SHP-G(1)

📦 version 7.44.0, in nixpkgs unstable

💅 shp-g — bestie, it's giving "convert an Esri Shapefile to a BRL-CAD .g database"

okay so real quick — this is shp-g from the BRL-CAD manual (section 1, iykyk) ✨ and honestly? she's an icon. she takes your Esri Shapefile and turns it into a shiny BRL-CAD .g binary database. no cap. let's get into it 🫶

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

shp-g [-v] [-d] [-x rt_debug_flag] shapefile [output.g]

that's the whole vibe check right there, babe. shapefile in, optional output.g out 💖

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

so shp-g literally converts the geometry stored in an Esri Shapefile into a BRL-CAD .g binary database. main character energy fr fr 💅

the shapefile argument? super chill about it — you can hand her a file name prefix or an explicit .shp file, whichever you vibe with. the companion .shx and .dbf files get located automatically, no effort required from you, we love a self-sufficient queen 👑

and if you skip output.g? she just names the output database after the input with a .g suffix appended. like, for example, input roads.shp produces roads.shp.g. slay. 🎀

okay now the actual mechanics, pay attention bestie:

  • Each shape — and each part of a multi-part shape — is read as a closed loop of 2D vertices.
  • For every loop, shp-g writes a planar sketch primitive in the XY plane.
  • Then she writes an extrude primitive built from that sketch, with a fixed height of 10 units. yes, fixed. 10. always. 🔥
  • The resulting objects are named shape-N.sketch and shape-N.extrude.
  • Only the X and Y coordinates of each vertex are used. any Z and measure values hanging out in the shapefile? completely ignored. not invited to the party 💀

👑 OPTIONS 👑

  • -v — verbose output, and she is chatty in the best way 💖 Prints the shapefile type, shape count, bounding extents, per-shape detail, and a summary of any shapes with bad loop orientations. full tea, no filter.
  • -d — enable diagnostic debugging output 🦋 including warnings about missing shapes and loops whose winding order had to be corrected. very "not me having to fix your loop" of her.
  • -x rt_debug_flag — set the librt debugging flags to the given hexadecimal value 🔧 (see the RT_DEBUG definitions in raytrace.h). for the deep-lore girlies.

🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

Example 1. Convert a shapefile and inspect the result ⭐

shp-g -v roads.shp roads.g
mged roads.g

Converts the roads.shp shapefile to roads.g with verbose progress reporting, then opens the resulting database in mged(1). 🎀

Each road feature becomes an extruded sketch named shape-N.extrude that you can list with the ls command and raytrace or edit interactively. literally go off, interactively. 👑

🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

brlcad(1), mged(1), g-dxf(1) — go read your sisters' pages, bestie, they're iconic too 💜

🧚 AUTHOR 🧚

BRL-CAD Team 🌸

This software is Copyright (c) 1989-2026 by the United States Government as represented by U.S. Army Research Laboratory. 📜 (yes that's a real long run, she's been serving since '89, periodt.)

🍓 BUG REPORTS 🍓

Reports of bugs or problems should be submitted via electronic mail to devs@brlcad.org 📧 — don't be shy, they're nice, and honestly bugs deserve to be reported the way drama deserves to be shared. 😭

ok but fr — this whole page is BRL-CAD's SHP-G(1) manual, so if you quote it, cite it cute. mwah 💋 🎀 ✨

bye bestie, go convert some shapefiles 🦋💖

📦 where this page comes from