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Lua Graphics Toolkit

The Lua Graphics Toolkit is a Lua module designed for crafting plots and graphics animations through an easy-to-use Lua interface. This module is compatible with both Windows and Linux as a standard Lua module. Although it can function on macOS, it requires an X Window server.

To ensure high-quality rendering, the module employs the AntiGrain Geometry library. This allows for exceptional rendering quality via anti-aliasing and subpixel resolution.

It supports Lua versions 5.1, 5.4, and LuaJIT 2.0 or 2.1.

All functions are thoroughly documented in the user manual, and several examples are available in the git repository.

The toolkit offers a straightforward interface for plotting functions. However, users can also access detailed control options. These include customizing graphical elements such as colors, positions, and the rendering pipeline. Additionally, the module natively supports Bezier curves, thanks to the AGG library.

Further customization is available for axes, allowing for unique labels and even layered label systems.

Plot legends are also a feature, although with certain restrictions. Currently, legends cannot be placed inside the plot area.

Animations

The module facilitates the creation of animations through a layered mechanism and several methods for adding and clearing elements from the current layer.

To craft an animation, elements are added to the plot. To generate a new frame, the current layer is cleared using the plot:clear() method, allowing the addition of new elements for the next frame. The "sync" property can be set to "false" to accumulate changes, which can then be applied with plot:flush() to refresh the window.

Multiple layers can be used effectively in animations. One layer can hold static graphical elements, while another layer can be dedicated to dynamic elements, creating a more complex animation.

Building

The graphics module can be built either using the Meson build system or using GNU make.

To build the following development packages are required:

  • the freetype2 library
  • the corresponding Lua or LuaJIT development package

The AGG library is also required but, when using Meson, it will be automatically downloaded and built so the corresponding development package is not needed. When using the Makefile instead it is required to install the AGG library development package.

To build using Meson use the commands:

# The following command setup the build.
# Use the lua option to choose between: lua5.1, lua5.4 and luajit
# Meson will accept the following general options:
# - --prefix=<prefix-dir>
# - --buildtype=<release-or-debug>
meson setup -Dlua=lua5.4 build

# The following command will actually compile the library
meson compile -C .build

# Do the following to install. Meson accept a --destdir option to
# specify a destination directory for packaging.
meson install -C .build

To build using GNU Makefile please edit src/makeconfig to choose the Lua version to use or LuaJIT and the prefix directory, then use the commands:

make
make DESTDIR=<dest-dir> install

History

The Lua Graphics Module was previously part of GSL Shell where it is still used. By looking at GSL Shell you can find more example of its utilisation.