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For proper performance, it is important to update the driver for your graphics card, especially if you have a Radeon card. For a desktop machine, go to the web site of the manufacturer of the graphics card. For a laptop, you should normally go to the web site of the laptop manufacturer, though for NVIDIA you may now find a newer driver available from NVIDIA.
To use VPython on Intel Macs running OSX 10.4 or later:
First, download and install Python:
Python-2.6.5 (Intel Mac)
Second, download, unzip, and install VPython:
VPython-Mac-Py2.6-5.32 (Intel Mac)
Steve Spicklemire has built VPython 5.32 for PPC Macs.
To obtain the older Visual 5.1 for use with the older Python 2.5 on OSX 10.5:
First, download and install Python-2.5.4
Second, download, unzip, and install
VPython-Mac-Py2.5-5.1 (Intel Mac)
or VPython-MacPPC-Py2.5-5.1 (PowerPC Mac)
In Applications, doubleclick VIDLE (an improved IDLE editor) in the VPython folder.
Open an example program in /Applications/VPython/examples.
Press F5 to run (or use the Run menu).
Depending on your preference settings, you may have
to press fn-F5 rather than F5.
Every time you run, your files are automatically saved (if you have changed them).
Choose Visual on the Help menu for documentation.
Recent versions of OS X come with Python already installed, but it is not configured properly for use with Visual 5. Most serious Mac users of Python install and use the Python listed above.
In support of the 3D text object, the Mac installer includes some font-handling modules that include Polygon, for which the following conditions apply: "Polygon is being distributed subject to the following conditions: This distribution contains code from the GPC Library, and/or code resulting from the use of the GPC Library. This usage has been authorized by The University of Manchester, on the understanding that the GPC-related features are used only in the context of this distribution. It is not permitted to extract the GPC code from the distribution as the basis for commercial exploitation, unless a GPC Commercial Use Licence is obtained from The University of Manchester, contact: http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~toby/gpc/".
It is possible that the following problem seen prior to Visual 5.21 is longer an issue: On many Macs, Visual 5 failed to run at first. There was some evidence that running /usr/local/bin/python2.5 (or /usr/local/bin/python2.6) in a terminal and typing "from visual import *" followed by "box()" could fix the problem. If you are unable to get VIDLE to work, try using IDLE, found in MacPython2.5 or Python 2.6 in Applications.
Materials such as wood
Materials such as wood will work with graphics
cards that support Pixel Shader 3.0 ("PS 3.0"). See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixel_shader#Hardware. Some materials
may work with graphics cards that support PS 2.0, but other materials
may need to be manually disabled; see instructions in the site-settings.py module
in the Visual package in your site-packages folder. If the graphics
hardware does not support pixel shaders, the material property is
ignored. If you think you should be able to use materials but have
trouble with their display or performance, we highly recommend upgrading
your video card drivers to the latest version.
Other features new in Visual 5, such as transparency and local lights, work with all graphics cards.
What is installed
The VPython installer installs the Visual 3D module, the numpy module needed by VPython, and VIDLE, an improved version of the IDLE program editor, into Lib/site-packages in the Python folder. Example programs, documentation, and a shortcut to VIDLE are placed in Applications/VPython.
Here is a separate download of VIDLE, which is installed by the VPython installers available above.