aiden3drenderer 1.9.3

A lightweight 3D wireframe renderer built from scratch using Pygame

Aiden3DRenderer

A lightweight but capable 3D renderer for Python + Pygame with custom projection math, first-person camera controls, procedural geometry, OBJ support, basic physics, and an optional GPU raster path.

Feature List (Clickable)

Every item below links to its explanation section.

• Custom 3D Projection - Projection pipeline implemented manually (no external 3D engine).
• First-Person Camera (6-DOF) - Mouse look + keyboard movement with speed control.
• 15+ Procedural Shape Generators - Mountains, cities, fractals, knots, and more.
• Real-Time Rendering - Designed for responsive live rendering workflows.
• Animated Terrains - Time-based procedural surfaces.
• Extensible Shape API - Register your own shapes with @register_shape.
• Multiple Object Support - Render multiple meshes/shapes in one scene.
• Per-Shape Colors - Custom colors for polygon/raster workflows.
• Simple Physics Engine - Basic forces and collisions for spheres/planes/camera.
• OBJ Loading - Load and render .obj files with triangulation and UV parsing.
• Rasterization Paths - CPU fill path + GPU compute-shader raster path.
• Three Render Modes - MESH, POLYGON_FILL, and RASTERIZE.
• Raster Debug Views - Depth and heat-map diagnostics.
• Texture Mapping - UV texture sampling in raster mode.
• Multi-Texture Pipeline - Multiple texture layers selectable per OBJ.
• Rasterization Paths - CPU fill path + GPU compute-shader raster path.
• Three Render Modes - MESH, POLYGON_FILL, and RASTERIZE.
• Raster Debug Views - Depth and heat-map diagnostics.
• Texture Mapping - UV texture sampling in raster mode.
• Multi-Texture Pipeline - Multiple texture layers selectable per OBJ.
• Entities - Lightweight in-scene entities with scripted behaviour, bounding boxes, and basic collision support.
• Custom Shaders - Helper wrapper for OpenGL compute shaders with SSBO/uniform helpers.
• Runtime Shape Management - Toggle built-in defaults while running.
• Skybox Rendering - Generate cubemap skyboxes from UVs or cross atlas layouts.
• Pause + Settings UI - Tune mode, FOV, debug views, and lighting live.
• Video Renderer (Experimental) - Render OBJ animation clips to video output.
• macOS GPU Note - Compute-shader limitation and VM workaround.

Gallery

Ripple Effect Expanding waves from center	Mandelbulb Slice 3D fractal cross-section
Turning Spiral Screw-like surface animation	Simple City Large procedural city terrain
Tree Mesh Wireframe OBJ rendering	Tree Solid Render Filled rendering from same scene
Colored Tree Per-shape color update showcase	Physics Demo Collision and motion in scene
Skull + Skybox OBJ + environment background	Minecraft Boat Wireframe Complex model wireframe preview

Installation

pip install aiden3drenderer

Requirements:

• Python 3.11+
• Pygame 2.6.0+ (installed automatically)

Quick Start

Minimal Example

from aiden3drenderer import Renderer3D, renderer_type

renderer = Renderer3D()
renderer.camera.position = [0, 0, 0]
renderer.render_type = renderer_type.POLYGON_FILL
renderer.run()

Looped Run Example

Use loopable_run() when you want to integrate custom game logic each frame.

from aiden3drenderer import Renderer3D, renderer_type

renderer = Renderer3D()
renderer.render_type = renderer_type.POLYGON_FILL

while True:
    # Custom logic here
    renderer.loopable_run()

Runtime Pause/Settings

Press Esc during run() to open the runtime menu.

You can:

• Switch render mode (MESH / POLYGON_FILL / RASTERIZE)
• Toggle raster debug views (depth/heat)
• Adjust FOV
• Adjust lighting strictness
• Toggle OBJ render mode handling

Feature Explanations

Custom 3D Projection

The renderer uses a full world-to-screen pipeline implemented in Python:

1. Translate vertices into camera space.
2. Apply yaw/pitch/roll rotations.
3. Perspective divide by depth with FOV scaling.
4. Map to screen coordinates.

No external 3D engine is required for the core projection math.

First-Person Camera (6-DOF)

Camera movement is designed for interactive exploration:

• Movement: W/A/S/D, Space, Left Shift
• Speed boost: Left Ctrl
• Rotation: right mouse drag + arrow key nudging
• FOV tweak: mouse wheel

15+ Procedural Shape Generators

Built-in generators include mathematical and stylized surfaces such as:

• Mountain, canyon, pyramid, torus, sphere
• Mobius strip, megacity, mandelbulb slice
• Klein bottle, trefoil knot
• Animated waves/ripples/spirals/alien terrain/double helix

Real-Time Rendering

The engine is designed for live rendering loops and interactive scenes. Typical scenes can run smoothly at real-time frame rates depending on selected mode and geometry complexity.

