dhodge@amsaa-cleo.brl.mil (Don Hodge) (03/25/91)
The group that I work with is starting to be interested in "Scientific
Visualization" and "Animation", (i.e. the graphical display of data).
Scientific visualization is defined as 2D and 3D plotting, where 3D means the
ability to plot multiple 3D surfaces on the same view with the ability to add
color and contours to each surface. Animation is defined as the ability to
dynamically display the output from a model. Examples range from the display of
a 3D surface over some period of time to the display of the results of a war
game where unit movement and combat are shown on a map.
One way to satisfy this current interest is to buy a Silicon Graphics
workstation and PV-Wave for the scientific visualization and Wave Front for the
animation. I'm looking for a less expensive option.
Questions:
First, are there software packages available for the Amiga that will perform the
functions of either of these two packages?
Second, if the software exists, what configuration of hardware would you want to
run it on. That is , what system, how much memory, what monitor, etc. My
knowledge of the Amiga is very old, (i.e. CBM had just been announced the
A2000).
Third, what would your recommend for color hard copy output, and what would I
need to record the animation on video tape?
E-mail or post, sorry if this is a FAE.
Thanks
Don Hodge Internet dhodge@brl.army.mil
Phone 301-278-6597mark@calvin..westford.ccur.com (Mark Thompson) (03/26/91)
In article <987@amsaa-cleo.brl.mil> dhodge@amsaa-cleo.brl.mil (Don Hodge) writes: >The group that I work with is starting to be interested in "Scientific >Visualization" and "Animation", (i.e. the graphical display of data). >Scientific visualization is defined as 2D and 3D plotting, where 3D means the >ability to plot multiple 3D surfaces on the same view with the ability to add >color and contours to each surface. Animation is defined as the ability to >dynamically display the output from a model.Examples range from the display of >a 3D surface over some period of time to the display of the results of a war >game where unit movement and combat are shown on a map. > >One way to satisfy this current interest is to buy a Silicon Graphics >workstation and PV-Wave for the scientific visualization and Wave Front for >the animation. I'm looking for a less expensive option. Ofcourse you will be SERIOUSLY compromising the speed of your graphics. >First, are there software packages available for the Amiga that will perform >the functions of either of these two packages? As far as doing 3D rendering and animation is concerned, there are many software packages available including: Caligari, Lightwave, Imagine, Sculpt 4D, 3D Professional, Animation Journeyman, etc. None of them are writen to specically support Scientific Visualization like AVS or apE. Depending on what you want to do, some additional programming on your part may be required. Also, none of these packages support volumetric rendering with voxels which is fairly common in many Scientific Visualization applications. Most of them support polygonal models (Journeyman uses spline patches) but not 3D vector fields. You can however find much of Wavefront's functionality in some of these packages. >Second, if the software exists, what configuration of hardware would you want >to run it on. For 3D work, you will want the fastest machine available such as a 2000 with an accellerator, a 2500/30, or a 3000. You will also want as much RAM and hard drive storage you can afford. 7-9meg RAM with 300meg hard drive is comfortable, but it will depend on you application. For real time compiled animation RAM is most important. For single frame animation, a huge hard disk is best (unless you record the frames as you generate them). For monitors, best bet are ones that handle both RGB and composite video. >Third, what would your recommend for color hard copy output, and what would I >need to record the animation on video tape? I'll leave color hard copy to someone else. For video there are two options. The first is too rely on the Amiga to output compiled animation in real-time directly to video. This requires either an inexpensive NTSC encoder (~$50), a genlock, or a color board that is capable of animation and NTSC output (such as DCTV). Using standard Amiga display modes, image quality is reasonable but may not be acceptable for some visualization applications. Products such as DCTV and HAM-E will improve the image greatly with affecting animation speed (which will vary with animation complexity but can easily attain 30 fps). The other option is to get a frame buffer card such as the Video Toaster, Firecracker, Colorburst, etc. and output one frame at a time to video tape or disk. This is much more expensive but the quality is vastly superior. %~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~% % ` ' Mark Thompson % % --==* RADIANT *==-- mark@westford.ccur.com % % ' Image ` ...!{decvax,uunet}!masscomp!mark % % Productions (508)392-2480 (603)424-1829 % % % ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~