#Disabled
Archive-name: comp.viz.faq
"Feed me." -- Audrey, the Plant in "The Little Shop of Horrors."
Contents
========
Intro
-----
What is visualization?
----------------------
Systems
-------
Public domain datasets
----------------------
Issue/problems
--------------
Netiquette
----------
References
----------
================================
The FAQ is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Harold "Doc" Edgerton (MIT).
I recommend visiting his hallway at MIT, too.
Intro
-----
The quality of this FAQ is directly pro****tional to the information
mailed by participants (that's you) to the maintainer (me, Amelia).
You don't like it? Blame the rest of the posters and readers.
I don't have 100% time to maintain this. We are starting from scratch.
If an address or phone is out of date? Blame the group. I'm just a dumb
computer posting as I am told.
[It's getting better, people are emailing contributions!]
The structure of this FAQ is currently a twice monthly post, with two
weekly outriggers pointing to the Long (this) version. We will see how
well
this works (empirical science). The header, the body, etc. have all been
specially designed and tested. In time, mitosis will occur on this file
and it will get spread over the course of a month.
You should not have to see this file all the time. Don't bother saving it
unless you have a flakey net connection. Grab the most recent revision
off the net. The Subject: line is designed to fit within the 24-char
limit
of most Killfile systems. Learn about Killfiles. If you have something
against FAQ files, the regular expression /.*FAQ$/ will Kill All My
Children
and me. Learn how to use news and how news works before complaining.
This post is like a lighthouse or a fog horn. Learn how to use it.
What is visualization?
======================
"Visualization is the use of computer-generated media based
on data in the service of human insight/learning."
Analytic graphics
--Carol Hunter, LLNL
Visualization:
The use of computer imagery to gain
insight into complex phenomena.
The purpose of visualization is insight, not virtual realities or
pictures.
--Eugene N. Miya, President, Bay Area ACM/SIGGRAPH,
Usenet post, November 1987, responding to the release
of the Re****t. "I like the Livermore perspective."
The Maintainer gets a chance to pontificate here: [You can, too. Just
ask.]
I learned from Jack Estes (UCSB) that observation has three recursive
phases and corresponding mathematical models:
Detection
Identification
Measurement and Analysis (this latter being the recursion).
Any good system will sup****t these (reducibly). Researchers need the
latter.
Artistes only use the first (Calder was an exception, but then he trained
as an aerodynamicist 8^). We don't teach observation very well in schools
these days. We assume you have picked it up via osmosis or are naturally
gifted. It requires training and some talent. It's especially bad in
computer science depts. because of the emphasis in theory.
It is Miya's assertation that ultimately visualization will converge
of technologies like those used in cartography (>2000 years old),
surveying, photogrammetry (aerial or terrestial), certain parts of
ergonomics,
etc. Why? Because they are quantitative. They use stereo in some
instances
(far more im****tant than most people realize). USGS tours are available.
Maps have better information content than any image pervading our society.
The signal to noise ratio is greater (density). Better than photos,
better than movies (ask yourself if you can always figure out the ending
8^).
I defy the presentation of an other consistent image with better
characteristics than a map. Maps have excellent characteristics like
an easily measurable geometry, legends, symbolization (but like all
imagery
they have limitations). Consider all this the next time you look at your
AAA
maps when you go on vacation.
What kinds of quantitative, numeric sup****t are needed? Every basic
science
measurement:
enumeration (counting, math got started because of counting), distances,
areas, volumes, angles (planar and solid), extrema,
parametric and non-parametric statistics (means, median, modes,
deviations, ANOVA), histograms, intervals and error bounds, derivatives,
partials, integrals, etc.
ONLY the trained researcher (maybe you) will make the critical insights
needed for scientific discovery. Not your programmer,
not your Renaissance Team.
We are not talking EdVis or PresentationVis, we are talking
HackerVis/NerdVis/DeepDownAndDirtyViz. We can't do it for you.
You the researcher have the eyes. Only you can make the discovery:
to see differences where your artist, your programmer, your cognition
expert
can't, and to see similarity where the average man can't.
Miya's Suggestion: Never view an image or film, too fast. You should
control
the rate at which you observe. Use tools if you have to: hand lenses,
filters,
etc. If you are forced to view something too fast, jump up and say:
"Wait, just one damn minute!"
Bob Sharp (Emeritus, Caltech Div. of Geog. and Planetary Sciences)
presents
an Austin Post photo in one book and asserts that this single photo (of
Denali)
is adequate for a 1 hour lecture on glaciology. That's quite a claim (an
impressive photo). Artificial data images have yet to assert that kind of
information density (it's not clear they should, but these are opinions).
This should be considered an implicit challenge for visualizations to get
that im****tant for discovery. Sometimes, some fields pour days, weeks,
and
months trying to understand (interpret) an image.
Miya's Gross Generalization: Scientists like grided graph paper (and
tabular
papers) like many artists (painters) like starting with a blank canvas
(exceptions always locatable).
Frames of reference are needed badly. Include everything a good map has:
1) A Scale, 2) a legend (both geometric and any symbology like color or
glyps or icons, whatever). Beware of perspective. $Billion$ are spent
yearly to remove perspective from photographic imagery.
Miya's Guess: the biologists will figure this all out before the
physicists,
chemists, and others. Others should attempt to prove this wrong.
Good luck guys. 8^)
Other inspirations: Muybridge and Edgerton.
Add your own.
Muybridge did his basic research at Stanford and Penn State.
His work went on to become the motion picture industry, ergonomics,
system analysis (time motion studies). Edgerton is best known
for his work on the strobe, super-fast and time lapse photography,
and side-scanning sonar.
Hints on Design from Don Norman -- used with permission
("Turn Signals are the Facial Expressions of Automobiles")
A challenge to the designers of the world:
Make signs unnecessary.
Think of the Four-Questions test and generalize to systems.
Norman originally wrote this test for kitchen appliances, but it
generalizes
well to scientific computer systems
Ouestion one: Where would we store it?
[Consider disk space as well as foot print.]
Ouestion two: Where would we use it?
[Left to you.]
Ouestion three: Where would we plug it in?
[Consider more ways that power.]
Ouestion four: How much work would it be to clean?
[A question of maintenance.]
Generalize additional im****tant questions:
Robert Lucky notes the qualities of pictures in Silicon Dreams (pp. 292):
describing spatial relation****ps
showing the structure of data
allowing pattern matching approaches to problem solving
getting attention
describing and identifying people
invoking esthetic appreciation
A number of unique properties can be attributed to aerial photography:
1) it captures and freezes an instant in time;
2) it can be studied at length and in detail by persons from a wide
variety
of backgrounds and disciplines;
3) it constitutes a precise geometric record which can be
measured, scaled, quantified;
4) it becomes a record of the earth's surface --
a catalog of things, activities, and relation****ps;
5) it is duplicable and manipulable --
can be enlarged, enhanced, and reproduced; and
6) it can provide near-synoptic coverage of large areas.
"Eyeball to Eyeball"
[story of the Cuban missile crisis from a man who was there]
Page 14.
Dino Brugioni, former CIA analyst
He was eager to learn more about the photo-interpretation process.
"Where do you get photo interpreters? How much do you pay them?
How do you train them? Are they satisified with their work?"
--Pres. John Kennedy
He indicated he would like to visit the Center and observe the high
technology
of interpretation at work.
Page 58
Eyeball to Eyeball
Dino Brugioni
Photo interpreters can recognize, identify, and accurately
describe
in detail natural and cultural features on photography not apparent to
unsophisticated or untrained eyes. Their writing style, however, is often
crytpic, terse, and military-oriented. Of necessity, this type of
re****ting
has to be reworked and collated for presentation to policymakers.
Page 282
Eyeball to Eyeball
Dino Brugioni
This boils down largely to "geometry." See specific note below.
The problems:
Hidden object elimination (obscured features)
Optical illusions (leading to false interpretations, e.g. Necker cubes)
Inadvertant data corruption
Parallax and perspective in 3-D and higher D.
Performance
Science differs from art in that we have to validate our simulations and
theory. Right now, sup****t for this validation is especially lacking.
Empirical/experimental techniques make simulation validation difficult,
in the works of Eduard Imhof speaking about maps:
Chap. 16 page 359.
7. On art in cartography
The means of cartographical expression are subject to the same
experiences
and visual aesthetic rules as every other type of graphic product. *Art*
however, is the highest level attainable in graphical work. Thus, a good
map
cannot lack an artistic touch.
There has already been much debate and writing on the question of
whether
cartography has anything to do with art and if so, how much. We must try
to
remain in the clear on this topic and avoid exaggeration and cliche.
Certainly
it is not a function of cartography to create art in the higher sense of
the
word: the cartographer has scarcely the op****tunity of doing so.
Art presupposed the widest ranging freedom of form and structure, whereas
cartographers are confined to the smallest details by topographical
survey,
statistical figures, by standardization of symbolism and color, and by
what
is essentially a non-artistic purpose. On the other hand, however, the
following facts are clearly established; we demand of it a balanced
expression which emphasizes the significant and subdues the insignificant;
and we demand a well balance, harmonious interplay of all elements
contained.
It is in accordance with practical experience, however, which the author
has
personally observed over many decades, that in cartographic affairs, as in
all graphic work, the greatest clarity, the greatest power of expression,
balance and simplicity are concurrent with beauty. To create beauty, a
purely technical, practical arrangement of things is not sufficient.
Beauty is, to a large extent, irrational.
Artistic talent, aesthetic sensitivity, sense of pro****tion, of harmony,
of form and color, and of graphical interplay are indispensable to
the creation of a beautiful map and thus to a clear expressive map.
Philip Davis and Reuben Hersh
The Mathematical Experience
"The Degradation of the Geometric Consciousness"
It has often been remarked over the past century and a half that
there has been a steady and progressive degradation of the geometric and
kinesthetic elements of mathematical instruction and research. During
this period, the formal, the symbolic, the verbal, and the analytic
elements have prospered greatly.
What are some of the reasons for this decline? A number of
explanations come to mind:
1. The tremendous impact of Descartes' _La Geomtetrie_, wherein geometry
was reduced to algebra.
2. The impact in the late nineteenth century of Felix Klein's program of
unifying geometries by group theory.
3. The collapse, in the early nineteenth century, of the view derived
largely from limited sense experience that the geometry of Euclid has _a
priori_ truth for the universe, that it is _the_ model for physical space.
4. The incompleteness of the logical structure of classical Euclidean
geometry as discovered in the nineteenth century and as corrected by
Hilbert and others.
5. The limitations of two or three physical dimensions which form the
natural backdrop for visual geometry.
6. The discovery of non-Euclidean geometries. This is related to the
limitations of the visual ground field over which visual geometry is
built, as opposed to the great generality which is possible when
geometry is algebraized and abstracted (non-Euclidean geometries,
complex geometries, finite geometries, linear algebra, metric spaces,
etc.)
7. The limitations of the eye in its perception of mathematical "truths"
(continuous, nondifferentiable functions; optical illusions; suggestive,
but misleading special cases).
Systems
=======
StereoGraphics Cor****ation
2171 East San Francisco Blvd.
San Rafael, CA 94901
ph: (415) 459 4500
fax: (415) 459 3020
NCAR
----
National Center for Atmospheric Research
One of the original graphics packages.
Platforms:
Sun, RS6000, SGI, VAX, Cray Y-MP, DecStations, and more.
Availability:
Contact:
Graphics Information
NCAR Scientific Computing Division
P.O. Box 3000
Boulder, CO 80307-3000
(303) 497-1201
scdinfo@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Unlimited users
.gov
$750 1 user
$1500 5 user
$3000 25 user
.com users multiply .gov * 2.0
MOVIE.BYU
---------
See also Cquel.byu
CQUEL.BYU (pronounced "sequel") is a brand new modelling and
visualization package for the UNIX workstation. Some of it's features
include: animation, raytracing, scientific visualization, interactive
modelling and editing, quadric primitives, Bezier and NURBS surfaces,
constructive solid geometry, texture mapping, graphical user
interface, and free-form deformation to name a few.
Platforms: SUN, DEC, HP, SGI, IBM RS6000, others,
Availability:
Cquel.byu
30-day trial period w/o obligation
Contact:
Engineering Computer Graphics Laboratory
Brigham Young University
368 Clyde Building
Provo, UT 84602
PHONE: 801-378-2812
E-Mail: cquel@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
for 30-day trial period w/o obligation
$1,500 for a license (exec. code, etc.)