Animated Terrains

Animated shapes use the frame parameter inside shape generators. This enables time-driven deformation without changing the API shape contract.

Extensible Shape API

Create custom shapes using @register_shape.

from aiden3drenderer import Renderer3D, register_shape
import pygame

@register_shape("My Plane", key=pygame.K_p, is_animated=False, color=(200, 255, 150))
def generate_plane(grid_size=40, frame=0):
    return [
        [(1, 1, 1), (2, 1, 1), (3, 1, 1)],
        [(1, 1, 2), (2, 1, 2), (3, 1, 2)],
        [(1, 1, 3), (2, 1, 3), (3, 1, 3)],
    ]

renderer = Renderer3D()
renderer.run()

Important shape rule:

• Return a rectangular matrix (list[list[tuple | None]]) where all rows have the same length.

Multiple Object Support

You can render multiple objects at once by appending several shape/OBJ entries to the active scene list.

Per-Shape Colors

Shapes can define explicit base colors in registration, which are respected in filled/raster workflows.

Simple Physics Engine

Physics module supports basic rigid-body style interactions:

• Sphere objects
• Plane colliders
• Gravity/forces
• Sphere-sphere and sphere-plane collision handling
• Camera physics wrapper support

For a full example, see the Physics section below.

Entities

Lightweight in-scene Entity objects are provided to attach models to simple runtime behaviour. Key points:

• Entities wrap a model (vertices/faces) and expose a small API: add_script(script_str), toggle_gravity(), update(), and helpers to add variables/functions accessible to scripts.
• Scripts are plain Python strings executed with exec() in a sandboxed-ish variables namespace; the default namespace contains entity and renderer.
• Built-in gravity script and collision helpers allow snapping, terminal velocity, and simple positional resolution using the renderer's bounding_boxes.
• Entities maintain position, rotation, velocity, a bounding_box, and delta_time and are updated each frame via Entity.update().

Example:

from aiden3drenderer import Renderer3D, Entity, obj_loader

renderer = Renderer3D()
obj = obj_loader.get_obj("./assets/alloy_forge_block.obj")
entity = Entity(obj, renderer)
entity.toggle_gravity()
renderer.entities.append(entity)

while True:
  for e in renderer.entities:
    e.update()
  renderer.loopable_run()

OBJ Loading

OBJ workflow supports standard model loading with extra quality-of-life features:

• Load from file path
• Parse UV (vt) data for raster texturing
• Triangulate faces with more than 3 vertices
• Per-object offset and texture_index support

For full usage, see OBJ Loading.

Rasterization Paths

Two fill/raster workflows are available:

• CPU software triangle filling (POLYGON_FILL)
• GPU compute-shader rasterization (RASTERIZE)

Custom Shaders

CustomShader is a small helper around a ModernGL compute shader that parses buffer/uniform declarations and exposes simple helpers:

• Create with shader source and an optional ModernGL context: CustomShader(shader_code, context=ctx).
• Allocate SSBO-style buffers via set_buffer(name, element_count, element_size=None) which binds storage buffers by layout binding.
• Write to buffers/uniforms with write_to_buffer(name, bytes) and write_to_uniform(name, value_or_bytes).
• Read results back from buffers with read_from_buffer(name, num_elements, element_type='vec3') which returns a NumPy array.

Example usage:

from aiden3drenderer.custom_shader import CustomShader
shader_src = """#version 430
layout(std430, binding=0) buffer mybuf { vec4 data[]; };
void main(){ /* ... */ }
"""

cs = CustomShader(shader_src, context=renderer.ctx)
cs.set_buffer('mybuf', element_count=1024, element_size=16)
# write raw bytes (numpy.tobytes()) and dispatch via cs.compute_shader

Three Render Modes

Switch with renderer.render_type:

• renderer_type.MESH
• renderer_type.POLYGON_FILL
• renderer_type.RASTERIZE

Raster Debug Views

When using RASTERIZE mode:

• toggle_depth_view(True) for depth visualization
• toggle_heat_map(True) for heat-map diagnostics

Texture Mapping

Apply texture sampling in raster mode using image files and OBJ UV coordinates.

