GEOMETRIC MODELING OF SHEET DEFORMATION WITHIN A VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT

International audienceIn this paper we present a real-time, computationally inexpensive environment for on-screen,accurate simulations of thermoplastic sheet materials on a conventional Personal Computer. A pseudoimmersivevirtual environment is constructed to handle the implementation of a real-time aestheticallyaccurate deformation algorithm called MaSSE: Mass-Spring Simulation Engine. The motion of the sheetis controlled by gravity and by using a mouse-pointing device to manipulate the sheet within theenvironment. An application for the environment is centered on, although not restricted to, mechanicalengineering-based real-time simulations of heat-sensitive sheet materials

The Calm before the storm! CAL in University Mathematics

A Computer Aided Learning project in Mathematics (the CALM Project) is based at the Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh. It is one of the projects currently in receipt of funding from the Computer Board of the United Kingdom as part of the Computers in Teaching Initiative in British Universities.The CALM Project seeks to produce computer enhanced teaching packages which will back-up the conventional teaching of Calculus to large groups of first year engineering undergraduates at a typical Scottish University. The project has been underway for just over one year and some of the software prepared by the CALM team has been tested by one section of the class. During this testing period we have embarked on a formative evaluation of the software and of its impact on student learning practices.In this article the writers present an outline of the evaluation procedure. In addition, details are given of the software tools used to produce the CALM programs