1. Visualization Workshop David Bock Visualization Research Programmer National Center for Supercomputing Applications - NCSA University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Introduction to AVS Wright State University

2. Agenda n n Introduction to AVS n n System design n n Getting started Break n n Overview tour of AVS n n The AVS Network Editor n n Building networks n n The AVS Geometry Viewer n n Importing data into AVS Break n n Work on your own: on-line demos, help, apps n n Wrap-up: questions, hand-outs

3. Introduction What is AVS? n Application Visualization System Visual programming data visualization product. Provides comprehensive suite of data visualization and analysis techniques that incorporates both traditional visualization tools such as 2D plots and graphs and image processing as well as advanced tools such as 3D interactive rendering and volume visualization. n Advanced Visual Systems, Inc. (http://www.avs.com) u Initial development 1988 - Stardent Computer, Inc. u Other product offerings include AVS/Express, OpenViz

4. Introduction Applications n Medical Imaging n Atmospheric Science n GIS n Mathematics n Computational Fluid Dynamics n Astrophysics n Chemistry n etc…

5. Introduction Platform Availability n UNIX Workstations u Digital Equipment Corporation u Hewlett Packard u International Business Machines u Silicon Graphics u Sun Microsystems n AVS5 now supports the Linux Operating System

6. System Design Design Methodology n Modular architecture u Categorizes 4 steps of visualization (Input, Filter, Map, Render) u Breaks each category into small subtasks or modules n Visual programming u Easy to use interface provides drag & drop construction u Graphical connection of modules in data-flow environment n Networks u Describes visual programming sessions u Inter-connections of modules in data-flow environment u Individual “applications” u Share with colleagues

7. System Design Design Methodology n Multi-tiered user environment u Application Users want easy-to-use turnkey application to visualize their data u Application Developers create interactive, visual applications for users in their organizations or for commercial distribution u Application Programmers develop custom techniques to extend module toolsuite n On-line documentation u Detailed help facilities u Extensive demo and application examples

8. System Design Advantages & Benefits n Scientist driven exploration u Researcher is the visualization developer u Can explore and experiment with different representations n Multiple visual representations u Increases insight u Multiple networks n Session sharing u Saved networks can be shared among colleagues u Sessions shared in addition to results

9. System Design Advantages & Benefits n Distributed u For solutions to large-scale problems, AVS is designed to run in a distributed environment u AVS modules can execute and leverage remote machines u Avoids need for data transfer u AVS handles data format conversion issues n Extensible u Custom module development u Helpful software development tools - AVS Module Generator n International AVS Centre (IAC) (http://www.iavsc.org) u Module repository (public-domain modules) u User group, training materials

10. Getting Started AVS execution environment n Directory structure LUI/ data/ include/ networks/ applications/ demo/ lib/ relnotes/ avs_library/ demosuite/ license/ runtime/ bin/ examples/ math/ test/ chem_lib/ filter/ unsupp_mods/ cpio inScape/ n Useful variables setenv AVS_PATH/usr/avs/ set path = ($path $AVS_PATH/bin) n Executing AVS  prompt% avs

11. Getting Started AVS execution environment n Customization startup file u Custom control over appearance, default directories, module libs  Copy system startup file to home directory cp $AVS_PATH/runtime/avsrc $HOME/.avsrc u Some example settings NetworkWindow960x960+290+30 DataDirectory$HOME/myData NetworkDirectory$HOME/myNetworks ModuleLibraries$AVS_PATH/avs_library/Volume \ $AVS_PATH/avs_library/UCD \ $AVS_PATH/unsupp_mods \ $HOME/myModules

12. Wrap up n Questions, comments n Workshop hand-outs n Relevant web links u http://www.avs.com - Advanced Visual Systems u http://www.iavsc.org - International AVS Centre u http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SCD/Vis/Software/AVS/AVSdocs.html