PLOT3D
------
Platforms:
Availability:
Contact:
Cost:
apE III
---
Platforms:
Availability:
Contact:
TaraVisual Cor****ation
929 Harrison Avenue
Columbus, OH 43215
Tel. (614) 291-2912 and 1-800-458-8731
Fax (614) 291-2867
Cost:
$895 (plus tax); runtime version with a site-license for a single user
(at a time), no limit on the number of machines in a cluster.
$895 includes sup****t/maintenance and upgrades.
Source code more. Additional user licenses $360.
AVS
---
See also:
comp.graphics.avs
Platforms: CONVEX, CRAY, DEC, HP, IBM, SGI, SUN, Windows NT
Availability: AVS5 and AVS/Express available on all the above:
for all UNIX workstations, and for Windows NT
Contact:
Advanced Visual Systems Inc.
300 Fifth Ave.
Waltham, MA 02154
(617)-890-4300 Telephone
(617)-890-8287 Fax
info@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Email
http://www.avs.com
Web Site home page
Advanced Visual Systems Inc. for: CRAY, DEC, HP, IBM, SGI, SUN, Windows
NT
Advanced Visual Systems Inc. or CRAY for CRAY
CONVEX for CONVEX
Advanced Visual Systems Inc. or IBM for IBM
See also: comp.graphics.avs
FTP Site: for modules, data sets, other info:
avs.ncsc.org (128.109.178.23)
Cost:
SGI IRIS Explorer
-------------
IRIS Explorer is developed and maintained by NAG and is now available
for SGI/HP/DEC Alpha/IBM/Sun unix boxes and Intel/Alpha NT boxes.
Current latest release is 3.5
IRIS Explorer is an application creation system developed by Silicon
Graphics that provides visualisation and analysis functionality for
computational scientists, engineers and other scientists. The IRIS
Explorer GUI allows users to build custom applications without having
to write any, or a minimal amount of, traditional code. Also, existing
code can be easily integrated into the IRIS Explorer environment.
Platforms: SGI, Cray, SPARC, DEC, IBM, HP.
The SPARC ****ts have been done by DuPont Pixel and by Numerical
Algorithms Group (NAG) Ltd; NAG are also ****ting IRIS Explorer to
IBM RS/6000, HP 9000 series 700 and DEC Alpha.
Availability: Available now on SGI, Cray and SPARC. Other versions
to be announced soon.
Contact: IRIS Explorer Center for details of availability and
distribution information, and for user sup****t and other technical
enquiries:
IRIS Explorer Center (Europe)
PO Box 50
OXFORD
OX2 8JU
UK
Tel : +44 (0)865 516377
Fax : +44 (0)865 516388
e-mail : helpdesk@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
IRIS Explorer Center (North America)
1400 Opus Place, Suite 200
Downers Grove, IL 60515-5702
USA
Tel : +1 708 971 2367
Fax : +1 708 971 2706
e-mail : infodesk@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
More information: The IRIS Explorer Center runs a Gopher server,
containing technical information and advice, technical
papers and User Group details:
Name = IRIS Explorer Center Bulletin Board
Type = 1
Path = 1/visual/IE/iecbb
Host = nags2.nag.co.uk [192.156.217.7]
****t = 70
This service is also available via World Wide Web:
http://www.nag.co.uk/Welcome_IEC.html
The explorer ftp site is ftp.epcc.ed.ac.uk which is housed at
Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre. The administrator is Gordon
Cameron.
This archive is mirrored in the USA by swedishchef.lerc.nasa.gov,
administered by Jeff Hanson.
Newsgroups: comp.graphics.explorer, comp.sys.sgi.graphics
comp.graphics.apps.iris-explorer
Visual3
-------
Visual3 is a visualization system that provides a programmer level
interface instead of a canned application. Brief description and
availability is below.
Visual3 runs on Stellar, DEC stations, IBM RS/6000, HP and SGI.
(From the manual):
VISUAL3 is an interactive graphics environment for the visualization of
three-dimensional, structured and/or unstructured data. This
volumetric data may be steady or time varying.
VISUAL3 deals with three different types of surfaces. The first
category is `domain' surfaces. These are surfaces which are defined
by the application program which initializes VISUAL3, and they
typically correspond to the surfaces which bound the computational
domain. A subset of this first class, are `mapped domain' surfaces,
for which there is a mapping from points on the surface to an
$(x',y')$ coordinate system, which allows plotting of surface
quantities in a 2D setting.
The second category is `dynamic' surfaces. These are surfaces whose
orientation and position, relative to the computational domain, can be
changed interactively by the user. Although there are several types of
dynamic surface, only one dynamic surface can exist at one time. Also,
a dynamic surface cannot be activated when a mapped domain surface is
being plotted in the 2D window.
The third category is `static' surfaces. These are surfaces which
at one time were `dynamic', but then were `frozen' and transferred
into a database, along with the domain surfaces. These static
surfaces are then treated in almost the same way as the unmapped
domain surfaces.
NOTE:
Any `static' surface in a `grid unsteady' application deforms with
the grid movement. The surface is associated with the cells and
not physical space. Therefore, for planar cuts, the data is
not clipped to the 2D window size when the surface was saved.
Author: Bob Haimes email: haimes@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
MIT 37-467 FAX: (617) 253-0823
77 Mass Ave Tel: (617) 253-7518
Cambridge, Ma 02139
FIELDVIEW
---------
An interactive program designed to assist an engineer in
investigating fluid dynamics data sets.
Platforms: SGI, IBM, HP, SUN, X-terminals
Availability: Currently available on all of the above
platforms. Educational programs and volume
discounts are available.
Contact:
Intelligent Light
P.O. Box 65
Fair Lawn, NJ 07410
(201)794-7550
Steve Kramer (kramer@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
)
Vis5D
------
Vis5D is a system for interactive visualization of 5-D gridded data sets
such as those made by numeric weather and ocean models. One can make
isosurfaces, contour line slices, colored slices, wind vector slices,
wind
trajectories, volume renderings etc. of data in a 3-D grid and then
rotate
and animate the image in realtime. There are also features for text
annotation and video production.
Vis5D runs on Silicon Graphics, IBM, HP, DEC, SUN workstations,
and on PC's running Linux.
You can get Vis5D, including complete source code, from:
http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/~billh/vis5d.html
For both VisAD and Vis5D you can contact:
Bill Hibbard (whibbard@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
)
Space Science and Engineering Center
University of Wisconsin - Madison
1225 W. Dayton St.
Madison, WI 53706
VisAD
------
VisAD is a Java class library for interactive and collaborative
visualization and analysis of numerical data. It combines:
* The use of pure Java for platform independence and to sup****t
data sharing and real-time collaboration among geographically
distributed users. Sup****t for distributed computing is
integrated at the lowest levels of the system.
* A general mathematical data model that can be adapted to
virtually any numerical data, that sup****ts data sharing
among different users, different data sources and different
scientific disciplines, and that provides transparent access
to data independent of storage format and location (i.e.,
memory, disk or remote).
* A general display model that sup****ts interactive 3-D, data
fusion, multiple data views, direct manipulation,
collaboration, and virtual reality.
* Data analysis and computation integrated with visualization
to sup****t computational steering and other complex
interaction modes.
* Sup****t for two distinct communities: developers who create
domain-specific systems based on VisAD, and users of those
domain-specific systems. VisAD is designed to sup****t a wide
variety of user interfaces, ranging from simple data browser
applets to complex applications that allow groups of
scientists to collaboratively develop data analysis algorithms.
* Developer extensibility in as many ways as possible.
VisAD requires Java 3D and Java 1.2.
You can get VisAD, including complete source code, from:
http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/~billh/visad.html
For both VisAD and Vis5D you can contact:
Bill Hibbard (whibbard@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
)
Space Science and Engineering Center
University of Wisconsin - Madison
1225 W. Dayton St.
Madison, WI 53706
IBM Data Explorer
-----------------
See also:
http://www.almaden.ibm.com/dx/
comp.graphics.apps.data-explorer
Currently available on: IBM Risc System 6000,
SGI, HP, Sun (SunOS 4 and Solaris),
DEC, Data General
IBM POWER Visualization Server (32 i860, 40
MHz)
Contact:
Keith Sams (Midwest/West US)
1503 LBJ Frwy Dallas TX 75234, 214-406-7296,
ksams@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
sup****t exists:
ibmdx@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
To order (Product# 5765-210), call:
1-800-IBM-CALL : Commercial customers
1-800-333-6705 : Federal customers
Repository: Contributed modules, macros, data sets and other
information
DX repository -
ftp info.tc.cornell.edu (cd /pub/vis/Data.Explorer)
http://www.tc.cornell.edu/DX
Gopher -
telnet info.tc.cornell.edu (login as user info)
Cost: $5900 node locked license
Cost: $7400 concurrent use license
Cost: $9400 symmetric multiprocessing version (SMP), Product #
5765-420
- A free trial version is available (contact any of the above
reps)
- Discounts are available as follows:
IBM Higher Education Software Consortium
Single user educational discount
GSA contract GS00K92AGS5541, Option YR 1
Volume discounts
A longer description is at the tail end of this FAQ.
IBM 3D Interaction Accelerator
------------------------------
IBM Cor****ation
Beth Sulander
Dept. 32DA/P976, 522 South Road
Poughkeepsie, New York 12601-5400
USA
Phone: +1 (914) 433-2645
Fax: +1 (914) 433-9901
Internet: 3daccelerator@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
IBM 3D Interaction Accelerator is a workstation-based interactive software
product that enables real-time visualization and inspection of very large
and highly complex mechanical and architectural CAD models.
Khoros 2
--------
See also: comp.soft-sys.khoros
http://www.khoral.com/
Platforms: Sun (SunOS 4.1.3), Sun (Solaris 2.3), SGI (Irix
5.3),
DEC (OSF1/3.0), PC/486/P5 (Linux), Cray (UNICOS 8.0.3)
Availability: Available now on all platforms.
Contact: Khoral Research, Inc.
6001 Indian School Rd. NE
Suite 200
Albuquerque, NM 87110
tel: (505) 837-6500
fax: (505) 881-3842
email: info@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
is a new version of Khoros - 2.2, released July 1997.
Khoros Pro 2.2 with source code and binaries for selected architectures
on CD-ROM - it costs $549. It is available from KRI.
Licenses must be purchased for distribution of Khoros based products.
Advanced Khoros, the rapidly changing R&D version of Khoros technology
is available as source code only via ftp as a limited access product.
Please see the Advanced Khoros 2.2 Release notes and README at
www.khoral.com.
Spyglass Dicer
------------------
Spyglass Transform
------------------
Spyglass Slicer (was VoxelBox)
------------------------------
Spyglass Plot
-------------
3D volumetric data analysis package
2D data analysis package
A 3D Volume renderer for Windows.
column data analysis tool
Platforms: Mac, SGI, Sun, DEC, HP, IBM
Platform: Windows 3.x on a PC(386 or higher) with at least
an 8 bit video card(SVGA is fine)
Contact:
The Visual Data Analysis tools were purchased by Brand Fortner,
one of the Spyglass co-founders.
His new company, Fortner Research, has continued the developement of these
tools while Spyglass has focused on WWW technologies. To get the new
contact number, please contact fortner research at http://www.fortner.com
There contact info is listed there as follows:
Fortner Research, LLC
100 Carpenter Dr.
Sterling, VA 20164
Our Phone Numbers:
(703) 478-0181 Sup****t
(800) 252-6479 Sales
(703) 689-9593 Fax
Email Addresses:
Sales: sales@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
General Information: info@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Web Questions: webmaster@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Visualizer
---------------
Platforms: SGI, SUN, IBM RS6000, HP
# DEC is no longer sup****ted.
Availability:
Available on all the above platforms from Wavefront
Technologies. Educational programs and site licenses are
available.
Contacts:
Mike Wilson (mike@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
)
Wavefront Technologies, Inc.
530 East Montecito Street
Santa Barbara, CA 93103
805-962-8117
FAX: 805-963-0410
Wavefront Europe
Guldenspoorstraat 21-23
B-9000 Gent, Belgium
32-91-25-45-55
FAX: 32-91-23-44-56
Wavefront Technologies Japan
17F ****njuku-sumitomo Bldg
2-6-1 Ni****-****njuku, Shunjuku-Ku
Tokyo 168 Japan
81-3-3342-7330
FAX 81-3-3342-7353
National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) Tool Suite
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Platforms: Unix Workstations (DEC, IBM, SGI, Sun)
Apple MacIntosh
Cray supercomputers
Availability: Now available. Source code in the public domain.
