PLOT3-ASC(1)

📦
version 7.44.0 · 2 versions
, in nixpkgs unstable

💅 PLOT3-ASC — bestie's guide to plot3-asc ✨

okay so you found the manpage for plot3-asc from BRL-CAD (yes, that's the PLOT3-ASC(1) situation, welcome) and honestly? she's a little legend. let's get into it 🫶

🌸 NAME 🌸

plot3-asc — converts a binary plot3 stream into an editable ASCII listing. that's it, that's the whole vibe. it takes the crunchy binary and hands you back a text file you can actually read. 💖

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

plot3-asc [-v] [unix_plot]

short, sweet, iconic. one optional flag, one optional file. periodt. 👑

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so here's the tea: plot3-asc reads a binary plot3(5) stream and writes out a human-readable ASCII listing — one plot command per line, no cap. 🎀

each line starts with the plot command, and then right after it comes its decoded arguments: coordinates, color bytes, or strings, depending on what that command is serving. it's giving fully decoded. this text form is genuinely convenient for inspecting a plot file or hand-editing it, like literally just open it in your editor and go off. and when you're done vibing, the companion tool asc-plot3(1) converts the listing right back into binary plot3(5). round trip, slay. 🔥

here's where the input comes from — read this part carefully bestie:

  • if a file name is supplied, the input file is read from unix_plot
  • otherwise, it reads from standard input

and the ASCII listing always goes to standard output. always. 🫶

💅 OPTIONS 💅

  • -v — verbose mode, the moment for main character energy ✨. instead of the raw single letter, each single-character plot command gets replaced with its mnemonic name (for example move, line, space, color). and when it finishes? it writes a summary to standard error of how many times each command was used. a whole little usage tally, we love a receipts queen 💀

🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

Example 1. Inspect the contents of a plot file 👀

plot3-asc -v drawing.plot3

lists every command in drawing.plot3 using the mnemonic names, and prints a usage tally to standard error. it makes it so easy to see what the plot actually contains. vibe check: passed. ⭐

Example 2. Round-trip edit a plot file 🎀

plot3-asc drawing.plot3 > drawing.asc
# edit drawing.asc with any text editor, then convert back
asc-plot3 < drawing.asc > edited.plot3

converts a binary plot to ASCII so you can tweak the geometry by hand (yes, with your own two hands, no judgement), and then asc-plot3(1) reassembles the edited listing into a binary plot3(5) stream. it's giving editing arc. 🦋

💜 SEE ALSO 💜

go read the siblings, they're all part of the family. iykyk 💖

🌸 AUTHOR 🌸

BRL-CAD Team — the whole squad. 👑

This software is Copyright (c) 1991-2026 by the United States Government as represented by U.S. Army Research Laboratory.

like. literally the government. respect the paperwork bestie 📜✨

💀 BUG REPORTS 💀

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

found a bug? don't suffer in silence, email the devs, they want to know fr fr 🙈

ngl, none of the caveats here are scary — just remember -v sends its summary to standard error, not standard output, so don't get confused when your redirected file is missing the tally. 😭

okay that's the whole page!! stay hydrated, back up your plot files, and remember: it's plot3-asc from BRL-CAD, copyright 1991-2026, and the BRL-CAD girlies ate this one. mwah 💋💖✨

📦 where this page comes from