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WulffmanDocumentation





Table Of Contents





Running Wulffman


Wulffman is a module to be used with Geomview, a 3-D visualization environment written by the Geometry Center at the University of Minnesota. The best way to learn how to use Wulffman is to experiment; it won't bite! The basic procedure for running WUlffman is as follows:

  1. Start Geomview
  2. Within the Modules panel of the Geomview window, click on Wulffman . The Wulffman control window should become visible.
  3. Open the Symmetry Tool and select a point group.
  4. Open the Facet Tool and enter some facets of interest
  5. Click Go in either the Control or Facet Windows. The Wulff shape should be generated and output to Geomview.
For a description of the details of Wulffman, read the documentation below, or use the on-line Help contained in each Wulffman window. The HTML documents and those contained within the program contain the same content, although there are no graphics within the program Help.




Basic Program Features


Overview

Wulffman is designed to construct the global Wulff shape that results from the intersection of one or more constituent Wulff shapes. The Global Shape Window in Wulffman is used to spawn, close, or destroy all of the windows associated with each sub-shape. Each individual sub-shape has its own set of specifications (Symmetry, Facets, Preferences,...) each of which is controlled by a distinct set of windows. The actual Wulff shape displayed by Geomview can then be either one of the individual sub-shapes or the intersection of any subset of all possible sub-shapes. A schematic representation of the relationship between the global window and all of the individual windows is shown below.


Window interrelationships in Wulffman. The Global Shape Window (top) control the existence of all sub-shape windows (Labeled windows 1, 2, and n for convenience).

Layout

The basic layout of the program invovles separation of the primary functions of the code into "Tool" windows and "Information" windows. Tool windows contain tools that the user can use to manipulate the program. Information windows contain information about selected aspects of each of the tools. Each primary window contains a colored field in the upper left portion of the window indicating its name.

Buttons

Normal
These buttons perform a simple function when pressed and do not remain active after their selection. An example of a normal button is the Close button present in all windows.
Toggle
These buttons control Wulffman's tool and information windows. When a toggle is activated, it changes color and the desired window is opened; closing the window acts to release the toggle, as does pushing the toggle while the window is active. Most of the buttons in the Main Window are toggles.
Exclusive
"Exclusive" buttons are used to select between a group of mutually exclusive options. When an exclusive button is active, it is colored, and selection of other buttons within its group automatically deactivates it. An example of this can be found in the selection of crystal systems .

There are two buttons that are used throughout the application: the Close and Help buttons. Close acts to close the window in which it is pressed, usually activating a toggle in the Main Window . The Help button brings up help about the features of the window in which it is pressed; global help is available by pressing Help in the Main window.

Data Fields

There are several instances where the user is presented with data fields that can be edited. Instances of editable data fields occur in the Facet Tool, Custom Tool, Matrix Info, and Coord Xform windows. An editable data field appears as a "down" box, and clicking on it with the mouse generates a cursor. Normal keystrokes and cursor movement commands then function within this field. Some data fields are not always editable by the user. These fields are represented by simple flat boxes around the data in question (see Coord Xform for an example). Clicking on these fields will have no effect .


Meta Window


This window controls all the Wulff shapes at once. It allows you to create new shapes, duplicate existing ones, and delete shapes. It also controls the intersection of shapes and provides statistics about the shape being shown by Geomview. The five buttons at the top of the window function as follows:

  • New: Add a new shape to the list and open up its Main window.
  • Go: Build the Wulff shape.
  • Prefs: Opens and closes the Preferences control window.
  • Help: Opens and closes a global help window.
  • Quit: Exit Wulffman. This will NOT delete the shape shown by Geomview.
Information can be found in the Statistics section about the displayed shape including the surface area, contained volume, and the total numbers of facets, edges, and vertices displayed by Geomview. Note that Euler's theorem governs the relationship between these three quantities: v - e + f = 2.