FTP from ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu.
Contact: National Center for Supercomputing Applications
Computing Applications Building
605 E. Springfield Ave.
Champaign, IL 61820
Cost: Free (zero dollars).
The suite includes tools for 2D image and 3D scene analysis and
visualization.
The code is actively maintained and updated.
WiT (changed spelling!)
---
In a nutshell it's a package of the same genre as AVS,Explorer,etc.
It seems more a image processing system than a generic SciVi system
(IMHO)
Major elements are:
- a visual programming language, which automatically exploits the
inherent
parallelism
- a code generator which converts the graph to a standalone program
Iconified libraries present a rich set of point, filter, io, transform,
morphological, segmentation, and measurement operations.
A flow library allows graphs to employ broadcast, merge,
synchronization, conditional, and sequencing control strategies.
WiT delivers an object-oriented, distributed, visual programming
environment which allows users to rapidly design solutions to their
imaging problems. Users can consolidate both software and hardware
developments within a complete CAD-like workspace by adding their
own operators (C functions), objects (data structures), and servers
(specialized hardware).
WiT 5.0 will be available towards the beginning of the last quarter '94
and will include sup****t for multi-dimensional image processing,
3D volume slicing and viewing, and 3D ROI entry.
WiT runs on Sun SPARCs (SunOS 4.X, Solaris 2.3),
Linux, and Windows 3.1/NT. It also sup****ts Datacube MV-200 and
Digicolor
hardware, allowing you to run your graphs in real-time (available from
Datacube under the product name WiTFlow)
For a free WiT demo disk, call, FAX, or e-mail (poon@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
)
us stating your complete name, address, voice, FAX, e-mail info.
and desired platform.
There's an FTP'able demo for SPARCs under
sunsite.unc.edu /pub/sun-info/catalyst/logical-vision
Pricing:
WiT for Sparc, one yr. free upgrades, 30 days
technical sup****t....................$5000 US
Entry level pricing now at $1000 US, with upgrade to the full system
for $4000 US more.
WiT for Windows 3.1/NT: starts at US $1800.00. They recommend the Watcom
C
10.0 32-bit compiler to sup****t code development.
Academic institutions: discounts available
Contact:
Logical Vision Ltd.
Suite 108-3700 Gilmore Way
Burnaby, B.C., CANADA
V5G 4M1
Tel: 604-435-2587
Fax: 604-435-8840
e-mail: Terry Arden <poon@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
SciAn
-----
SciAn is primarily intended to do 3-D visualizations of data in an
interactive environment with the ability to generate animations using
frame-accurate video recording devices. A user manual, on-line help,
and
technical notes will help you use the program.
Cost : 0 (Free), source code provided via ftp.
Platforms : SGI 4D machines and IBM RS/6000 with the GL card + Z-buffer
Where to find it:
ftp.scri.fsu.edu [144.174.128.34] : /pub/SciAn
A mirror is monu1.cc.monash.edu.au [130.194.1.101] : /pub/SciAn
If you can find more info (we've a VERY overloaded Inet link :-( ) ....
VERTIGO
-------
They have an Educational Institution Program. The package is used in
the industrial design, architectural, scientific visualization,
educational, broadcast, imaging and post production fields.
They'll [quoting from a letter sent to me -- nfotis ] "donate fully
configured Vertigo 3D Graphics Software worth over $29,000USD per
package to qualified educational institutions for licencing on any
number of Silicon Graphics Personal IRIS or POWER Series Workstations.
If you use an IRIS Indigo station, we will also licence our Vertigo
Revolution Software (worth $12,000USD).
If you are interested in participating in this program please send a
letter by mail or fax (604/684-2108) on your institution's letterhead
briefly outlining your potential uses for Vertigo together with the
following information: 1. UNIX version 2. Model and number of SGI
systems 3. Peripheral devices 4. Third Party Software.
Participants will be asked to contribute $750USD per institution to
cover
costs of the manual, administration, and ****pping.
We recommend that Vertigo users subscribe to our technical sup****t
services. For an annual fee you will receive: technical assistance
on our sup****t hotline, bug fixes, software upgrades and manual updates.
For educational institution we will waive the $750 administration fee
if sup****t is purchased.
The annual sup****t fee is $2,500 plus the following cost for additional
machines:
Number of machines: 2-20 20+
Additional cost per machine: $700 $600 "
[ There's also a 5-day training program - nfotis]
Contact:
Vertigo Technology INC
Suite 1010
1030 West Georgia St.
VANCOUVER, BC
CANADA, V6E 2Y3
Phone: 604/684-2113
Fax: 604/684-2108
SCRY
----
[ From the README : ]
Scry is a distributed image handling system that pro-
vides image trans****t and compression on local and wide area
networks, image viewing on workstations, recording on video
equipment, and storage on disk. The system can be distri-
buted among workstations, between supercomputers and works-
tations, and between supercomputers, workstations and video
animation controllers. The system is most commonly used to
produce video based movie displays of images resulting from
visualization of time dependent data, complex 3D data sets,
and image processing operations. Both the clients and
servers run on a variety of systems that provide UNIX-like C
run-time environments, and 4BSD sockets.
The source is available for anonymous ftp:
csam.lbl.gov [128.3.254.6] : pub/scry.tar.Z
Contact:
Bill Johnston, (wejohnston@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
...ucbvax!csam.lbl.gov!johnston)
or
David Robertson (dwrobertson@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
...ucbvax!csam.lbl.gov!davidr)
Imaging Technologies Group
MS 50B/2239
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory
1 Cyclotron Road
Berkeley, CA 94720
SVLIB / FVS
-----------
SVLIB is an X-Windows widget set based on the OSF (Open Software
Foundation) Motif widget set. SVLIB widgets are macro-widgets
comprising lower level Motif widgets such as buttons, scrollbars,
menus, and drawing areas. It is designed to address the reusability
of 2D visualization routines and each widget in the library is an
encapsulation of a specific visualization technique such as colormap
manipulation, image display, and contour plotting. It is targetted
to run on UNIX workstations sup****ting OSF/Motif. Currently, only
color monitors are sup****ted. Since SVLIB is a collection of widgets
developed in the same spirit as the OSF/Motif user interface widget
set, it integrates seamlessly with the Motif widgets. Programmers
using SVLIB widgets see the same interface and design as other
Motif widgets.
FVS is a visualization software for Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
simulations. FVS is designed to accept data generated from these
simulations and apply various visualization techniques to present these
data graphically.
FVS accepts three-dimensional multi-block data recorded in NCSA HDF
format.
iti.gov.sg [192.122.132.130] : /pub/svlib (Scientific Visualization)
/pu/fvs; These directories contain demo binaries for Sun4/SGI
Cost : US$200 for academic and US$300 for non-academic institutions.
(For each of the above items). You're getting the source for the
licence.
Contact
-------
Miss Quek Lee Hian
Member of Technical Staff
Information Technology Institute
National Computer Board
NCB Building
71, Sicence Park Drive
Singa****e 0511
Republic of Singa****e
Tel : (65)7720435
Fax : (65)7795966
Email : leehian@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Distribution:
Bob - An interactive volume renderer for the SGI
Raz - A disk based movie player for the SGI
Icol - Motif color editor
---------------------------------------------------------
The Army High Performance Computing Research Center (AHPCRC) has been
developing a set of tools to work with large time dependent 2D and 3D
data sets. In the Graphics and Visualization Lab (GVL) we are using
these tools along side standard packages, such as SGI Explorer and the
Utah Raster Toolkit, to render 3D volumes and create digital movies.
A couple of the more general purpose programs have been bundled into a
package called "GVLware".
GVLware, currently consisting of Bob, Raz and Icol, is now available
via ftp. The most interesting program is probably Bob, an interactive
volume renderer for the SGI. Raz streams raster images from disk to
an SGI screen, enabling movies larger than memory to be played. Icol
is a color map editor that works with Bob and Raz. Source and
pre-built binaries for IRIX 4.0.5 are included.
To acquire GVLware, anonymous ftp to:
machine - ftp.arc.umn.edu
file - /pub/gvl.tar.Z
To use GVLware:
mkdir gvl ; cd gvl
zcat gvl.tar.Z | tar xvf -
more README
Some Bob features:
Motif interface, SGI GL rendering
Renders 64 cubed data set in 0.1 to 1.0 seconds on a VGX
Alpha Compositing and Maximum Value rendering, in perspective
(only Maximum Value rendering on Personal Iris)
Data must be a "Brick of Bytes", on a regularly spaced grid
Animation, subvolumes, subsampling, stereo
Some Raz features:
Motif interface, SGI GL rendering
Loads files to a raw disk partition, then streams to screen
(requires an empty disk partition to be set aside)
Script interface available for movie sequences
Can stream from memory, like NCSA XImage
Some Icol features:
Motif interface
Easy to create interpolated color maps between key points
RGB, HSV and YUV color spaces, multiple file formats
Communicates changes automatically to Bob and Raz
Has been tested on SGI, Sun, DEC and Cray systems
BTW: Bob == Brick of Bytes
Icol == Interpolated Color
Raz == ? (just a name)
Please send any comments to
gvlware@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
software collection is sup****ted by the Army Research Office
contract number DAALO3-89-C-0038 with the University of Minnesota Army
High Performance Computing Research Center.
IDL
---
An environment for scientific computing and visualization.
Based on an array oriented language, IDL includes 2D and 3D
graphics, matrix manupulation, signal and image processing,
basic statistics, gridding, mapping, and a widget based system
for building GUI for IDL applications (Open Look, Motif, or
MS-Windows).
Environments: DEC (VMS and Ultrix), HP, IBM RS6000, SGI, Sun,
Microsoft Windows. (Mac version in progress)
Cost: $1500 to $3750, Educational and quantity discounts
available.
See also: comp.lang.idl-pvwave
Contact: Research Systems Inc.
777 29th Street, Suite 302
Boulder, CO 80303
Phone: 303-786-9900
FAX: 303-786-9909
E-mail: info@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Demo available via FTP. Call or E-mail for details.
IAP
---
Imaging Applications Platform is a commercial package for medical and
scientific visualization. It does volume rendering, binary surface
rendering, multiplanar reformating, image manipulation, cine sequencing,
intermixes geometry and text with images and provides measurement and
coordinate transform abilities.
It can provide hardcopy on most medical film printers, image database
functionality and interconnection to most medical (CT/MRI/etc) scanners.
It is client/server based and provides an object oriented interface. It
runs on most high performance workstations and takes full advantage of
parallelism where it is available. It is robust, efficient and
will be submitted for FDA approval for use in medical applications.
Cost: in the $5K range
Available from:
ISG Technologies
6509 Air****t Road
Mississauga, Ontario,
Canada, L4V-1S7
(416) 672-2100
Flow Analysis Software Toolkit (FAST)
-------------------------------------
OVERVIEW
FAST is currently under development by members of the
Numerical Aerodynamics Simulation (NAS) Division at NASA Ames
Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035-1000. It is a
software environment for analyzing 3D data. FAST consists of a
collection of separate programs (modules) that run
simultaneously and allow the user to examine the results of
numerical simulations by loading data files, performing
calculations on the data, visualizing the results of these
calculations, and constructing scenes of 3D graphical objects
that may be animated and recorded.
The approach used in FAST is to create an environment of
compatable, minimally overlapping modules, each with its own
purpose and functionality, but with the ability to share its
data with the other modules. All of the modules in the FAST
environment have a consistent, easy-to-use, highly interactive
user interface (using the Panel Library developed at Ames).
FAST is flexible and extensible: the environment can be custom
configured and new modules can be developed and added to it.
Note that FAST is not a visual programming environment, it is
a multi-processed visualization and animation tool.
EXISTING MODULES
The following modules are available in this version of FAST:
HUB Central ipc and shared memory manager starts modules.
VIEWER Viewing process for the FAST environment.
FILE IO Loads grid, solution, function.
ARCGRAPH Draws ARCGraph graphics metafiles.
CALCULATOR CFD Calculator computes scalar and vector fields.
SURFER Draws surfaces of a structured grid.
SURFERU Draws surfaces of an unstructured grid.
TRACER Computes partical traces through the structured
or unstructured vector field.
