Slide 1 Visualization of scientific data - Domain-specific applications Mike Walterman, Manager of Graphics Programming, Scientific Computing and Visualization Group, Boston University

Slide 2 Introduction Objective of the presentation - Present methods for finding and/or creating domain specific visualization applications for LINUX Main topics - What is a domain specific application - Types of software - Sources for applications - Applications supported at BU - Web resources for finding applications - Conclusions

Slide 3 What is a domain specific application? One person’s domain is another’s supporting technology My criteria - Interface speaks the language for a specific group (e.g. astronomy, MRI,...) - Operation of tool fits into domain work-flow - Has desired functionality, or is adaptable by means understood by target community

Slide 4 Types of software Toolkits - Programming oriented - Provide greatest flexibility - Provide basis for other software types Authoring and Modeling - Build applications via simple models (e.g. flow graph) - Create visual objects via “intuitive” interfaces - Domain specific applications can be obtained as shareware/freeware Domain Specific - Works out of the box - Targeted at specific community

Slide 5 Sources for Visualization Software Universities - University of Illinois - University of Minnesota - University of Utah Government Labs - Argonne - Los Alamos - National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Commercial - Kitware - AVS - Flometrics Military - Naval Research Laboratory - U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories

Slide 6 What we support/have on LINUX at BU Toolkits - OpenGL - Inventor - OpenGL Performer - VTK - IDL - MatLab Authoring Systems - Maya - AVS - OpenDX Domain Specific - Gaussian 98 - Quanta

Slide 7 Toolkits - OpenGL, OpenInventor, Performer OpenGL - Low level de facto standard graphics API. Basic rendering technology for other packages. - Vendor: Many (esp. if you want HW acceleration) - OpenInventor - An object-oriented, cross-platform 3D graphics API for C++ and Java developers. - Heavily scene graph based. - Vendor: Template Graphics - Performer - A programming interface for creating real-time visual simulation and other performance-oriented 3D graphics applications. - Vendor: Silicon Graphics -

Slide 8 VTK, IDL - Toolkits VTK (Visualization ToolKit) - Set of C++ classes - Interfaces to tcl, Java, and Python - Extensible through Object oriented means - Data flow model - Programer’s Environment - Vendor: Kitware - IDL (Interactive Data Language) - interpretative, allows interactive use - command-line driven, language with Fortran-like feel - extensible via user defined functions - Scientists Tool - Vendor: Research Systems/Kodak -

Slide 9 Authoring Systems - Maya, AVS, OpenDX Maya - General modeling tool for digital content - BU artists are primary users - Vendor: Alias | wavefront - AVS - Data flow graph modeling system for building SciVis Applications - Applied in traditional and non-traditional scientific areas - Vendor: Advanced Visual Systems - OpenDX - Data flow graph modeling system for building SciVis Applications - Free - Experimenting with this tool internally - Vendor: IBM’s Data Visualization Explorer -

Slide 10 Domain Specific Applications Quanta, Gaussian 98, Ideas Quanta - A molecular graphics analysis program. Modeling, Simulation, Visualization. - Used by BU Biomedical Engineering - Vendor: Accelrys - Gaussian98 - Molecular modeling system, performs computation based on laws of quantum mechanics. - Used by BU Chemistry - Vendor: Gaussian, Inc. - Ideas - CAD/CAM/CAE - product design. - Used by BU Biomedical Engineering - Vendor: Electronic Data Systems -

Slide 11 Sources on the Web NASA Ames Data Analysis Group - Good page listing sources of SciVis apps and examples - Student Page at Silesian University of Technology in Poland - A fair number of LINUX based Chemistry Packages - University of Minnesota Super Computing Institute - Good catalog of the more popular packages. -

Slide 12 Sources on the Web continued OpenGL based visualization tools SourceForge’s Scientific Plotting and Visualization packages for Linux. scilinux.sourceforge.net/graphvis.html Debian’s list of SciVIs Tools packages.debian.org/unstable/science

Slide 13 Conclusion - Development Options Develop “from scratch” using programming toolkits Author a system Buy/Obtain an end user solution

Slide 14 IDL Example Creates a 3D Plot of a surface stored in a data file ; File: xsurface.pro ; Author: Erik Brisson c = fltarr(60,60) openr, 3, 'dat/ex_surf_60x60.dat' readf, 3, c xsurface, c end

Slide 15 Conclusions