39,036 research outputs found
A Network Compatible Display Protocol
At present IIASA offers to its scientific community a set of basic, but limited computer graphics capabilities. Recent computer-program development in the graphics area has created greater demand and more awareness of the possibilities of computer graphics as a visualization tool in modeling. Some other application fields, like the use of graphics as a tool for program development, were still not touched at IIASA.
In response to this demand, IIASA decided to order additional graphics hardware (display terminals and graphics compatible printers) and to invest a certain amount of resources into the generation of appropriate software. It is not the aim of this paper to discuss the benefits of graphics, but rather to identify the general graphics software requirements for IIASA and to propose a possible way of meeting them
Shape: A 3D Modeling Tool for Astrophysics
We present a flexible interactive 3D morpho-kinematical modeling application
for astrophysics. Compared to other systems, our application reduces the
restrictions on the physical assumptions, data type and amount that is required
for a reconstruction of an object's morphology. It is one of the first publicly
available tools to apply interactive graphics to astrophysical modeling. The
tool allows astrophysicists to provide a-priori knowledge about the object by
interactively defining 3D structural elements. By direct comparison of model
prediction with observational data, model parameters can then be automatically
optimized to fit the observation. The tool has already been successfully used
in a number of astrophysical research projects.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in the "IEEE
Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics
Multi-cultural visualization : how functional programming can enrich visualization (and vice versa)
The past two decades have seen visualization flourish as a research field in its own right, with advances on the computational challenges of faster algorithms, new techniques for datasets too large for in-core processing, and advances in understanding the perceptual and cognitive processes recruited by visualization systems, and through this, how to improve the representation of data. However, progress within visualization has sometimes proceeded in parallel with that in other branches of computer science, and there is a danger that when novel solutions ossify into `accepted practice' the field can easily overlook significant advances elsewhere in the community. In this paper we describe recent advances in the design and implementation of pure functional programming languages that, significantly, contain important insights into questions raised by the recent NIH/NSF report on Visualization Challenges. We argue and demonstrate that modern functional languages combine high-level mathematically-based specifications of visualization techniques, concise implementation of algorithms through fine-grained composition, support for writing correct programs through strong type checking, and a different kind of modularity inherent in the abstractive power of these languages. And to cap it off, we have initial evidence that in some cases functional implementations are faster than their imperative counterparts
An Introduction to 3D User Interface Design
3D user interface design is a critical component of any virtual environment (VE) application. In this paper, we present a broad overview of three-dimensional (3D) interaction and user interfaces. We discuss the effect of common VE hardware devices on user interaction, as well as interaction techniques for generic 3D tasks and the use of traditional two-dimensional interaction styles in 3D environments. We divide most user interaction tasks into three categories: navigation, selection/manipulation, and system control. Throughout the paper, our focus is on presenting not only the available techniques, but also practical guidelines for 3D interaction design and widely held myths. Finally, we briefly discuss two approaches to 3D interaction design, and some example applications with complex 3D interaction requirements. We also present an annotated online bibliography as a reference companion to this article
Family of 2-simplex cognitive tools and their application for decision-making and its justifications
Urgency of application and development of cognitive graphic tools for usage
in intelligent systems of data analysis, decision making and its justifications
is given. Cognitive graphic tool "2-simplex prism" and examples of its usage
are presented. Specificity of program realization of cognitive graphics tools
invariant to problem areas is described. Most significant results are given and
discussed. Future investigations are connected with usage of new approach to
rendering, cross-platform realization, cognitive features improving and
expanding of n-simplex family.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, conferenc
P ORTOLAN: a Model-Driven Cartography Framework
Processing large amounts of data to extract useful information is an
essential task within companies. To help in this task, visualization techniques
have been commonly used due to their capacity to present data in synthesized
views, easier to understand and manage. However, achieving the right
visualization display for a data set is a complex cartography process that
involves several transformation steps to adapt the (domain) data to the
(visualization) data format expected by visualization tools. To maximize the
benefits of visualization we propose Portolan, a generic model-driven
cartography framework that facilitates the discovery of the data to visualize,
the specification of view definitions for that data and the transformations to
bridge the gap with the visualization tools. Our approach has been implemented
on top of the Eclipse EMF modeling framework and validated on three different
use cases
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