At the bottom of the window is a list of all the shapes which will be intersected to form the final shape. For most applications, only one Wulff shape will be examined. Each shape is described with one line on the form. From left to right:

  • A Label that will identify windows associated with this shape.
  • The current Symmetry group of the shape.
  • A toggle button that controls whether windows associated with this shape are Shown or not.
  • A toggle button indicating whether to Include this shape in the final intersection or not.
  • The Clone button produces another shape having the same symmetry and normals as the current shape. This is useful if you wish to intersect two identical shapes with different offsets or orientations.
  • The Delete


    Main Window


    This is the primary control window for an individual shape. It allows access to other Tool and Information windows, and gives additional status about the current state of the program. The six control buttons (specified below) are all toggles that open their respective windows. Help brings up help about this window. Close closes this window and all subsidiary windows, and pops up the show button on the Meta form.

    Tools for Building Wulff Shapes:

    Information Tools:

    Spatial parameters:

    • Origin Shift: The center of this Wulff shape is offset by a vector according to these three input fields. If you shift the origin of any Wulff shapes very far, you should be careful to enter a center point in the Preferences Form.
    • Rotation Angle: Rotate the Wulff shape by this angle (in degrees) around the Rotation Axis.
    • Rotation Axis: The vector about which the Wulff shape will be rotated. Note that only the direction is important: the magnitude will have no effect.

    Axes:

    • Show : Toggle that determines whether coordinate axes (either cell or Cartesian) are shown along with the Wulff shape.
    • Size : Allows adjustment of the size of the axes. Double and single arrows allow large or small incremental modifications of their length.

    Boundary:

    This section controls the features of the Boundary Polytope . This is a polytope that surrounds the Wulff shape at any given time; by default it is invisible, but note that each shape can have its own Boundary Polytope. The shape of this polytope is controlled by the Size and Skew parameters, and its volume is controlled by the Energy. The number of facets on the polytope is given by Size. The orientation of facets is determined by Skew . For Skew = 0, the facets are uniformly distributed over the surface of a sphere. For large values of Skew , the facets are distributed over the surface of a sphere with the additional constraint that they are repelled from orientations that correspond to user-defined facets. The strength of the repulsion is proportional to the value of Skew.
    • Color : The default color appears as black, but is actually transparent (the first entry in the colormap).
    • Size: Number of facets in the bounding polyhedron
    • Skew: Degree to which facets on the bounding polytope are skewed away from user-defined facets. A large value of the skew effectively creates more facets on the bounding polytope, assuming that this polytope intersects the Wulff shape.
    • Energy: Surface energy of the bounding polytope. A large value of the surface energy (i.e., much larger than that of the user-defined facets) will generate a bounding polytope that lies completely outside the Wulff shape. For energy values less than or equal to the energies of facets defined by the user, the bounding polytope effectively acts as an isotropic surface between facets (for a large enough value of Size ).



    Facet Tool:


    The Facet Tool controls the facets that will be present in the Wulff shape. Each facet is specified by its normal, i.e., the unit vector perpendicular to that plane. A surface energy for each facet can then be specified (the default is for isotropic surface energy). Once all of the information is entered by the user in this window, it must be exported to Wulffman for shape construction.