Multi-Texture Pipeline

Add multiple texture layers and assign each OBJ to one via texture_index.

from aiden3drenderer import Renderer3D, obj_loader, renderer_type

renderer = Renderer3D(width=1000, height=800)
renderer.render_type = renderer_type.RASTERIZE
renderer.using_obj_filetype_format = True

renderer.add_texture_for_raster("./assets/model1.png")  # index 0
renderer.add_texture_for_raster("./assets/model2.png")  # index 1

obj1 = obj_loader.get_obj("./assets/model1.obj", texture_index=0)
obj2 = obj_loader.get_obj("./assets/model2.obj", texture_index=1, offset=(6, 0, 0))

renderer.vertices_faces_list.append(obj1)
renderer.vertices_faces_list.append(obj2)
renderer.run()

Runtime Shape Management

Enable or disable built-in shape set at runtime:

renderer = Renderer3D(load_default_shapes=False)
renderer.set_use_default_shapes(True)

Skybox Rendering

Skyboxes can be generated from:

• Explicit cubemap UV mappings
• Cross-layout atlas images via generate_cross_type_cubemap_skybox(...)

Pause + Settings UI

Esc opens a pause/settings UI while running. Use it for fast iteration without restarting your app.

Video Renderer

The package includes an experimental OBJ-to-video renderer:

• Uses the same projection concepts as live renderer
• Supports per-object transforms and rotation rates
• Suitable for simple pre-rendered clips

More details in Video Renderer.

macOS GPU Note

RASTERIZE mode requires OpenGL 4.3 compute shaders, which are not available natively on macOS. Use MESH/POLYGON_FILL on macOS, or see VM Workaround for macOS.

Renderer Modes and Debugging

from aiden3drenderer import Renderer3D, renderer_type

renderer = Renderer3D()
renderer.render_type = renderer_type.RASTERIZE
renderer.set_texture_for_raster("./assets/alloy_forge_block.png")
renderer.toggle_depth_view(True)
renderer.run()

Creating Custom Shapes

Shape functions must return a rectangular vertex matrix. Jagged rows can cause IndexError during mesh traversal.

Advanced Shape Example

from aiden3drenderer import Renderer3D, register_shape
import pygame

@register_shape("My Pyramid", key=pygame.K_p, is_animated=False)
def generate_pyramid(grid_size=40, frame=0):
    matrix = []
    center = grid_size / 2

    for x in range(grid_size):
        row = []
        for y in range(grid_size):
            dx = abs(x - center)
            dy = abs(y - center)
            max_dist = max(dx, dy)
            height = max(0, 10 - max_dist)
            row.append((x, height, y))
        matrix.append(row)

    return matrix

renderer = Renderer3D()
renderer.run()

Physics

About

Physics in Aiden3DRenderer is intentionally lightweight and extensible.

You can:

• Create sphere and plane physics objects
• Apply forces and impulses
• Simulate collisions
• Attach a physics camera
• Manage everything through PhysicsObjectHandler

Example: Two Colliding Spheres

from aiden3drenderer import Renderer3D, physics, renderer_type


def main():
    renderer = Renderer3D(width=1000, height=1000, title="My 3D Renderer")

    shape = physics.ShapePhysicsObject(renderer, "sphere", (0, 0, 0), (100, 0, 0), 5, 20, 20)
    shape.add_forces((-0.7, 0, 0))
    shape.anchor_position = [20, 0, 0]

    shape1 = physics.ShapePhysicsObject(renderer, "sphere", (0, 0, 0), (50, 0, 0), 5, 10, 20)
    shape1.add_forces((0.7, 0, 0))
    shape1.anchor_position = [0, 0, 0]

    obj_handler = physics.PhysicsObjectHandler()
    obj_handler.add_shape(shape)
    obj_handler.add_shape(shape1)

    renderer.set_starting_shape(None)
    renderer.camera.position = [0, 0, 0]
    renderer.render_type = renderer_type.POLYGON_FILL

    while True:
        obj_handler.handle_shapes()
        renderer.loopable_run()


if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

Example: Balls in a Box + Camera Physics

from aiden3drenderer import Renderer3D, physics, renderer_type


def main():
    renderer = Renderer3D(width=1000, height=1000, title="My 3D Renderer")
    obj_handler = physics.PhysicsObjectHandler()