ISOLEV Draws xyz cutting plane and contour surfaces for a
structured grid.
ISOLEVU Draws xyz cutting plane and contour surfaces for a
unstructured grid.
TOPOLOGY Extracts critical points in vector field.
SHOTET Draws selected tetrahedra of an unstructured grid.
PLOTTER Plots xy graphs of scalar functions.
TITLER Text title editor for adding titles to graphics.
AUDIO Produces sound from scalar data.
IMAGER Draws raster files (image format).
HOW TO GET FAST
GENERAL USERS
Contact COSMIC
phone (706) 542-3265
fax (706) 542-4807
email service@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Guide...................... $72
Source code:
For commercial customers........ $2000
For educational institutions.... $ 200
For FAST commercial Beta sites.. $ 500
For NASA sites.................. $ 0
NASA sites: Place orders through your NASA contract monitor (for a
contractor) or through your local Technology Utilization Office (for
NASA employees). COSMIC does not charge for programs and do***entation
used exclusively in sup****t of a NASA project.
FAST and derivative products may not be distributed internationally.*
Institutions receiving FAST at the educational price must agree not to
distribute the program beyond their site. This restriction does not
apply if users pay the commercial price for the code.
You can get information from the NASA via the World Wide Web:
http://www.nas.nasa.gov/FAST/fast.html
NUMERICAL AERODYNAMIC SIMULATION (NAS) SYSTEM USERS
See nasinfo or send email to fast@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
USER GROUP
To join the FAST user group and receive tips and im****tant
announcements about FAST, send your email address to:
fast-users-request@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
questions, comments and suggestions to: fast@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
waiver may be granted for US institutions or US companies performing
work
outside the US on a US Gov't contract. Send written request to NASA HQTRS
(Attn: Ray Rose, Technology Transfer Control, Office of Aeronautics)
from your Gov't Contract Officer Representative and from the Program
Manager
or the Technical Monitors of the Gov't project.
PV-WAVE
-------
The PV-WAVE family of products uses powerful visual and numerical analysis
techniques to reduce large, complex data sets into easily interpreted
visual
plots and displays; for faster more effective decision making.
PV-WAVE (Workstation Analysis and Visualization Environment) is the
industry
leading 4GL for Visual Data Analysis (VDA). PV-WAVE integrates powerful
plotting and charting, volume visualization, signal and image processing,
advanced numerical and statistical analysis, flexible data input and
output,
and much more, all in an efficient and integrated software system.
PV-WAVE
makes it easy to find key trends and relation****ps in your data by
allowing
you to distill raw data into meaningful information quickly.
Products: PV-WAVE Advantage - PV-WAVE Command Language with additional
commands to access the IMSL C/Math and C/Stat libraries
directly
PV-WAVE Command Language - the basic 4GL for VDA
PV-WAVE Point & Click - PV-WAVE functionality accessed via a
Graphical User Interface (GUI)
Modules: NOTE: All modules are compatible with PV-WAVE Advantage and
PV-WAVE Command Language.
PV-WAVE:GTGRID - gridding capabilities beyond the basic products
PV-WAVE:Maple - ability to interact with a Maple (symbolic
mathematics) session
PV-WAVE:Database Connection - read data directly from Sybase or
Oracle databases
Environments: Sun (SunOS and Solaris), HP700, SGI, IBM RS6000,
DEC (OpenVMS VAX, OpenVMS AXP, OSF/1 AXP and ULTRIX),
Windows NT (Intel, Mips, DEC AlphaPC), Windows v3.1
See also: comp.lang.idl-pvwave
Contact: Visual Numerics, Inc.
6230 Lookout Road
Boulder, CO 80301
(303) 530-9000 (phone)
(303) 530-9329 (FAX)
EnSight
-------
EnSight is in use world-wide by engineers requiring a
full-featured postprocessing system for the visualization of
results from CFD, structural analysis, combustion modeling,
injection molding, electromagnetics, and more. EnSight
interfaces with all major commercial analysis packages.
EnSight is a distributed postprocessor: a server handles I/O
and compute intensive activities and a client handles all
user-interface interaction and graphic rendering using the
native graphics hardware on the workstation. The tasks can
reside on either the same workstation or two separate
systems.
CEI provides a unique licensing policy for EnSight. Only
the server ****tion is licensed - customers are free to copy
the client to any compatible platform they own. The needs
of multiple users can therefore be met with a single
license.
Platforms: Server: SGI, HP, DEC Alpha, IBM, Sun, Cray, Convex
Client: SGI, HP, IBM, Sun
Contact:
Tom Palmer
Computational Engineering International, Inc.
P.O. Box 14306
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709
(919) 481-4301
(919) 481-4306 (fax)
ensight@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
-or- palmer@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Detailed information about EnSight and CEI is available
via the World Wide Web:
http://www.ceintl.com
A two-seat, perpetual commercial (academic) license is $9500 ($1140),
including the first year of sup****t and maintenance.
Fully functional copies of EnSight are available for evaluation purposes.
======
Public domain data sets
-----------------------
aerial stereo image pair are available by anonymous ftp:
ftp.tu-graz.ac.at pub/images/
Issue/problems
--------------
How to get more quantitative systems?
Employment:
Job postings (resumes or offerings) are encouraged, BUT please use your
news software appropriately. The best way to post is cross post
comp.graphics.visualization,misc.jobs.offered (or resumes). (No spaces
between
newsgroups. Then fill the Followup-To: field with "poster."
Please read the misc.jobs.offered (or resumes) FAQ (posted twice monthly)
for
stylistic considerations BEFORE POSTING.
Netiquette
----------
We assume you have read news.announce.newusers and that you understand
network informalities. This group is not moderated, and this is one
experiment in self-moderation (education).
If you have questions, ask you system administrator. If you are the
system
administrator, use MAIL, and ask your net neighbors.
Do not post TESTS here. Special testing groups exist to acknowledge your
posts. Test in misc.test, or in your locale: e.g., ba.test, ca.test,
na.test,
etc.
Some people believe the charter should be posted. The name of the group
should sufficiently convey the purpose of this group.
Flame wars: 1) Flame using mail. Failing that 2) Cut down on the number
of groups in your Newsgroups: line. 3) Use Followup-To: a line with
fewer newsgroups. Make certain you read all posts before responding, the
net
is asynchronous enough as it is: the History of Dumb posts includes such
titles as
"What time is it?" "The Space Shuttle blew up!" and "California just had
an
earthquake." See your local broadcast news.
Attribution: (Those lines frequently beginning with ">") MINIMIZE.
Especially: don't post "Me, too" posts after 100 lines of attribution.
Remove especially long sigatures at the bottoms of posts.
Use email. Show that you are intelligent and net savvy in your postings.
Edit carefully.
DO NOT BOTHER TO ASK FOR PROPRIETARY or pre-release of scientific data.
Many organizations and individuals involved in scientific research are
given a lien (90 day, 1 year, several years). This is sometimes akin
to asking for trade secrets. Don't bother.
Posting ads: Rules do not specifically prevent posting advertising so long
as it is done is good taste. The specific prohibitions come from specific
hosts such as those from the original Internet: machines funded by
US Government monies. These machines are not to be used for personal gain
or profit. Specific criminal problems won't be elaborated here for space.
If in doubt, ask someone first.
General graphics references can be found in comp.graphics.
This is the place to ask more general questions like graphics formats.
There, an FAQ will soon exist. An electronic references
server daemon is also under work as well.
Hardware specific questions like IBM PC or SGI or SUN, etc. specific
questions
are probably best answered in groups specific oriented to those machines.
Because this group is unmoderated, it is open to posts which call for
pyramid schemes, calls to send postcards to sick children, and other
posts.
1) Ignore those.
2) Flame the poster via email.
3) Use the Followup-To: line redirecting out of the group (net.akido)
after one cross-post in the group.
That is the price of free speech as ruled in the United States.
The general feeling is that c.g.v. should be more oriented to that
mystical thing called visualization.
References
==========
Other useful newsgroups
-----------------------
comp.sys.sun
comp.graphics.avs
comp.sys.sgi
comp.infosystems.gis
comp.graphics
sci.image.processing
Books
-----
Convert to refer:
E. Tufte, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information
Cleveland, William: "The Elements of Graphing Data" Wadsworth Advanced
Books and Software.
Tukey, John: "Exploratory Data Analysis"
Addision Weseley, pub.
"Graphics and Graphic Information Processing" - Translated by William J.
Berg and Paul Scott,
Walter De Gruyter, Publisher.
%A Edward Huff
%T How to Lie with Statistics
%A Mark Monmonier
%T How to Lie with Maps
%I Univ. of Chicago Press
%C Chicago
%D 1991
%X Ch. 2 Elements of the Map
Ch. 3 Map Generalizations: Little White Lies and Lots of Them
Ch. 4 Blunders that Mislead
Ch. 5 Maps that Advertise
Ch. 6 Development Maps (or, How to Seduce the Town Board)
Ch. 7 Maps for Political Propaganda
Ch. 8 Maps, Defense, and Disinformation: Fool Thine Enemy
Ch. 9 Data Maps: Making Nonsense of the Census
Ch. 10: Color: Attraction and Distraction
%A Thomas D. Davies
%Z R. Adm. USN, (ret.)
%T New Evidence Places Peary at the Pole
%J National Geographic
%V 117
%N 1
%D January 1990
%P 44-61
%K photogrammetry, surveying, angles, protractor, trigonometry
%X Full re****t: $15 to Navigation Foundation, Box 1126, Rockville, MD
20850.
See also the page before the index of this issue entitled, "Sun angle
anyone?"
See also the June 1996 issue of Newsweek on Beauty.
Has some photogrammetric analysis.
Jacques Bertin's "The Semiology of Graphics" ?
- it's what Tufte should have been (although it predates both books).
@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
{Earnshaw, R.A. and Wiseman, N.},
title = {An Introductory Guide to Scientific Visualization},
publisher = {Springer-Verlag},
year = 1992,
month = {September},
note = {ISBN 3-540-54664-2, ISBN 0-387-54664-2}
note = {Out of print and may never reprint. --steve}
}
@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
{Brodlie, K.W. and Carpenter, L.A. and
Earnshaw, R.A. and Gallop, J.R. and
Hubbold, R.J. and Mumford, A.M. and
Osland, C.D. and Quarendon, P.},
title = {Scientific Visualization ---
Techniques and Applications},
publisher = {Springer-Verlag},
year = 1992,
month = {January},
note = {ISBN 3-540-54565-4, ISBN 0-387-54565-4}
}
Better than average papers
@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
= "Alfred Inselberg and Bernard Dimsdale",
TITLE = "Parallel Coordinates: A Tool for Visualizing
Multi-dimensional Geometry",
BOOKTITLE = "Proceedings of the First IEEE Conference on
Visualization, San Francisco, 23-26 October 1990",
EDITOR = "Arie Kaufman",
PUBLISHER = "IEEE Computer Society Press",
PAGES = "361-377",
YEAR = 1990}
Papers not checked for quality but suggested
--------------------------------------------
@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
= "Robert R. Dickinson",
Title = "Interactive Analysis of the Topology of 4d Vector Fields",
JOURNAL = "IBM Journal of Research and Development",
MONTH = Jan,
VOLUME = 35,
NUMBER = 1,
PAGES = "59-66",
YEAR = 1991
ANNOTE = "tracing
curves through the direction fields of the major and minor
eigenvectors of 2nd order tensor fields. His application was also
stress and strain, and the method appeared quite effective."
}
@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
AUTHOR = "Thierry Delmarcelle and Lambertus Hesselink",
TITLE = "Visualization of Second Order Tensor Fields and Matrix Data",
BOOKTITLE = "Visualization'92",
ORGANIZATION = "IEEE Computer Society",
YEAR = 1992,
MONTH = Oct,
PAGES = "316--323"
}
Nicolas Capaldi, "The art of deception", Prometheus Books, 1987
Journals
--------
IEEE Computer Graphics & Applications
ACM Transactions on Graphics
The Journal of Visualization and Computer Animation
published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd, ISSN 1049-8907
Scientific Programming: A Wiley-Interscience Publication
Subscription:
In the US:
Scientific Programming: A Wiley-Interscience Publication
John Wiley and Sons
Periodicals Division
P.O. Box 7247-8491
Philadelphia, PA 19170-8491
Outside the US:
Scientific Programming: A Wiley-Interscience Publication
John Wiley and Sons
Journals Administration Dept.