    • Go : Generate / Update the Wulff shape
    • New : Create a new (unspecified) facet
    • Load :
      Read in a set of stored facets. This buttong spawns a window allowing the user to locate the file containing the facets of interest. Within this load window, if the Overwrite button is lit, the facets that are read in will replace any existing list of facets. If it is not lit, then the facets that are read in are simply appended to the existing list. The symmetry group and crystal class associated with the loaded facets are set automatically. However, in the case of a set of facets corresponding to a Custom group, the custom group is not loaded; the custom group window is displayed and the user can load the appropriate custom group at that time.
    • Save :
      Save a group of facets (including the crystal class and the point group). No information about the boundary polyhedron is saved, and the current group name is only saved for reference purposes.
    • XYZ / HKL : (XYZ / HKL / UVW in V1.2.3)
      Facet specifications in either Cartesian or unit cell coordinates (or Miller indices in V1.2.3). Each "down" box is an editable field which holds facet normal directions. The current coordinate system is indicated by the colored letter above these fields. XYZ indicates cartesian coordinates, HKL indicates unit cell coordinates (Miller indices in V1.2.3+, with UVW indicating unit cell coordinates).
    • XYZ / HKL Selection Button: (XYZ / HKL / UVW in V1.2.3
      Choose between facet specification in Cartesian (XYZ) or Unit Cell (HKL) coordinates. Pushing this button shifts the facets to the coordinate system indicated, i.e., if the button reads HKL, then pushing it indicates facets should be input in HKL coordinates. In version 1.2.3, HKL indicates Miller indices, and UVW is used to indicate cell coordinates: the button is a triple-toggle, cycling between the three choices.
    • "On-the-Fly" Toggle:
      Update the Wulff shape automatically as surface energy is changed (small light button located to the left of the surface energy controls).
    • Surface energy :
      The value of the surface energy for each facet is controlled in this editable data field. Arrow buttons allow the value to be changed by large (>>) or small (>) preset increments. Clicking each button changes the surface energy by a given increment; holding down the button changes the surface energy continuously until released. Alternatively, the actual value of the surface energy can be changed directly in its field.
    • Unique :
      Toggle button that allows the user to specify whether the symmetry group operations will act on the given facet (default = TRUE). If this button is selected (yellow), then the facet is unique (i.e., it is a single crystallographic plane).
    • Number :
      The total number of symmetry-distinct facets of this type generated by the action of the symmetry group. Note that this is not necessarily the number of facets that are visible in Geomview on the Wulff shape.
    • Color :
      Choose the color for the given facet. Note that the first color of the colormap (black) is actually transparent, so that facets can be made to effectively disappear. Note in addition that entries can be added to the colormap through the Preferences control window.
    • Delete : Delete the given facet from the working set



    Symmetry Tool:


    Crystal System:

    Select the crystal system for use. These buttons all represent mutually exclusive options, hence only one system may be selected at any given time. Systems are divided into three categories: (1) crystallographic systems (those that are consistent with translational periodicity), (2) Icosahedral systems (those that possess the symmetry of one of the icosahedral point groups), and (3) Custom systems. Icosahedral systems are not consistent with tranlsational periodicity; custom systems, i.e., those defined by the user, are consistent with translational periodicity only if the custom group defines a subgroup of one of the crystallographic groups. In general, a custom system will not be consistent with translation, and hence is characterized below as non-crystallographic.

    • Crystallographic systems: Select the crystal system / Bravais lattice for use
      • Triclinic
      • Monoclinic (c-axis unique)
      • Orthorhombic
      • Tetragonal
      • Trigonal (Hexagonal axes)
      • Hexagonal
      • Cubic
    • Non-crystallographic systems:
      • Icosahedral : Choose groups possessing icosahedral symmetry
      • Custom : Select a custom group

    Point Group:

    Output in the point group field depends on what crystal system has been selected. If one of the crystallographic systems has been selected, then buttons for the crystallographic point groups corresponding to that crystal system will be revealed. If the icosahedral system is chosen, then buttons for the two icosahedral point groups will be displayed. If Custom is selected, buttons for custom groups will be displayed. If the user has not defined any custom groups, then these buttons will just display Custom 1 through Custom 6 . The user then needs to Edit the custom groups; this will have the effect of changing one of the displayed Custom buttons to reflect the set of symmetry elements specified.

    Additional Actions:

    • Group Info : Get information about the selected crystallographic groups
    • Show Matrices : Show the 3x3 matrices corresponding to the generators for the given group.
    • Coord Xform : View or edit unit cell parameters for the chosen crystal system that affect the global XYZ/HKL transformation.
    • Copy to Custom : (Visible only when non-custom group selected)
      Copy the selected crystallographic group to a custom group. This feature is useful if one wishes to add non-crystallographic symmetry elements to a crystallographic group.
    • Custom group actions: (Visible only when [Custom] selected)
      • Load : Load a custom group
      • Edit : Edit one of the defined custom groups or create a new custom group if none are defined.
      • Save : Save the currently selected custom group to file.



