DEVELOPMENT OF A SCIENTIFIC VISUALIZATION TOOL

THE RECENT ADVANCES IN MATHEMATICAL MODELING OF COMPLEX PHENOMENA IN CONTINUUM MECHANICS HAS LED TO LARGE SCALE CALCULATIONS INVOLVING EXTREMELY VOLUMINOUS DATA SETS (GIGABYTE REGIME). TO EFFECTIVELY ANALYZE THESE DATA SETS, DEVELOPMENT OF 3-D GRAPHICS SOFTWARE WHICH EMPLOYS STATE-OF-THE-ART VOLUME RENDERING TECHNIQUES, AND DESIGNED TO BE INTERACTIVE AND USER-FRIENDLY IS REQUIRED. IN ADDITION, THE NEW TECHNIQUES SHOULD PROVIDE THE CAPABILITY OF PERFORMING ANIMATION AND REAL TIME TRANSFORMATION WHICH FACILITATE INTERPRETATION OF 3-D SOLUTIONS. ANOTHER LEADING BOTTLENECK IS THE DATA TRANSFER BETWEEN COMPUTERS. THE GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO EXPLOIT THE THREE VOLUME RENDERING TECHNIQUES, NAMELY RAY-CASTING, SURFACE CONTOURING, AND RAY TRACING TO DEVELOP A GRAPHICS SOFTWARE TO VISUALIZE A 3-D/4-D DATA FIELD. ANOTHER FEATURE OF THE PROJECT IS TO IMPLEMENT DATA COMPRESSION/EXPANSION ROUTINES. PHASE I WILL EXPLORE ONE VOLUME RENDERING TECHNIQUE AND SEVERAL DATA COMPRESSION TECHNIQUES AND DEMONSTRATE THEIR CAPABILITIES. PHASE II WILL INVESTIGATE RAY TRACING TECHNIQUE FOR VISUALIZATION OF 3-D FIELDS WITH MULTI OBJECTS AND FURTHER DEVELOP USER INTERFACE FEATURES OF THE FINAL GRAPHICS SOFTWARE. PHASE III WILL FOCUS ON FURTHER ENHANCING THE USEFULNESS AND EFFECTIVENESS OF 3-D SIMULATION AND ANIMATION. THE DEVELOPED SOFTWARE WILL BE GENERALIZED OR SEPARATELY OPTIMIZED TO SUIT VERSATILE FEATURES OF VARIOUS GRAPHICS WORKSTATION SYSTEMS.