rick@pangea.Stanford.EDU (Rick Ottolini) (11/09/90)
The past couple of years it was specialized hardware and software libraries such as Stardent, SGI, Dore, PHIGS etc. This year there are a lot of turn-key software packages coming to market. These turn-key packages have the following characteristics: (1) They require little, if any programming. (2) They are data-driven. The user supplies data in a number of formats and the system does the rest. (3) They are modular. You use and configure what pieces you need at for a given display. Many systems are extensible in allowing you to add your own modules. (4) They contain 3-D techniques such as volume vizualization and illuminated surfaces. There are at least a dozen of these packages and I would probably slight someone by forgeting theirs if I attempted to list them all. Two that I've used extensively are Stardents AVS and SunVision. Some comments: No package so far has all the scivi techniques I want nor is as fast as I'd like, but some are rapidly approaching this state. These packages greatly reduce the amount of programming and graphics knowledge required by a scientific user. They restrict the user to a limited, but increasing number of display techniques. There are many datasets in my field (earth sciences) that are not effectively displayed by these packages. Some of the displays start looking the same, irrespective of dataset---fractals all over again. There is still a lot of room for creative people in scivi to determine what translation of data into shape, color, and motion will extract the maximum scientific insight. Richard Ottolini Senior Research Geophysicist, Unocal, Brea CA (recently Assistant Prof of Geophysics, Stanford) rick@pangea.stanford.edu (until we are on the InterNet in 1991)