    Custom Tool:


    The Custom Tool allows the user to define a custom symmetry group. The user can choose rotations, roto-inversions, and mirror reflections to define the symmetry elements in the group. Each rotation axis is defined as a rotation by 360/n degrees, where the user supplies n and the direction around which the rotation occurs. Mirror planes are defined by their normals. Roto-inversion axes are defined by selecting the roto-inversion toggle in the rotations field. Global inversion symmetry is selected using the Inversion toggle. Users can also input symmetry manually in the form of their 3x3 matrices.

    • Group Name : Select a name for the current custom group
    • Load : Load the elements from a previously defined group.
    • Save : Save the current symmetry elements to a custom group.
    • Inversion : Toggle for global inversion symmetry
    • Custom Matrix : Input a symmetry matrix manually
    • Rotations:
      • Add: Add a new axis to the working set
      • n: Order of rotation (360/n degrees)
      • Axis: Select the axis about which the rotation occurs.
      • n_: Roto-inversion toggle (Default = No roto-inversion, Yellow = Roto-inversion Axis)
      • Delete : Delete this axis from the working set.
    • Mirrors:
      • Add : Add a new mirror plane
      • Axis : Normal direction of mirror plane
      • Delete : Delete this mirror plane from the working set.



    Preferences:


    This window allows modification of some of the more detailed control features associated with construction of the Wulff shape. Any changes made to input parameters do not take effect immediately. The user must press a carriage return in any of the editable fields for these changes to take effect.

    • Interior Point:
      In order to use the fast Qhull algorithm to compute the Wulff shape, we need to know a priori one point that will be interior to the end shape. With just a single Wulff shape, this is trivially the center of the Wulff shape, but if two or more shapes are intersected, finding such an interior point can be non-trivial. Thus, we leave it up to the user.
    • Tolerances:
      • Vertex:
        The minimum distance between vertices that are to be considered distinct. Any vertices generated by action of symmetry operations that are separated by distances smaller than this value will be considered the same vertex.
      • Normal:
        The minimum distance between normals defining distinct facets (similar in spirit to Vertex tolerance).
      • Max Facets:
        The maximum number of facets allowed in any given Wulff shape. The primary function of this value is to control situations where an unreasonably large number of facets are generated by action of the symmetry group. An example of such a situation would be if a user defined a rotation group that involved rotations by some infinitesmal angle. Under the action of such a group, a huge number of equivalent facets could be generated. These situations should, in general, be avoided.
    • Colormap:
      This button allows modification of the existing colormap. It allows for modification of existing colors or addition of new colors. A new color is added by simply clicking on one of the black fields below existing colormap entries. A pop-up window then allows the user to either choose from a group of predefined colors or specify the RGB values for a custom color. Note that existing colormap entries can be modified, but this is likely to have unwanted side-effects on the appearance of the windows within Wulffman.
    • Energy Increment:
      These input fields allow the user to adjust how rapidly the surface energy will change when the energy arrows are clicked in the Facet Tool. The large and small increments can be changed independently.
    • Postscript:
      Also known as "a Wulff in sheets, folding". This feature allows you to print out a version of your Wulff shape. Select a file name and hit this Go button, and a flattened version will be produced as PostScript scaled to fit on one 8.5"x11" piece of paper (with a small border for color printers). With some cutting, folding, and taping, you can produce a real model of your Wulff shape.



    Group Information Window:


    This window displays selected information about the current crystallographic group. For each group, there is a finite set of symmetry operations, the number being the order n of the group. The action of each symmetry element on a point in three-dimensional space creates an equivalent point , i.e., one that is equivalent to the first under the given symmetry operations. If one were to operate the entire group on this point, a set of m equivalent points would be generated, where m is less than or equal to n, the group order.

    • Equivalent points:
      The graphic in the upper left of the window is the stereographic projection of the set of points equivalent to a general point. A representative stereographic projection is given in Figure 1.

