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Details

Package ID

asymptote

Version

3.15.0

Downloads

5677

Website

https://asymptote.sourceforge.io/

Summary

The Vector Graphics Language

Description

Asymptote is a powerful, descriptive, vector-graphics language with a natural coordinate-based framework for technical drawing, inspired by MetaPost but with an improved C+±like syntax. Asymptote provides the same high-quality typesetting for figures that LaTeX does for scientific and mathematics text.

A major advantage of Asymptote over other graphics packages is that it is a programming language, as opposed to just a graphics program.

You can even run it in your browser without installing it, using the Asymptote Web Application. Just enter the code: import workcone; (including the semicolon) and click the Run button.

Features of Asymptote:

• provides a portable standard for typesetting mathematical figures, just as TeX/LaTeX has become the standard for typesetting equations;
• generates high-quality PostScript, PDF, SVG, WebGL, and PRC vector graphics;
• embeds 3D vector WebGL graphics within HTML files;
• embeds 3D vector PRC graphics within PDF files;
• inspired by MetaPost, with a much cleaner, powerful C+±like programming syntax and IEEE floating-point numerics;
• runs on all major platforms (UNIX, MacOS, Microsoft Windows);
• mathematically oriented (e.g. rotation of vectors by complex multiplication);
• LaTeX typesetting of labels (for document consistency);
• uses the simplex method and deferred drawing to solve overall size constraint issues between fixed-sized objects (labels and arrowheads) and objects that should scale with figure size;
• fully generalizes MetaPost path construction algorithms to three dimensions;
• compiles commands into virtual machine code for speed without sacrificing portability;
• high-level graphics commands are implemented in the Asymptote language itself, allowing them to be tailored to specific applications.

Recommended additional packages

• MiKTeX or another TEX implementation (i.e. TeX Live) will be required to typeset labels.
• Ghostscript
• ImageMagick is required to support output formats other than HTML, PDF, SVG, and PNG.
• Python3 or Anaconda3 is only needed if you wish to try out the graphical user interface (see Chapter 11 of the documentation.)

64-bit only

• As of version 2.93, Asymptote for Windows is 64-bit only.

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