Vector functions in nppas?

haesleinhuepf / napari-process-points-and-surfaces

Process and analyze surfaces using vedo in napari.

BSD 3-Clause "New" or "Revised" License

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Vector functions in nppas? #67

Open jo-mueller opened 1 year ago

jo-mueller commented 1 year ago

Hi @haesleinhuepf ,

just a general point of discussion: Would it be desirable to also put some vector functionality here? I was thinking about stuff like

calculating vectors (e.g., normal vectors, mesh edges, distances between points, etc)
measuring features along vectors (e.g., length, intensity along vector, etc - could integrate nicely with the new cle features for that purpose)
mesh intersections
visualize paths on surfaces

The data structure of vectors in napari is relatively simple; It's (N, 2, D), which is a stack of the starting point of the vector and its direction for N vectors.

haesleinhuepf commented 1 year ago

Hey Johannes @jo-mueller ,

great idea! I would have two minor concerns:

I have very little projects where vectors play a role. I have also never used them within napari. Before spending too much effort, a list of use-cases would be nice.
I presume this would introduce new dependencies. But I have zero experience.

How about starting this as a new, independent napari plugin? I'm happy to contribute, review code etc. but won't manage to lead its development.

Let me know what you think.

Best, Robert

jo-mueller commented 1 year ago

I presume this would introduce new dependencies. But I have zero experience.

At least for the stuff I use, it's entirely in vedo, or can be plain numpy. Plus, the context(s) where I think that vectors would be relevant are very closely linked to points and surfaces.

I added some links further up.