      Figure 1:: Locate a general position (large filled circle) on the surface of a sphere centered at the origin. The action of each symmetry element of the point group on the vector to the general position generates an equivalent position. Equivalent positions can either be above (small filled circles) or below (open circles) the equatorial plane of the sphere (denoted projection plane ). A two-dimensional representation of these equivalent points is then obtained by projecting each of them onto the projection plane, with points above the plane projecting as filled circles, and those below as open circles.

    • Symmetry elements:
      The graphic in the upper right of the window is a stereographic projection of the symmetry elements for the chosen group. The meaning of each symbol can be found in most standard reference texts on crystallography (ITC).
    • Order: Number of symmetry operations (elements) in the group
    • Notation for selected point group:
      There are three different standard notations for crystallographic point groups. The short Hermann-Mauguin symbol is most often used, although the Schoenflies notation is commonly used as well. An explanation of the meaning of the various group names can be found in the ITC.
      • Hermann-Mauguin (Short)
      • Hermann-Mauguin (Full)
      • Schoenflies
    • Information about crystal system: For each crystallographic system, there is a corresponding set of requirements for the unit cell vector lengths and the angles between these vectors. These requirements are specified in this section; inequality between parameters is represented by a "<>" symbol, and any piece of information not specified is understood to represent a free parameter.



    Matrix Info Window:


    Each of the symmetry operations for a given group are represented as 3x3 matrices. A subset of the symmetry elements can be used to generate all of the others; these elements are appropriately termed generators for the group. In the Matrix Information Window, the generators for the current group can be browsed, and in the case of custom groups, edited.

    • Generator:
      The number of the current generator. The total number of generators is given to the far right. The user can jump to a specific generator by editing the data field, or move through the generators using the left and right arrow buttons.
    • Matrix elements:
      The 3x3 matrix representing a given symmetry element. For the crystallographic and icosahedral groups, the elements are fixed and cannot be edited; custom group elements can be changed.



    Coord Xform Window:


    The matrices of the symmetry elements for a given crystallographic group depend on the coordinate system chosen. Facets for generating the Wulff shape must be entered in a coordinate system that is the same as that used to represent the symmetry elements. The default coordinate system is Cartesian, but circumstances may arise where another coordinate system is desirable. For example, the user may wish to enter facets in terms of unit cell coordinates , as opposed to Cartesian coordinates (see Figure 2).


    Figure 2: Unit cell parameters as defined inside Wulffman. Cell vectors and angles are indicated. Cartesian axes are superimposed.


    If facets are entered in HKL coordinates, a coordinate transformation must be performed on the facets to change them into their appropriate Cartesian values. The unit cell geometry for a given crystal system (cell constants and angles as defined in Figure 2) determines the form that this transformation takes. All of this information can be specified by the user should such transformations be desirable. The user has the option of either editing the values of the cell constants and angles, or the values in the transformation matrix itself. Editing one set of values fixes the others necessarily.

    • Reset : Revert to the default transformation
    • Unit cell parameters : Specify the cell parameters for the desired transformation. The parameters that can be modified by the user are indicated with "down" boxes, and are determined by the current crystal system. If the crystal system is Custom, these fields are meaningless.
    • Matrix : The matrix of the transformation. This is not editable in the case of crystallographic groups, but can be modified for custom groups.



    Glossary:


