" command (formerly known as the "wavefront" command) now exports multi-component links properly (without any stray polygons). It does this by writing each component to a separate .obj file. This may not be the best solution, but is better than incorrect output.
A hopelessly out of date (and sometimes wrong) version of the manual is available. The good news is that if you want to create light weight EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) pictures with KnotPlot, there is an up to date (but small) PSexamples manual as well as an extensive web page of PostScript and PDF examples, together with the KnotPlot commands used to create them.
The PDF version (updated 15 October 2002) is much more up to date than the HTML version, although it is still incomplete. I recommend you download the PDF version instead of consulting the HTML version.
A quick startup guide to using KnotPlot is also available (handout.pdf), as are five small tutorials (ex1.pdf, ex2.pdf, ex3.pdf, ex4.pdf, ex5.pdf).
This section is of interest to those using KnotPlot to study DNA topology. Included in the KnotPlot distribution is the Topological Interactive Construction Engine, or TopoICE, which implements Isabel Darcy's algorithms for solving tangle equations. TopoICE comes in two flavours TopoICE-X and TopoICE-R. The following support files for TopoICE are provided.
TanglePrimer.pdf
A primer on rational tangles
(preliminary version, 140 kilobytes)
TopoICE-Xmanual.pdf
TopoICE-X manual
(247 kilobytes)
TopoICE-Xexamples.pdf
TopoICE-X examples
(882 kilobytes)
TopoICE-Rmanual.pdf
TopoICE-R manual
(175 kilobytes)
TopoICE-Rexamples.pdf
TopoICE-R examples
(343 kilobytes)
I would like to thank the Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences, the Centre for Experimental and Constructive Mathematics, and the Department of Computer Science at UBC for previously hosting the KnotPlot web pages.
KnotPlot and the KnotPlot installation and distribution files are copyrighted by Rob Scharein. Unauthorized hosting of any of the installation or distribution files, on any web server for any purpose, is expressly forbidden.