Baffins Lane, Chichester
Sus*** PO19 1UD
England
Magazines
---------
Pixel
Conferences & workshops (see also the proceedings from years passed):
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Visualization '9x - Annual visualization conference
SIGGRAPH - Annual ACM graphics conference
Eurographics '9x - Annual European graphics conference of the
Eurographics association
"less than annual" Conferences
------------------------------
Symposium on Interactive 3D Graphics
Volume Visualization Workshop
Usenix Graphics Workshop
Contributions
=============
Mail it to me (amelia). I prefer concise text which can just be
concatenated
into this file. No long winded speeches please. I'm just a computer.
"Take me I'm yours....."
======TAG LINE=====
From: Nick (Nikolaos) C Fotis <nfotis@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
Hello, here's the latest version of my SciVi and Mol. Vis. stuff
(minus + and # signs). Basically, I got your latest updates and I
incor****ated them here:
17. Scientific visualization stuff
----------------------------------
a. NCSA Data Slice (xds): Bundled with the X11 distribution from MIT,
in the contrib directory. Available at ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu
[141.142.20.50]
(either as a source or binaries for various platforms).
This site has *lot* of Visualization tools. You're advised to look at
it.
b. Khoros 2: available via anonymous ftp at ftp.khoral.com
Khoros is a complete data exploration and software development
environment
that reduces your time in solving complex problems, allows free sharing
of
ideas and information, and promotes ****tability. Khoros 2 contains
programming services and software development tools that sup****t all
aspects of developing new X Window applications. For those who need
end
user solutions to scientific problems, Khoros 2 may be used as it
stands,
providing a rich set of programs for information processing, data
exploration, and data visualization. All information processing and
visualization programs in Khoros 2 are available via the visual
programming language. The visual programming language is a graphically
expressed, event driven visual language which provides a visual
programming environment within the Khoros 2 system.
See comp.soft-sys.khoros on Usenet for more info, or
http://www.khoral.com/
c. MacPhase : Analysis & Visualization Application for the Macintosh.
Operates on 1D and 2D data arrays. Im****t/Ex****t several different file
formats. Several different plotting options such as gray scale,
color raster, 3D Wire frame, 3D surface, contour, vector, line, and
combinations. FFTs, filtering, and other math functions, color look up
editor, array calculator, etc. Shareware, available via anonymous ftp
from
sumex-aim.stanford.edu in the info-mac/app directory.
For other information contact Doug Norton (e-mail:
74017.461@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
)
d. IRIS Explorer is an application creation system developed by Silicon
Graphics that provides visualisation and analysis functionality for
computational scientists, engineers and other scientists. The Explorer
GUI allows users to build custom applications without having to write
any, or a minimal amount of, traditonal code. Also, existing code can
be easily integrated into the Explorer environment. Explorer currently
is available on SGI and Cray machines, but will become available on
other platforms in time. [ Bundled with every new SGI machine, as far
as
I know]
See comp.graphics.explorer for discussion of the package.
e. apE. Back in the 'old good days', you could get apE for nearly free.
Now has gone commercial and the following vendor supplies it:
TaraVisual Cor****ation
929 Harrison Avenue
Columbus, Ohio 43215
Tel: 1-800-458-8731 and (614) 291-2912
Fax: (614) 291-2867
Cost:
$895 (plus tax); runtime version with a site-license for a single user
(at a time), no limit on the number of machines in a cluster.
$895 includes sup****t/maintenance and upgrades.
Source code more. Additional user licenses $360.
The name of the package has become apE III (TM).
Khoros is very similar to apE in philosophy, as are AVS and Explorer.
f. AVS
See also:
comp.graphics.avs
Platforms: CONVEX, CRAY, DEC, Evans & Sutherland, HP, IBM, Kubota,
Set Technologies, SGI, Stardent, SUN, Wavetracer
Availability: AVS3 available on all the above:
AVS4 currently available on SGI, SUN
AVS4 will be available on: HP, IBM, Kubota, SGI, Stardent, SUN
6/1/92
Contact:
Advanced Visual Systems Inc. for: CRAY, HP, IBM, SGI,
Stardent, SUN
CONVEX for CONVEX
Advanced Visual Systems Inc. or CRAY for CRAY
DEC for DEC
Evans & Sutherland for Evans & Sutherland
Advanced Visual Systems Inc. or IBM for IBM
Kubota Pacfic Inc. for Kubota
Set Technologies for Set Technologies
Wavetracer for Wavetracer
i. Wavefront products.
j. PLOT3D and FAST from NASA Ames. These packages are distributed from
COSMIC at least (for FAST ask Pat Elson <pelson@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> for
distribution information). In general, these codes are for US
citizens only :-(
k. XGRAPH : On the contrib tape of X11R5. It specialty is display of up
to 64 data sets (2D).
==========================================================================
18. Molecular visualization stuff
---------------------------------
[ Based on a list from cristy@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
< Cristy > , which asked for
systems for displaying Molecular Dynamics, MD for short ]
# this address is possibly bad.
a. Flex is a public domain package written by Michael Pique, at The
Scripps
Research Institute, La Jolla, CA. Flex is stored as a compressed,
tar'ed archive (about 3.4MB) at perutz.scripps.edu [137.131.152.27], in
pub/flex. It displays molecular models and MD trajectories.
b. MacMolecule (for Macintosh). I searched with Archie, and the most
promising place is sumex-aim.stanford.edu (info-mac/app, and
info-mac/art/qt for a demo)
c. If you are running on an SGI, try MD-DISPLAY, from Terry
Lybrand (lybrand@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
).
# this address is possibly bad.
d. Duncan McRee <dem@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> has something called XtalView. It is a
crystallography package that does visualize molecules and much more.
It uses the XView toolkit.
e. landman@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
I am writing my own visualization code right now. I look at MD output
(a specific format, easy to alter for the subroutine) on PC's. My
program has hooks into GKS. If your friend has access to Phigs for X
(PEX) and fortran bindings, I would be happy to share my evolving code
(free of charge). Right now it can display supercells of up to 65
atoms (easy to change), and up to 100 time steps, drawing nearest
neighbor bonds between 2 defining nn radii. It works acceptably fast
on a 10Mhz 286.
f. icsg0001@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
I did a project on Molecular Visualization for my Master's Thesis,
using
UNIX/X11/Motif which generates a simple point and space-filling model.
g. KGNGRAF by IBM.
h. ditolla@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
I'm working on molecular dynamic too. A friend of mine and I have
developed a program to display an MD run dynamically on Silicon
Graphics. We are working to improve it, but it doesn't work under X,
we are using the graphi. lib. of the Silicon Gr. because they are much
faster then X. When we'll end it we'll post on the news info about
where to get it with ftp. (Will be free software).
+i. XBall V3.0: written by David Nedde [daven@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
XBall has been placed on ex****t.lcs.mit.edu (18.24.0.12) as
+ xball3.0.tar.Z for anonymous FTP, and has been posted on
+ comp.sources.x as Volume 20, issues 1-5.
j. XMol: an X Window System program that uses OSF/Motif for the
display and analysis of molecular model data. Data from several
common file formats can be read and written; current formats include:
Alchemy, CHEMLAB-II, Gaussian, MOLSIM, MOPAC, PDB, and MSCI's XYZ
format (which has been designed for simplicity in translating to
and from other formats). XMol also allows for conversion between
several of these formats.
Xmol is available as ftp.msc.edu:pub/xmol/xmol.tar
k. INSIGHT II from BIOSYM Technologies Inc.
l. SCARECROW. The program has been published in J. Molecular Graphics 10
(1992) 33. The program can analyze and display CHARMM, DISCOVER, YASP
and MUMOD trajectories. The program package contains also software for
the generation of probe surfaces, proton affinity
surfaces and molecular orbitals from an extended Huckel program.
It works on Silicon Graphics machines.
Contact Leif Laaksonen <Leif.Laaksonen@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
or laaksone@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
MacInPlot
Features: stereo, ribbon diagrams, im****ts PDB, ex****ts MacMolecule
rhino.bocklabs.wisc.edu by anonymous ftp.
(I think the pub/MAC-IN-PLOT dir)
Stephan Spencer
sspencer@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
of Wisconsin
Institute for Molecular Virology
[ I would also suggest looking at least in SGI's Applications Directory.
It contains many more packages - nfotis ]
==========================================================================
Article 9 of comp.graphics.explorer:
From: tohanson@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(Jeff Hanson)
Subject: FAQ for Explorer, slightly dated
Here is the currect FAQ for Explorer. Note that it is slightly dated
since it does not reflect the existance of this news group. I'm sure
Gordon will soon generate a new FAQ and post it here.
oOo Explorer Frequently Asked Question List oOo
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Version 0.2
Last Altered 12th April 1992 - G.C.
!!!!! Please Redistribute this Article !!!!!!
+ Introduction +
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This do***ent contains answers to some Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
asked of the Explorer Modular Visualisation Environment (MVE).
The latest update of this can always be obtained by FTP from :
UK Site : ftp.epcc.ed.ac.uk (129.215.56.29)
( US Mirror : swedishchef.lerc.nasa.gov (139.88.54.33) )
If you wish to be part of the Explorer mailing list, comment on this
FAQ, add/alter/CORRECT any questions, or have any suggestions, please
email:
explorer-request@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
or
gordonc@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
relevant and possible, the sources of information are listed after
the answers - many of the questions stem from those on the mailing
list. Direct quotes are indented.
N.B. The compilers of this FAQ are independent of SGI (developers of
Explorer) - this also means that any inaccuracies are most probably our
own faults ! Thanks to the XUG and the X FAQ for ideas.
- Gordon Cameron (Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre)
gordonc@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Chris Thornborrow, Matthew White (EPCC)
Key :
~~~~~
+ : New since last update
* : Changed since last update
@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
question (+ fix)
+ Topics +
~~~~~~~~~~
A) TOPIC: GENERAL INFORMATION
A.1) What is Explorer ?
A.2) What platforms will Explorer run on/what are the requirements ?
A.3) How can I get Explorer ?
A.4) Modules, Maps & ****ts - What are they ?
A.5) What is the Map Editor/Librarian ?
A.6) What Data Formats can Explorer handle ?
A.7) What is the Data Scribe ?
A.8) What is the Module Builder ?
A.9) What are the MCW and MDW ?
A.10) What is an MVE ?
A.11) What other MVEs are there ?
A.12) Is there any overlap between ImageVision and Explorer ?
-
B) TOPIC: RUNNING EXPLORER
B.1) Why does Explorer crash immediately ? +
B.2) Can I run Explorer on one machine and display on another ?
B.3) Can I run modules on different machines ?
B.4) How can I start Explorer with a prefined map ?
B.5) Can I run Explorer in batch mode (i.e. without the GUI) ?
B.6) Will Explorer work with very large data sets ?
B.7) When does a module fire ?
B.8) Why does Explorer run slowly on my system ?
B.9) How can I customize the look of Explorer ?
-
C) TOPIC: USING EXPLORER with the MAP EDITOR
C.1) Why does Explorer ignore all my input ? @[EMAIL PROTECTED]
C.2) Why can't I start a GenerateColormap module ?
C.3) How can I stretch the librarian scrolling list ?
C.4) How can I slice into an iso-surface ?
C.5) How can I render translucent solids ?
C.6) Why can I not get LatFunction to work ? +@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
) TOPIC: USING THE DATASCRIBE
D.1) Why does the help file not reflect the actual widget ? @[EMAIL PROTECTED]
) TOPIC: USING THE MODULE BUILDER
-
F) TOPIC: PROGRAMMING MODULES
F.1) How can I wake Explorer on events ?
F.2) What has happened to the routine cxInput****tStateGet ? @[EMAIL PROTECTED]
) TOPIC: MODULES AVAILABLE/WANTED
G.1) Where can I get PD modules ? +
-
H) TOPIC: FURTHER INFORMATION
H.1) Where can I obtain do***entation (e.g. Module Writers' Guide) ? *
H.2) Is there a mailing list/FTP site ? *
H.3) Is there a relevant newsgroup ?
H.4) Why are the electronic PostScript files incomplete ? *
-
I) TOPIC: MISCELLANEOUS
I.1) How can I add/correct or comment on Q&As on the FAQ ?
I.2) Where can I find a list of bugs ? +
-
+ Full Q&As +
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
======================================================================
A) TOPIC: GENERAL INFORMATION
======================================================================
A.1) What is Explorer ?
