HANDLE(1)

💅 handle(1) — the BRL-CAD handle maker, but make it make sense 💅

okay so bestie, you know the BRL-CAD manual, right? this is one of those pages from there. sit down, grab a strawberry 🍓, and let me tell you about handle. it's giving "tiny utility, big energy."

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✨ NAME ✨

handle — makes a BRL-CAD .g database full of handle shapes 🎀

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

handle [-h | -?]
handle [-f _name.g_] [-n _count_] [-l _length_] [-H _height_] [-r1 _torus_radius_] [-r2 _cylinder_radius_]

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so handle literally just creates a BRL-CAD database (that's a mged(1) .g file, iykyk) containing one or more handle shapes, all built with libwdb. no cap.

each handle is composed of three cylinders, two tori, and two arb8s — that's the lineup, that's the squad. 👑

the base of each handle is centered at (0, 0, 0) and the height extends in the positive z-direction. all dimensions are in millimeters, periodt.

if you invoke it with no arguments, handle enters interactive mode and prompts you for each parameter (main character energy: it asks, you answer 💅). otherwise the values are taken from the command-line options.

between 1 and 256 handles of identical dimensions may be created per run; values outside that range are clamped. (yes, clamped. it's not gonna let you go feral with -n 9999 🙈)

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✨ OPTIONS ✨

• -h, -? — prints a usage message and exits. that's it, that's the whole job 🫶
• -f _name.g_ — the name of the .g database file to create. defaults to handle.g in interactive mode.
• -n _count_ — number of handles to create (1 to 256, default 1).
• -l _length_ — length of the handle, in millimeters.
• -H _height_ — height of the handle, in millimeters. (capital H, bestie — lowercase h is a whole different vibe)
• -r1 _torus_radius_ — radius r1 of the two tori, in millimeters (it's the rounding of the corners 🎀).
• -r2 _cylinder_radius_ — radius r2 of the three cylinders, in millimeters.

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💖 EXAMPLES 💖

Example 1. Generate handles and raytrace them

handle -fhandle.g -n3 -l200 -H100 -r120 -r210
rt -s 1024 -o handle.png handle.g hana

creates handle.g containing three handles, each 200 mm long and 100 mm tall, with a torus rounding radius of 20 mm and a cylinder radius of 10 mm. 🔥

⚠️ note that the option value is appended directly to the flag (for example -l200 and -r120). no space, no drama, just vibes. don't come at it with -l 200 and expect it to slay.

the grouped handles can then be rendered with rt(1). iconic behavior honestly.

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🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

brlcad(1), mged(1), rt(1), bolt(1), gastank(1), window(1), window_frame(1)

(the whole friend group 🫶)

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👑 AUTHOR 👑

BRL-CAD Team

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⭐ COPYRIGHT ⭐

this software is Copyright (c) 1989-2026 by the United States Government as represented by U.S. Army Research Laboratory.

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💀 BUG REPORTS 💀

reports of bugs or problems should be submitted via electronic mail to devs@brlcad.org

(be nice to them, they're doing their best 😭)

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okay that's the page!! shoutout to BRL-CAD and this HANDLE(1) page, fr fr — go make some handles, bestie, you're gonna ate 💜🧚✨