1. 3D IN THE CLOUD
Ray Kaplan - synglyphx

2. My background My career has been all about 3D software development
Including internships I have been involved in 3D software development since the late 90s
I have been involved in 3D software development for 3D medical visualization, 3D GIS, defense, and now 3D data visualization
Currently the Senior Developer for Product Development at SynGlyphX

3. My first Time with 3D in the Cloud
Back in 2002 when working for a 3D medical visualization software company
They had custom hardware similar to graphics cards for 3D medical visualization
Plan was to have a server product with many of their cards to do the rendering for clients on a LAN and remote clients
Didn’t work out since various technologies (i.e. WebGL) were not present yet
To make it work with remote clients had to send them compressed JPEG images
The full rendering path had to happen on the server due to the nature of the hardware
Conceptually, similar to how 3D in the cloud works now

4. How that MIGHT Look now
The server would have many GPUs to do pre-processing and caching
GPUs may not do any rendering, just pre-processing
Final rendering would be done client side with the processed results from the server using WebGL or a desktop application
Still may want to use 3D cloud technologies even with a desktop application
Even with access to a powerful GPU in a desktop 3D application, (almost) no one has many GPUs on their machine like a server could

5. 3D in the Cloud is still useful without a continuous connection to the cloud
WebGL can be a good way of visualizing 3D content disconnected from the cloud
Ex. DOD agencies send 3D content to users with limited internet connections
Before WebGL, 3D PDF was the de facto standard for this (and still is in a lot of cases)
Works in some cases, but interaction is poor in cases like wanting to walk through a 3D scene
WebGL allows for more flexibility in interaction and how the application works so 3D content can be distributed in a more flexible manner than reflects your application
Also good for sending out snapshots of 3D content to anyone who can’t connect to your cloud, etc.

6. 3D Is moving into areas it has not been used before
Between WebGL and other cloud technologies, 3D is moving into areas it has not been used before or being used by users who have not used 3D before
Creates a new set of challenges
Drivers – particularly at the enterprise level
Not used to keeping up with graphics card driver updates
Users of 3D applications were often put in a silo and given local admin rights
WebGL does not eliminate the need for the correct drivers

7. OPPORTUNITIES when using 3D for Something Where 3d hasn’t been used BEFORE
It may require something extra than just using 3D (i.e. the SynGlyphX data visualization technique) – 3D is more than just the z axis
If your 3D content has geographic info it’s a good time to use 3D GIS (Use Cesium)
May be able to benefit from using 3D techniques for handling big data with high performance (i.e. level of detail, spatial data structures & formats, etc.)
May need to adapt these techniques for your 3D content/application
2D & 3D can work together
SynGlyphX 3D visualization plus 2D data visualization concepts & libraries (i.e. D3.js)

8. synglyphx
SynGlyphX creates data visualization software for visualizing complex data (visualizing lots of dimensions/fields in a single view)
Our technique is unique for data visualization
It requires 3D and shows the power of 3D
More than just the z axis
Currently our software is all desktop applications but we are expanding into using the cloud/WebGL (& mobile)
An example of 3D moving into an area that traditionally doesn’t use 3D much

9. 2D vs. 3d data visualization
A lot of info data visualization is either 2D or 3D that does not exploit 3D
Some in the data visualization community argue that data visualization should be 2D only
Treemap
(2D only)
“Layered” 3D Bar Chart

10. Synglyphx INFO & Demo
SynGlyphX will be hiring at various points this year
SynGlyphX can help with your data visualization
Website:
More demos & more in depth information about our 3D data visualization software
Youtube:
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