    Wulff Shape
    The mathematical definition of a Wulff shape is as follows: Given a set of N planes (defined by their normals) and energies associated with these planes {n(i),e(i)} (i=1,...,N), the Wulff shape W is defined as W = {r; r*n(i) <= e(i) for all i}, where r is an arbitrary point in space. Generally speaking, a Wulff shape is the convex polyhedron that defines a minimum energy shape for a crystal, and is hence presumably the form in which the crystal would be observed.
    Unit cell
    The fundamental building block of a periodic crystal. When the unit cell is repeated periodically according to the tranlsation vectors of the crystal lattice, the entire crystal is generated.
    Group
    A group is a set that is closed under some (unspecified) binary operation (*). Closure under this operation means that for every pair of elements A and B in the group, the element C created by combining A and B under this operation ( C = A * B ) must also be in the group. There are three properties of groups:
    1. Every group possess an identity element I such that for an element A, A * I = A.
    2. Every element A of the group possesses an inverse A_1 such that A * A_1 = I.
    3. The group operation is associative, so that (A * B) * C = A * (B * C) for elements A, B, and C in the group.
    Groups are not necessarily commutative (i.e., A * B = B * A); groups that are also commutative are called Abelian. In the above defintion of a group, no reference is made to the properties of the elements of the group, i.e., what these elements represent. The simplest example of a group is a permutation group, the set of all permutations of a collection of objects. The operation in the group is defined as the act of permutation. The set {123, 312, 231} is a simple permutation group of order three that is closed under a permutation that does a simple right shift of the elements.
    Point group
    A point group is a group whose elements represent point isometries, i.e., actions on Euclidean space that leave the distance between points invariant. The elements of the point group leave the environment around a point invariant. The form that these isometries take are rotations of space, reflections through a plane, inversion through a point, or a combination of rotation followed by inversion.
    Crystallographic Point Group
    A point group whose symmetry elements are consistent with translationally periodic structures. Rotations in such a group are restricted to being of order 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6. Combinations of these rotations with reflections and inversions generate the 32 crystallographic point groups.
    Translational Periodicity
    A lattice is said to possess translational periodicity because it can be generated by periodic repetitions of translations of a fundamental building block, the unit cell.
    Lattice
    A collection of mathematical points in space where each point can be written as r = a1*a + a2*a + a3*c (a1, a2, a3 integer). Vectors a, b, and c are referred to as the translation vectors of the lattice, and define a nontrivial, discrete subgroup of the group of all translations. A lattice in three dimensions is simply a set of stacked parallelepipeds.
    Reflection / Mirror
    The symmetry operation that involves reflecting all points through a plane. For example, if the xz-plane is taken to be a mirror plane, then the action of this plane if to reflect every point (x,y,z) into (x,-y,z). The type of mirror / reflection plane is defined by its normal (i.e., the vector perpendicular to it).
    Rotation (or order n)
    The symmetry operation that rotates space about some axis by (360/n) degrees. For example, a 4-fold rotation around the z-axis rotates space by 90 degrees, i.e., a point (x,y,z) is rotated to (y,-x,z).
    Roto-Inversion (of order n)
    A rotation of order n followed by inversion through the origin.
    Inversion
    The symmetry operation that takes every point (x,y,z) into (-x,-y,-z).
    Facet
    A face of a polyhedron, defined by its normal vector.
    Order
    (i) The order of a group is the number of elements that are contained in the group. (ii) A rotation axis of order n defines a rotation by (360/n) degrees. (iii) The order of a group element is the number of times that element must be applied to itself before one obtains the identity element.
    Identity
    The element of a group that leaves elements unchanged, i.e., A * I = A for every element A in the group. In terms of point groups, the identity element takes every point (x,y,z) onto itself.
    Crystal system
    The classification of a three-dimensional lattice that refers to the largest crystallographic point group that leaves the lattice invariant. In three dimensions, there are seven such crystal systems: triclinic, monoclinic, orthorhombic, tetragonal, trigonal (rhombohedral) hexagonal, and cubic. The 14 Bravais lattices are a subset of these crystal systems.
    Generator
    A group can be generated by a subset of its elements simply by combining these elements under the group operation, thus creating new elements. These new elements are then combined with all elements and the process is repeated until closure of the group is achieved.
    Stereographic Projection
    A simplified representation of equivalent points or symmetry elements in three dimensions that involves projections of points on the surface of the sphere onto the equatorial plane of the sphere.

    Center for Theoretical and Computational Materials Science, NIST
    Questions or comments: wulffman@ctcms.nist.gov

 
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Last updated: Sep 29, 2002