IRIS Explorer is an application creation system and user
environment that provides visualisation and analysis
functionality for computational scientists, engineers, and
other investigators. It is especially useful for those whose
needs are not met by commercial software packages. Also, IRIS
Explorer's Graphical User Interface (GUI) allows users to build
custom applications without having to write a single line of
code.
[from IRIS EXPLORER - Technical Re****t(SGI)]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A.2) What platforms will Explorer run on/what are the requirements ?
Explorer is included at no cost with each Silicon Graphics
workstation. Explorer can be ordered for existing workstations at a
nominal media charge. It is also available from Cray Research for Cray
Research computers, and it is hinted that the package will be ****ted
soon(#:-} to other platforms.
On SGI platforms, requirements are that the machine have a 24 bit plane
(or virtual 24 bit plane) frame buffer i.e. All except Personal Irises
with 8 bit planes. In addition, 16MB is the minimum memory requirement,
although 24 megs is recommended, especially when the data sets to be
visualised are particularly large.
In particular, you must be running version 4.0.1 of the OS, or higher.
[Leo Blume(SGI) and Release Notes for Explorer]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A.3) How can I get Explorer ?
Contact your local SGI supplier for details of what Explorer is available
on, and how to obtain it.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A.4) Modules, Maps & ****ts - What are they ?
A MODULE is a single software tool for performing a particular task.
Explorer is ****pped along with a wide range of modules to perform tasks
such as data input, rendering, image processing and manipulation. Each
module has associated input and output ****TS which control the flow of
data in and out of the module.
Modules are connected together to form pipelines which perform specific
higher level tasks. The collection of such modules and the links between
them are referred to as Explorer MAPS. The function of the map is
implicitly
defined by the functions of the modules and their interconnectivity.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A.5) What is the Map Editor/Librarian ?
The Map Editor and Librarian are the two main windows that are used
when you use Explorer.
The MAP EDITOR is a graphical tool for assembling the maps by picking
modules and joining them together in an intuitive manner. The editor
will only allow the connection of input/output ****t pairs of the same
data type, so Explorer is a `strongly typed system'. The map editor is
effectively the interactive prototyping environment of Explorer.
The LIBRARIAN is the tool which allows you to browse through existing
modules and maps, to choose those which you wish to use with the map
editor.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A.6) What Data Formats can Explorer handle ?
Explorer works on 5 main types of data :
Parameter : Scalar values such as integers and doubles.
Lattice : A Generalized multi-dimensional array.
Pyramid : Combines lattices with connectivity information in
a hierarchical structure.
Geometry: A general, hierarchical, geometric description.
Unknown : An uninterpreted stream of bytes
The first four types will be consistent between modules perhaps
executing on different machine architectures, whereas the last unknown
type does not have this feature (unless the user adds XDR-like data
conversion him/herself).
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A.7) What is the Data Scribe ?
The DataScribe is a graphical utility to allow the user to build
templates which can convert data between formats - this is typically
used to convert a customized user data file into a lattice(say) and
vice versa.
These data conversion templates, when completed, constitute modules in
Explorer which can be used in the same fa****on as any other module.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A.8) What is the Module Builder ?
The Module Builder is a graphical utility to aid in the creation of
Explorer modules, by helping you define which data types the module has
on its input and output ****ts, which widgets correspond to which
parameters, and how the module will look when placed in the Map
Editor.
The Module Builder can also automatically generate one of the extra
layers of wrapping around the core function, namely the Module Data
Wrapper (MDW).
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A.9) What are the MCW and MDW ?
The innermost layer of an Explorer module is the computational
algorithm which provides the base functionality. This is surrounded
first by the Module Data Wrapper (MDW) - which can be generated
automatically by the Module Builder - and this performs the conversion
of data from Explorer format at ****ts to the algorithm's internal
format, and vice versa.
The outermost layer is the Module Control Wrapper (MCW) which is the layer
responsible for communicating the module's input and output (Explorer)
data with other modules, and maintaining data consistency (a la XDR).
This layer also handles comms with the local controller and the firing
mechanism.
The MCW is necessary whereas the MDW may be bypassed by the programmer
if desired, allowing direct access to data at the ****ts.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A.10) What is an MVE ?
A Modular Visualisation Environment (MVE) is a package for data
visualisation consisting of a user interface allowing linking of
modules in a pipeline. Explorer is an example of an MVE.
[ Chris Thornborrow, EPCC ]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A.11) What other MVEs are there ?
Other MVEs include :
AVS - now marketed by AVS (see comp.graphics.avs)
apE - originally developed by Ohio Supercomputer Centre
Khoros - developed by Khoral Research, Inc.
(see http://www.khoral.com/)
It would probably be more correct to define Khoros as a MAB (Module
Application Builder) , as it is not aimed solely at visualisation.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A.12) Is there any overlap between ImageVision and Explorer
ImageVision is an object oriented image processing library that
currently has about 70 image processing functions. The architecture of
ImageVision is designed to handle virtually any size and data typed
image. The ImageVision library runs on all SGI machines and on a Cray.
The image processing modules of Explorer were developed using ImageVision,
and these modules in Explorer map directly to single ImageVision objects.
[Nancy Cam - SGI]
======================================================================
B) TOPIC: RUNNING EXPLORER
======================================================================
B.1) Why does Explorer crash immediately ?
The main reasons that Explorer will crash on startup (on an SGI machine)
are :
a) Wrong OS
b) Incorrect installation
a) Explorer on an SGI requires IRIX v4.0.1 or later.
b)
If you use the "-r" option on "inst" when installing Explorer,
the X11 resource default files do not get installed correctly.
Similarly, if you NFS mount /usr/explorer from a file server,
these default resource files are not installed on your
machine. If you must install Explorer somewhere other than
/usr/explorer, first create /usr/explorer as a symbolic link to
a directory somewhere else, then install Explorer. If you have
installed Explorer with "inst -r" or if you NFS mount it from
another machine, you can set up the necessary symbolic links
for the X11 app-default files and the shared libraries by using
the command (as root):
inst -f /usr/explorer/lib/inst/explorer
This will establish symbolic links in /usr/lib for those files
that must be present on every machine that runs Explorer. This
is explained in section 2.3.1 of the Release Notes. (from SGI)
[SGI]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
B.2) Can I run Explorer on one machine and display on another ?
Explorer itself can run on one machine and display on ANY other machine
running an X server. However, the modules Render and DisplayImg will
only display/function on machines with GL hardware.
The Module Builder and Datascribe can run and display on any X terminal.
Since Explorer/Module Builder/DataScribe are X Motif applications, to
get these to run externally and display on your local workstation
running an X server, set your display variable on the external machine
before executing the program in the usual fa****on. e.g.
a) On Local Machine :
xhost +<remote_machine_name>
b) On Remote Machine :
setenv DISPLAY <local_machine_name>:0.0
explorer
----------------------------------------------------------------------
B.2) Can I run modules on different machines ?
Modules within an Explorer map can execute on different machines,
provided that those machines have the execution environment of Explorer
****ted to them. For example, in a network of 5 SGI w/stations, each of
the 5 modules of an Explorer map can be running on a different
workstation. This is achieved by pulling up a librarian for each of
the machines on which you wish to execute modules. The librarian for
these machines will show which modules are available, and these can be
placed in a map in the same manner in which local modules are placed.
Everything will `look' the same, except that the remote modules will
fire and execute on the remote machines - this could be referred to as
a form of coarse grain parallelism.
At present, the execution environment is ****ted to SGI and Cray platforms,
so modules can only execute on these machine types.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
B.3) How can I start Explorer with a prefined map ?
To run explorer with a predefined map, type :
explorer -map <mapname>
,and the map will appear in the Map Editor when it starts up.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
B.4) Can I run Explorer in batch mode (i.e. without the GUI) ?
Version 1.0 does not have a non-GUI capability. There are
designs being kicked around, but we believe that a totally
non-GUI solution is not the full answer, since the "answer"
produced by an Explorer map may in fact be an image that you
want to view. On the other hand, some Explorer maps may only
filter data, produce geometry into a file and not incor****ate
viewing at all. This "batch mode" would be useful for very
long animation runs, for example.
Khoros also lets single modules run "standalone". We don't
see this as a requirement for Explorer, except that it could
make module debugging simpler -- one of our short-term goals.
Being able to debug a module without all of Explorer hanging
around would be really nice, especially as debugging tools take
more and more resources from the machine.
[ Bob Brown - SGI ]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
B.5) Will Explorer work with very large data sets ?
The easiest option if you have very large modules is to purchase more
memory, but this only extends so far.
Large data sets:
This is a general weakness of data flow systems. We have a few
ideas for helping out, but it becomes very complicated when you
want to preserve a conceptually simple programming model. Can
we offer an alternative execution model (that is, how things
really compute and share data) yet maintain a simple
programming model (that is, how the user states what is
wanted).
[ Bob Brown - SGI ]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
B.6) When does a module fire ?
Module inputs can be optional or required, and if the former then the
module
can happily fire without any input on that ****t. If the ****t is required,
then a module won't fire until it has data on that ****t.
When new data arrives at a required ****t, then the module fires.
Question:
We reckon that it would be `nice to have' a template matching
type operation at the input of each module, so that intelligent
decisions can be made as to WHEN to fire a module. e.g. don't
fire a module when ANY of its inputs change, but be able to
choose how a module will fire and how many of its inputs are
REQUIRED before a successful fire - this sort of thing would be
useful in animations involving multiple file reads.
[ Gordon Cameron - EPCC ]
The reply :
We spent a lot of effort on this in the design phases, and came
up with an overly powerful scheme that would be practically
unusable, so it did not appear in V1.0. The degree of
flexibility that can be offered seems too great, particularly
when youconsider the possibility of being able to
programmatically add and delete ****ts.
Of course, using cxInputDataChanged judiciously will let you
essentially write your own inner firing rules. However, this
may break future versions of the firing algorithm. Also, if
you have a non-MDW module and never issue a cxInputDataGet call
on a ****t with new data, cxInputDataChanged will always re****t
that there is new data on the ****t. You must use
cxInputDataGet to change the ****t data state from "new" to
"old".
[ Bob Brown - SGI ]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
B.7) Why does Explorer run slowly on my system ?
[ Jack Gallant - Caltech ]
The overhead of X windows and Motif is not insignificant. Two
factors can really slow down Explorer: insufficient memory and
NFS mounting /usr/explorer. The first one we can help out
with, but the second one is out of our hands for the most part
(having local copies of the shared libraries can help,
though).
[ Bob Brown - SGI ]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
B.8) How can I customize the look of Explorer ?
Explorer, and the Data Scribe and Module Builder are all X/Motif
applications, and have several resources which can be altered so that the
tools' appearance can be customised. Look at the explorer directory
[/usr/explorer]/lib/X11/app-defaults to see what's what. (The directory
enclosed in square brackets is the home of Explorer on your system).
======================================================================
C) TOPIC: USING EXPLORER with the MAP EDITOR
======================================================================
C.1) Why does Explorer ignore all my input ?
A possibility is that you have closed the main Explorer window, and an
error has been generated - if you have closed the small gui window,
then the error diagnostic will not appear on the screen, and the entire
interface will appear to hang. However, opening the gui window again
will rectify matters.
[ Leo Blume - SGI ]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
C.2) Why can't I start a GenerateColormap module ?
If you have applications running that have allocated colormap cells, then
the number of cells available to GenerateColormap is reduced, so that only
one (or perhaps no) GenerateColormap will be able to execute.
One way round this is to reconfigure the X server, and this is
described in Appendix B of the User Guide (also supplied electronically
with the release) - what you end up doing is in effect choosing a
different visual.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
C.3) How can I stretch the librarian scrolling list ?
You can't #:-} , at least not in Explorer 1.0
[ Roy Ha****moto - SGI ]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
C.4) How can I slice into an iso-surface ?
Full Question :
I've tried orthoslice, it will move the slice plane into the
data but the full iso-surface is still there, the outside is
not cut away.
[ Gus Williams ]
Answers:
The slices generated by Orthoslice won't cut away the
isosurface. Orthoslice and IsosurfaceLat generate completely
independent geometry that is composited in the renderer. It
might be nice, though, to have this capability in the future.
For the present, you can use SampleCrop to do that or just
adjust the transparency on the isosurface so that you can see
through it to the cutting plane.