    plane_color = (200, 200, 200)
    plane_size = 28
    grid_size = 8

    obj_handler.add_plane(renderer, [0, -14, 0], (0, 0, 0), plane_color, plane_size, grid_size)
    obj_handler.add_plane(renderer, [-14, 0, 0], (0, 0, 90), plane_color, plane_size, grid_size)
    obj_handler.add_plane(renderer, [14, 0, 0], (0, 0, 90), plane_color, plane_size, grid_size)
    obj_handler.add_plane(renderer, [0, 0, -14], (90, 0, 0), plane_color, plane_size, grid_size)
    obj_handler.add_plane(renderer, [0, 0, 14], (90, 0, 0), plane_color, plane_size, grid_size)

    ball_color = (100, 100, 255)
    ball_radius = 4
    ball_mass = 2.5
    ball_grid = 8

    ball1 = physics.ShapePhysicsObject(renderer, "sphere", (0, 0, 0), ball_color, ball_radius, ball_mass, ball_grid)
    ball1.anchor_position = [0, 0, 0]

    ball2 = physics.ShapePhysicsObject(renderer, "sphere", (0, 0, 0), ball_color, ball_radius, ball_mass, ball_grid)
    ball2.anchor_position = [9, 0, 0]

    gravity = (0, -0.18, 0)
    ball1.add_forces((1, 0, 1))

    camera = physics.CameraPhysicsObject(renderer, renderer.camera, 1, 10)
    obj_handler.add_camera(camera)

    obj_handler.add_shape(ball1)
    obj_handler.add_shape(ball2)

    renderer.set_starting_shape(None)
    renderer.render_type = renderer_type.POLYGON_FILL
    renderer.camera.base_speed = 1.2

    while True:
        ball1.add_forces(gravity)
        ball2.add_forces(gravity)
        camera.add_forces(tuple(v * 100 for v in gravity))
        obj_handler.handle_shapes()
        renderer.loopable_run()


if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

OBJ Loading

Example

from aiden3drenderer import Renderer3D, obj_loader, renderer_type


def main():
    renderer = Renderer3D(width=1000, height=1000, title="My 3D Renderer")

    renderer.current_shape = None
    renderer.camera.position = [0, 0, 0]
    renderer.render_type = renderer_type.POLYGON_FILL
    renderer.using_obj_filetype_format = True

    obj = obj_loader.get_obj("./assets/alloy_forge_block.obj", texture_index=0)
    renderer.vertices_faces_list.append(obj)

    renderer.run()


if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

Notes

• obj_loader.get_obj(path, texture_index, offset=(x, y, z)) supports per-object texture selection and world-space offset.
• N-gon faces are triangulated automatically.
• UV coordinates (vt) are parsed for texture mapping in raster mode.
• Cross-layout skybox helper: generate_cross_type_cubemap_skybox(radius, img_path).

Video Renderer

A lightweight experimental renderer for creating video clips from OBJ scenes.

Basic Usage

from aiden3drenderer.video_renderer import VideoRenderer3D, VideoRendererObject

obj = VideoRendererObject("assets/alloy_forge_block.obj")
obj.rotations_per_seccond = [10, 25, 0]
obj.rotation = [0, 0, 0]

vr = VideoRenderer3D(width=800, height=600, fps=30, shapes=[obj])
vr.render("out.avi", duration_s=5, verbose=True)

Multiple Objects

from aiden3drenderer.video_renderer import VideoRenderer3D, VideoRendererObject

o1 = VideoRendererObject("assets/model1.obj")
o1.rotations_per_seccond = [0, 40, 0]

o2 = VideoRendererObject("assets/model2.obj")
o2.rotations_per_seccond = [10, 0, 5]
o2.anchor_pos = [4, 0, 8]

vr = VideoRenderer3D(width=1200, height=800, fps=24, shapes=[o2, o1])
vr.render("multiples.avi", duration_s=10, verbose=True)

Tips:

• Keep resolution/FPS moderate while this module is still being optimized.
• Minor seam/overdraw artifacts are known limitations at the moment.

macOS GPU Note

GPU RASTERIZE mode needs GL 4.3 compute shaders, which are unavailable on native macOS drivers.

VM Workaround for macOS

• Install UTM
• Download Ubuntu ISO
• Create a Linux VM in UTM
• Install Python:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install python3.11
python3 --version
sudo apt install python3-pip

Then install the package inside the VM:

pip install aiden3drenderer

Controls

Camera Movement

• W/A/S/D - Move forward/left/backward/right
• Space - Move up
• Left Shift - Move down
• Left Ctrl - Speed boost (2x)
• Mouse wheel - Adjust camera FOV
• Arrow keys - Fine pitch/yaw adjustment
• Right mouse + drag - Look around

Terrain Selection

• 1 - Mountain terrain
• 2 - Animated sine waves
• 3 - Ripple effect
• 4 - Canyon valley
• 5 - Stepped pyramid
• 6 - Spiral surface
• 7 - Torus
• 8 - Sphere
• 9 - Mobius strip
• 0 - Megacity
• Q - Alien landscape
• E - Double helix
• R - Mandelbulb slice
• T - Klein bottle
• Y - Trefoil knot

Other

• Escape - Open/close pause menu in run() mode

Terrain Descriptions

Static Terrains

Mountain (1) - Smooth parabolic mountain with radial falloff.

