Readme.txt

This repository contains the source code used in my survey 

"A Thousand Ways to Pack the Bin - A Practical Approach to Two-Dimensional Rectangle Bin Packing."

The code can be used to solve the problem of packing a set of 2D rectangles into a larger bin. The 
algorithms are all approximations and use various heuristics, since the problem itself is intractable. 
For more information, read the paper, which is also contained as a .pdf in this repository.

The repository contains a build solution for Visual C++ 2010. It is configured to build a single static
library of the algorithms. The preferred method of embedding these algorithms into your own code is to
simply copy the code files into your own project and build them along your own build system. 

To use these algorithms in Python, you can make use of Boost.Python to enable interoperability between the C++ algorithms and your Python code.

There are no build scripts for other platforms provided.

For more information, see a series of blog posts at

http://clb.demon.fi/projects/rectangle-bin-packing
http://clb.demon.fi/projects/more-rectangle-bin-packing
http://clb.demon.fi/projects/even-more-rectangle-bin-packing

The folder old\ contains an implementation of the bin packing algorithm as originally presented by
Jim Scott at http://www.blackpawn.com/texts/lightmaps/ . This implementation is only provided for
historical purposes, since in practice the Guillotine method (GuillotineBinPack.cpp) provides superior
results in terms of performance and packing ratio, and also offers more configuration for variants of
the algorithm.

All the code is released to Public Domain. Patches and comments are welcome.
It makes me happy to hear if someone finds the algorithms useful.

   Jukka Jylänki