[ Leo Blume - SGI ]
...you can use CropLattice to crop the
lattice before taking the isosurfaces. I'm not sure how it
could be done any other way with the standard module set.
[ Robert Skinner - SGI ]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
C.5) How can I render translucent solids ?
You can pass your data through the module VolumetoGeom and then on to
the Render module. VolumetoGeom makes use of a technique known as
"splatting" to visualise volumes like this - a good reference is :
Hierarchical Splatting: A Progressive Refinement Algorithm for
Volume Rendering by David Laur and Pat Hanrahan.
...and this paper appeared at SIGGRAPH '91.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
C.6) Why can I not get LatFunction to work ?
Explorer has a known bug in LatFunction...The following is a long
answer, and will be condensed in time.
Problem a) - Why can I never get LatFunction to work?
The problem is that if LatFunction's "Program File" typein does
not refer to an existing file, then the module's interpreter
gets confused and will never work correctly on any program file
thereafter. Unfortunately, the empty string (the default when
LatFunction is brought up from the librarian) is such an
invalid name and will confuse the module.
Thus, the symptom you will see is that the user instantiates a
LatFunction module, types in a file name, and gets errors. e.g.
float f[2,3,4];
Second_Out := First_In;
yields the error message :
[Unbound symbol: First_In]
This identifies problem a) - when you instantiate LatFunction,
it tries to read file "" and fails.
Solution a)
All you have to do is instantiate a LatFunction module
with the Program File name in place. You can do this by
duplicating the brain-dead LatFunction -- the new
LatFunction<2> will work as expected (delete the old module
after duplicating a new one). You can also save the
LatFunction module with typed-in name in a map and load that
map.
Also, LatFunction-based modules (see the MWG, chapter 4) are
less prone to this problem for two reasons. This makes them
easier to work with than plain LatFunction. The first reason is
that LatFunction-based modules typically have a filename
specified, so these will work even when dragged from the
librarian. The second :reason is that they typically have
required ****t data, so they will not fire when instantiated,
thus giving you time to type the right filename.
==========================================================
Problem b) - Why does LatFunction give me the "[Unbound
symbol:...]" error message and refuse to work ?
This is the same as problem a). The "[Unbound symbol: ...]"
message is LatFunction's way of saying that it is confused.
Solution b)
As solution for Problem a).
==========================================================
Problem c) - Why does LatFunction sometimes give an error
"[Unbound symbol:...]" on some line after I edit my
file, but then not give the error the next time I read
in the file?
This is related to problems 1 and 2. In this case the parsed program
is referenced incorrectly and the interpreter exhibits the same type
of confusion as before. However, this error is recoverable by
reparsing the Shape program file (type <CR> in the "Program File"
typein).
Solution c)
Reparse the Shape program file (type <CR> in the "Program File"
typein).
[SGI]
======================================================================
D) TOPIC: USING THE DATASCRIBE
======================================================================
D.1) Why does the help file not reflect the actual widget ?
In some cases, the DataScribe can get confused with consistency between
..doc and .help files, but there is a workaround. The following Q&A from
the list illustrates a specific example.
Original Question :
I created a module using the data scribe which had a file
browser widget. When I edited the .help file produced the
following lines were present ..
pbmascii -- Text
<Describe the purpose of the widget here>
Note that the widget is described as text, not file browser. Is
this deliberate - I can see how it would be as the file browser
widget is really an elaborate text widget ?
[ Chris Thornborrow - EPCC ]
Solution :
This looks like a bug. dot-help files are derived from dot-doc
files. When you do a "Save" from the datascribe, it appears to
not rewrite the doc file (even if you changed a widget type,
say, from Text to File Browser) but it does regenerate the help
file from the doc file.
I tried your example and that is what happened. My guess is
that you had previously saved when "pbmascii" was really a Text
widget, then you changed it to a browser and saved again.
Remove your dot-doc file and do a Save again from datascribe.
That should fix things up. Or, if you've already edited the
doc file, bring up the module builder on your module and select
"Update Do***ent" under the "Build" menu.
[ Bob Brown - SGI ]
======================================================================
E) TOPIC: USING THE MODULE BUILDER
======================================================================
======================================================================
F) TOPIC: PROGRAMMING MODULES
======================================================================
E.1) How can I wake Explorer on events ?
I would like wake-up Explorer on the following event:
one descriptor is ready for reading/writing
[ F. Lapique ]
This has to be done using X directly. The following details how :
In Version 1.0 Explorer the only way to do this is through X
windows. Make your module an X module (in the Build
Options... window in the module builder) and then you can use
the XtAddInput mechanism to register a callback procedure with
the scheduler. The Xt manual describes how to use XtAddInput;
it is relatively simple and straightforward. We don't have
code examples, but if you have trouble, let me know and I'll
write one up. Another user has re****ted success at doing
this.
Be aware that execution highlighting will not occur when your
callback is called. This is because the module isn't "really"
firing. In fact, you should not call cxOutputDataSet() or
cxOutputDataFlush() from the callback. Instead, if you want to
send data downstream, use cxFireASAP() from the XtAddInput()
callback to schedule the firing of your computation routine,
and maintain some state that lets that routine know what's
what.
The next version generalizes this mechanism by adding a
cxAddInput routine that works the same way, but doesn't
(necessarily) use X windows. (We haven't announced a release
schedule for the next version).
[ Bob Brown - SGI ]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
E.2) What has happened to the routine cxInput****tStateGet ?
There is no such routine, and it shouldn't appear in the do***entation.
To emulate the stated effect, do :
cxInputConnectsGet() // To tell if ****t is connected
cxInputDataGet() // returns 0 for no data
cxInputDataChanged() // to find if data there is new or old
[ Dave Foulser - SGI ]
======================================================================
G) TOPIC: MODULES AVAILABLE/WANTED
======================================================================
G.1) Where can I get PD modules ?
There are a few modules available by anon. FTP, including one
to enable/disable geometry information. Many more modules should
appear very soon.
See the FAQ header for FTP addresses etc...
======================================================================
H) TOPIC: FURTHER INFORMATION
======================================================================
H.1) Where can I obtain do***entation ?
Compressed electronic copies of Postscript do***ents are supplied with
the release of Explorer. Only certain chapters and an Appendix appear
in the directory [/usr/explorer]/doc/userguide, though. You can obtain
the complete User Guide, Module Writer's Guide and Module Definitions
guide by getting in touch with SGI, who can supply bound copies.
The electronic source for the Module Writer's guide is now
available by anon. FTP !! (see header for addresses)
The contact number I have for info on SGI is (415) 960-1980.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
H.2) Is there a mailing list/FTP site ?
At present there is an Explorer mailing list for discussion on all aspects
of the package. The list was started in March of '92, and has around 250
subscribers (not including feeds) - several of the developers of Explorer
are subscribed, so the list provides a good forum for discussion which may
change the shape of future versions.
To join the list, or to get further details, send some mail to :
explorer-request@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
is also an FTP site which contains archives of postings to the
explorer mailing list, as well as many other things including a User
List and an up to date FAQ(this!), and it is hoped that this site will
develop into a store for PD modules in time. There are a few modules
here just now, but many more are expected soon.
The site can be contacted as :
ftp.epcc.ed.ac.uk (129.215.56.29)
, and sup****ts anonymous FTP. The explorer directory is /pub/explorer.
In addition, Jeff Hanson has kindly mirrored this site in the US as :
swedishchef.lerc.nasa.gov (139.88.54.33))
----------------------------------------------------------------------
H.3) Is there a relevant newsgroup ?
At present (31st March 1992) there is no newsgroup specifically for
the discussion of Explorer-related issues, although this may well
change in the near future.
However, the groups comp.sys.sgi and comp.graphics.visualization are
certainly useful, and often relevant #:-}
----------------------------------------------------------------------
H.4) Why are the electronic PostScript files incomplete ?
The SGI Explorer is supplied with a directory /doc, which contains
the userguide in PostScript form. This is missing Chapter 1 and the
first Appendix. The explanation SGI give is as follows :
Chapter 1 is the "Getting Started" guide that comes with the
Explorer CD or tape. The missing appendix contains the module
manual pages, which are accessible via the Unix "man" command.
The release notes are on-line and can be viewed by using the
"grelnotes" command.
The Module Writer's Guide is not in the software distribution
in this release because of differing production schedules for
the software and do***entation. It may be included in future
releases. (from SGI)
The Module Writers' Guide is now available by FTP in electronic
version.
======================================================================
I) TOPIC: MISCELLANEOUS
======================================================================
I.1) How can I add/correct or comment on Q&As on the FAQ ?
Mail explorer-request@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
. Simple !
I.2) Where can I find a list of bugs ?
A few bugs are listed in this FAQ. Others can be found by looking
at the file in the /pub/explorer/bugs directory at the FTP site.
Article 1990 of comp.graphics.visualization:
From: software@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(Geometry Center Software Development
Group)
Subject: Geomview is available --- 3D object viewer
The Geometry Center announces release 1.1 of geomview, a program for
looking at and interactively manipulating 3D objects. The current
version runs on Silicon Graphics IRIS workstations. It is available
via anonymous ftp at geom.umn.edu (128.101.25.31) in the "pub/geomview"
subdirectory. "geomview-bin.tar.Z" contains pre-compiled binaries,
do***entation, and data and takes up 3 MB of disk space. The source
distribution is "geomview.tar.Z" and takes up 21 MB of disk space. To
unpack, type "uncompress < [geomview|geomview-bin].tar.Z | tar xvopf -".
Please send all correspondence regarding this software via email to
"software@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
".
Geomview represents the current state of an ongoing effort at the
Geometry Center to provide interactive 3D graphics software which is
particularly appropriate for displaying the kinds of objects and doing
the kinds of operations of interest in mathematics research and
education. While geomview was developed as a tool for research
mathematicians, it is a general-purpose graphics system which could be
useful in many domains. It can be used to examine a static object or
as a dynamic display for a running program. An extensive command
language allows programmers to easily extend the functionality of the
basic viewer by writing external modules. Currently hyperbolic
visualization capabilities are built-in, while four-dimensional
visualization is handled through external modules.
Geomview allows multiple independently controllable objects and
cameras. Interactive control for motion, appearances (including
lighting, shading, and materials), picking on an object, edge or
vertex level, and adding or deleting objects is provided through
direct mouse manipulation, control panels, and keyboard shortcuts.
External programs can drive desired aspects of the viewer (such as
continually loading changing geometry or controlling the motion of
certain objects) while allowing interactive control of everything
else.
Geomview sup****ts the following simple data types: polyhedra with
shared vertices (.off), quadrilaterals, rectangular meshes, vectors,
and Bezier surface patches of arbitrary degree including rational
patches. Object hierarchies can be constructed with lists of objects
and instances of object(s) transformed by one or many 4x4 matrices.
Arbitrary ****tions of changing hierarchies may be transmitted by
creating named references.
The Geometry Center is an NSF-funded independent research group based
at the University of Minnesota. The three-fold mission of the Center
is to sup****t and promote mathematics and computer science research;
software, animation, and tool dvelopment and production; education and
communication of mathematics at all levels. The Geometry Center's
offical name is the "National Science and Technology Research Center
for Computation and Visualization of Geometry Structures".
The Geometry Center
University of Minnesota
1300 S. 2nd St.
Minneapolis, MN 55454 USA
Article 1995 of comp.graphics.visualization:
From: vachha@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(Rustom (Yuppy) Vachha)
Newsgroups: comp.graphics.visualization
Subject: References on representing N Dim data
References in represnting N-dimensional data in 2 or 3 D.
Chambers, J. M., Cleveland, W. S., Kleiner, B., and Tukey, P. A. (1983).
Graphical Methods for Data Analysis. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Press.
Wang, P. (1978). Symposium on Graphical Representation of Multivariate
Data. New York: Academic Press.
While these references are very old, they will provide you with a nice
introduction to static multivariate graphics. If you are interested in
dynamic multivariate graphics, I would look at:
Cleveland, W. S., and McGill, M. E. (1988). Dynamic Graphics for
Statistics.
Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Press.
Edwin A. Abbott, "Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions", Signet, New
York,
1884 (reprint). Also from Dover Books.
H.F. Baker, "Higher Geometry; being Illustrations of the Utility of the
Consideration of Higher Space, especially of 4 and 5 Dimensions"
(Principles
of Geometry; Vol.4), Ungar, 1963.
Dionijs Burger, "Bolland", Veen, Utrecht, 1983. In Dutch, but there are
English translations as well, probably titled "Sphereland". I don't know
who
published these.