Canyon (4) - U-shaped valley with sinusoidal variation.

Pyramid (5) - Stepped pyramid using Chebyshev distance.

Torus (7) - Classic donut shape from parametric equations.

Sphere (8) - UV sphere generated from spherical coordinates.

Mobius Strip (9) - Non-orientable surface with a single continuous side.

Megacity (0) - 80x80 procedural city (6400 vertices) with roads and building variation.

Mandelbulb (R) - 2D slice through a Mandelbulb-style fractal field.

Klein Bottle (T) - Non-orientable 4D-inspired surface projected into 3D.

Trefoil Knot (Y) - Tube mesh along a classic trefoil knot path.

Animated Terrains

Waves (2) - Multi-frequency flowing sine surface.

Ripple (3) - Expanding circular wave with amplitude decay.

Spiral (6) - Rotating polar-coordinate surface animation.

Alien Landscape (Q) - Mixed procedural terrain with craters, spikes, and pulsation.

Double Helix (E) - Twin strand structure with phase offset and animation.

Technical Details

3D Projection Pipeline

1. World coordinates
2. Camera translation
3. Camera rotation (yaw/pitch/roll)
4. Perspective projection with FOV
5. Screen-space mapping

Rotation Equations

Yaw (Y-axis):

x' = x*cos(theta) + z*sin(theta)
z' = -x*sin(theta) + z*cos(theta)

Pitch (X-axis):

y' = y*cos(phi) - z*sin(phi)
z' = y*sin(phi) + z*cos(phi)

Roll (Z-axis):

x' = x*cos(psi) - y*sin(psi)
y' = x*sin(psi) + y*cos(psi)

Culling

Vertices behind the camera (z <= 0.1) are culled (None) to avoid invalid perspective division and visual artifacts.

Performance Notes

• Most built-in terrains are intended to be playable in real-time.
• Large scenes (especially filled modes) are heavier; MESH mode is best for maximum speed.
• Megacity is one of the largest defaults and a good stress test.

API Reference

Renderer3D

from aiden3drenderer import Renderer3D

renderer = Renderer3D(width=1200, height=800)
renderer.run()

Useful methods and attributes:

• set_starting_shape(shape_name_or_none)
• set_use_default_shapes(bool)
• set_render_type(renderer_type.*)
• toggle_depth_view(bool)
• toggle_heat_map(bool)
• set_texture_for_raster(path)
• add_texture_for_raster(path)
• generate_cross_type_cubemap_skybox(radius, img_path)
• generate_cubemap_skybox(...)
• using_obj_filetype_format
• vertices_faces_list
• lighting_strictness
• entities: list of Entity objects attached to the scene (update them each frame or let your loop call them).
• CustomShader: helper class (see aiden3drenderer.custom_shader.CustomShader) to run compute shaders and manage SSBO/uniform access.

Camera

from aiden3drenderer import Renderer3D

renderer = Renderer3D()
camera = renderer.camera

print(camera.position)   # [x, y, z]
print(camera.rotation)   # [pitch, yaw, roll]
print(camera.speed)
print(camera.base_speed)

register_shape Decorator

@register_shape(name, key=None, is_animated=False, color=None)
def generate_function(grid_size=40, frame=0):
    return matrix

Expected return type:

• list[list[tuple[float, float, float] | None]] (rectangular matrix)

Package Structure

aiden3drenderer/
|-- __init__.py
|-- renderer.py
|-- camera.py
|-- obj_loader.py
|-- physics.py
|-- shapes.py
`-- video_renderer.py

examples/
|-- basic_usage.py
|-- custom_shape_example.py
|-- obj_example.py
`-- physics_test.py

Development

Run from Source

git clone https://github.com/AidenKielby/3D-mesh-Renderer
cd 3D-mesh-Renderer
pip install -e .
python examples/basic_usage.py

Build + Publish

pip install build twine
python -m build
python -m twine upload dist/*

Credits

Created by Aiden. Procedural terrain ideas were AI-assisted in places; core renderer/projection/camera and package engineering are authored manually.

License

MIT