Thomas F. Banchoff, "Beyond the Third Dimension, Geometry, Computer
Graphic
and Higher Dimensions", Sci Amer. Library, 1990.
A.K. Dewdney, "Hypercubes", Scientific American, Vol. 254, Nr. 4 (april
1986),
pp. 8 - 13.
Steve Hollasch, "Four-Space Visualisation of 4D Objects", M. Sc. Thesis,
Arizona State Univ., 1991.
Rudy Rucker, "Geometry, Relativity and the Fourth Dimension", Dover Books,
1977.
Rudy Rucker, "The Fourth Dimension, and How to Get There", Penguin, UK,
1986. I don't know the American publisher.
Jeffrey R. Weeks, "The Shape of Space, How to Visualize Surfaces and
Three-Dimensional Manifolds", Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, 1985.
Pielou, E.C.
The interpretation of ecological data: a primer on classification
and ordination
(Wiley,1984)
D. Asimov, ``The grand tour: a tool for viewing multidimensional data'',
SIAM Journal on Scientific and Statistical Computing, 6 (1985) 128-143.
C. Hurley and A. Buja, ``Analyzing high-dimensional data with motion
graphics'', SIAM J. Sci. Stat. Comp., 11 (1990) 1193-1211.
See the 2-volume set Multidimensional Scaling by the authors
(I think) Shepard, Kruskal, and Nerlove.
Films:
"The Hypercube: Projections and Slicing", prod. Thomas F. Banchoff &
Charles
Strauss, 1978.
"The Hypersphere: Foliation and Projections", prod. Thomas F. Banchoff,
Huseyin Kocak, David Laidlaw & David Margolis, 1986.
Computer programs:
Steve Hollasch, "ray4-1.00" & "wire4-1.00", ftp swedishchef.lerc.nasa.gov,
directory programs/hollasch-4d
ftp site: search archie for something called xgobi (probably at Purdue)
Also:
A Topological Picturebook by George K. Francis, published by Springer
Verlag.
Article 2002 of comp.graphics.visualization:
Newsgroups: comp.graphics.visualization
From: johne@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(Dr. John S. Eickemeyer)
Subject: Re: References on representing N Dim data
And of course, no reference list about representing multidimensional data
would be complete without Parallel Coordinates... :) If you need a
general
method that can represent multivariate relation****ps in N dimensions, I
would recommend taking a good look at Parallel Coordinates. The papers by
Inselberg are the best place to start...
\bibitem[Cho87]{Cho87} T. Chomut (1987), {\bf Exploratory Data
Analysis Using Parallel Coordinates}, M. Sc. Thesis, UCLA Computer
Science Dept., IBM LA Sc. Cen. Rep. 1987-2811.
\bibitem[DW91]{DW91} A. Desai, L. C. Walters (1991), {\it Graphical
Presentations of Data Envelopment Analyses: Management Implications from
Parallel Axes Representations\/}, Decision Sciences Journal,
{\bf 22-2:} 335-353.
\bibitem[Eic91]{Eic91} J. S. Eickemeyer (1991), {\bf Visualizing
\(p\)-Flats
in \(N\)-Space Using Parallel Coordinates}, PhD. Thesis, UCLA Computer
Science Dept.
\bibitem[GDCM90]{GDCM90} C. Gennings, K. S. Dawson, W. H. Carter, R. H.
Myers (1990), {\it Interpreting Plots of a Multidimensional Dose-Response
Surface in a Parallel Coordinate System\/}, Biometrics
{\bf 46:} 719-735.
\bibitem[ID87]{ID87} A. Inselberg, B. Dimsdale (1987), {\it
Parallel Coordinates For Visualizing Multi-Dimensional
Geometry\/}, in {\bf Proceedings of Computer Graphics International
'87} (T. L. Kunii, ed.), Springer-Verlag, Toyko.
\bibitem[ID90]{ID90} A. Inselberg, B. Dimsdale (1990), {\it
Parallel Coordinates: A Tool For Visualizing Multi-Dimensional
Geometry\/}, Proc. IEEE Conf. Visualization '90, 361-378.
\bibitem[IRC87]{IRC87} A. Inselberg, M. Reif \& T. Chomut (1987), {\it
Convexity Algorithms in Parallel Coordinates\/}, Journal of the ACM {\bf
34:} 765-801.
\bibitem[Ins85]{Ins85} A. Inselberg (1985), {\it The Plane with
Parallel Coordinates\/}, Special Issue on {\it Computational
Geometry\/}, The Visual Computer {\bf 1:} 69-91.
\bibitem[Weg90]{Weg90} E. Wegman (1990), {\bf Hyperdimensional Data
Analysis Using Parallel Coordinates}, J. Amer. Stat. Assoc. {\bf 85:}
664-675.
From: ilana@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(Ilana Stern)
The best thing would be if you could just ask people to ftp it from the
rtfm.mit.edu site, because I would rather not be bothered by
people who want it. The do***ent at csn.org is also a good resource.
Newsgroups: sci.geo.meteorology,news.answers
Subject: Sources of Meteorological Data FAQ
Followup-To: sci.geo.meteorology
Reply-To: ilana@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
news-answers-request@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Weather and research data available via Internet, CD-ROM, and
tape.
Supersedes: <1992Sep21.155426.25740@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
Archive-name: weather-data
Last-modified: 24 September 1992
Recent changes:
Addition of liasun3.epfl.ch ftp site
Addition of IP number to ***ulus.met.ed.ac.uk site
--
**COMPLETELY NEW FORMAT**
Addition of Digital Chart of the World CD-ROM
New information on marlin.jcu.edu.au ftp site
Addition of delocn.udel.edu ftp site
New format information for DMSP SSM/I Ice Concentration Grids CD-ROM
Addition of WX-TALK to mailing list section
Cleanup of cdiac.esd.ornl.gov ftp site listing
This is a guide to various sources of meteorological, oceanographic,
and geophysical data. Some of these data types are intended for enjoyment
or hobbyist use; other data are more research-oriented. Much of the
research data is not free.
More information on geological/geographical data can be found in the
FAQ for sci.geo.geology, or see the file available via FTP from csn.org.
This guide is posted every two weeks; a copy can be obtained by
anonymous FTP to rtfm.mit.edu, from the file weather-data in
the directory /pub/usenet/news.answers. A copy is also maintained in
vmd.cso.uiuc.edu in the file SOURCES.DOC.
Corrections, additions, and comments should be sent to Ilana Stern at
ilana@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
**If you plan to redistribute this file to a mailing
list, in another newsgroup, or in a newsletter, PLEASE CONTACT ME FIRST!**
########################################################################
C O N T E N T S
I. Data available over the Internet
II. CD-ROM source list
III. Research data on tape and other media
IV. Weather-related mailing lists
########################################################################
Subject: Data available over the Internet
C O N T E N T S
1. How to use anonymous FTP
2. How to use telnet
3. Index of FTP and Telnet sites by topic
A. Current weather images via FTP
B. Current weather data via telnet
C. Meteorological, oceanographic, and geophysical research data
D. Other satellite images
E. Map data
F. Other stuff
4. Alphabetical list of FTP and Telnet sites, with information
1. How to use anonymous FTP
FTP (File Transfer Protocol) allows transfer of files between two
computers
which are on the Internet. To access the FTP areas listed here, at your
system prompt type "ftp" followed by the name or IP number (the number
in brackets next to the system name in the listing below) of the desired
system. For example, to access vmd.cso.uiuc.edu you'd type
ftp vmd.cso.uiuc.edu
or
ftp 128.174.5.98
Use "anonymous" as your login and your email address as the password (if
requested).
[Note: quotes ("like this") are used to set off names of directories and
files, or commands you'd type, and are not part of these names.]
Not all FTP systems accept the same commands, but here's a list of the
most useful:
ls list files in the current directory.
cd change directory, e.g. "cd wx" changes to the wx directory.
binary sets binary mode; USE THIS FOR RETRIEVING IMAGES!
ascii sets ascii mode (the default). Use for retrieving text.
get retrieves a file, e.g. "get readme" gets a file called readme.
bye exits FTP.
2. How to use telnet
Type "telnet" followed by the name or IP number (the number in brackets
next
to the system name in the listing below) of the desired system. These
publicly accessible systems generally allow you to log in but put you in
a restricted shell, from which only a certain menu of commands is
available.
3. Index of FTP and Telnet sites by topic
This index lists the names of FTP and Telnet sites of interest, with only
a brief blurb as to their contents. Section 4 gives more information
about
each of these sites. Some sites appear more than once under different
subject headings.
A. Current weather images
ats.orst.edu GOES vis/IR images of North, Central America
aurelie.soest.hawaii.edu SST data from AVHRR on NOAA-11, NOAA-12
***ulus.met.ed.ac.uk Meteosat vis/IR images of Europe
liasun3.epfl.ch Meteosat vis/IR images of Europe
marlin.jcu.edu.au GMS-4 images of Australia, TOGA/COARE area
unidata.ucar.edu Surface maps (US, Europe, China), soundings
uriacc.uri.edu NOAA-11 images of the northeast US
vmd.cso.uiuc.edu GOES-7 vis/IR images, surface analyses over US
B. Current weather data
ats.orst.edu Some US city and Oregon weather forecasts
hermes.merit.edu US weather forecasts, global re****ts
madlab.sprl.umich.edu 3000 US weather forecasts, global re****ts
ncardata.ucar.edu Colorado weather forecasts
C. Meteorological, oceanographic, and geophysical research data
cdiac.esd.ornl.gov Info on climate change topics
ncardata.ucar.edu Info on datasets available from NCAR
nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov Info on datasets available from NSSDC
storm.mmm.ucar.edu STORM-FEST data
pioneer.unm.edu Data and software from various CD-ROMs
D. Other satellite images
ames.arc.nasa.gov Various earth-from-space images
pioneer.unm.edu Various images taken from CD-ROMs
sanddunes.scd.ucar.edu AVHRR images of USA via telnet
snow.nohrsc.nws.gov Snow cover maps of US from GOES
sseop.jsc.nasa.gov Pictures taken from the space shuttle
E. Map data
csn.org Mapping software and datasets
hanauma.stanford.edu CIA World Bank database, 0.5 deg elev dataset
ncardata.ucar.edu Elevation data
pioneer.unm.edu World atlas, census data, others
spectrum.xerox.com Various USGS data
F. Other stuff
csn.org Information on other Internet resources
delocn.udel.edu Software for oceanographic computations
ncardata.ucar.edu Script to retrieve vmd.cso.uiuc.edu GIFs
pioneer.unm.edu Image display software
vmd.cso.uiuc.edu Do***ents on weather-related topics
4. Alphabetical list of FTP and Telnet sites, with information
This section provides expanded listings of the sites in the previous
section. Remember to set the transfer type to "binary" when retrieving
images!
ames.arc.nasa.gov (FTP)
Change directory to "SPACE/CDROM". Images from Magellan and Viking
missions, other stuff.
ats.orst.edu [128.193.120.19] (FTP)
GOES IR and VIS images over North and Central America, plus a "floater"
image which "could be anything." Also Oregon and US city forecasts.
aurelie.soest.hawaii.edu [128.171.151.121] (FTP)
Sea-Surface-Temperature data (near-real-time) in the directory
"pub/avhrr/images". AVHRR images within the radius of reception of the
university's HRPT station, approximately 5 S to 45 N and 125 W to 165 E.
The processed images are available usually within 30 min. of NOAA-11 and
NOAA-12 passages. Data are compressed binary in netCDF format (get
do***entation from unidata.ucar.edu FTP site) labelled by satellite name
(n11/n12) and time. More info available from
hrpt@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
[128.219.24.36] (FTP)
Contains data and information on general and technical aspects of
carbon dioxide, methane, and other trace gas emissions; the carbon cycle;
and other climate-change topics from CDIAC (the Carbon Dioxide Information
Analysis Center, address in section 3). The data for CDIAC's "Trends 91:
A Compendium of Data on Global Change" is also available here. (Contact
CDIAC at cdp@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
to obtain a copy of the book.)
csn.org [128.138.213.21] (FTP)
Change directory to "COGS". A large, frequently updated file containing
detailed information on FTP sites, Bitnet and Usenet discussion groups,
and data sources is located in the file "internet.resources.earth.sci".
This file contains more information on mapping, GIS, remote sensing, and
geology, subjects which are mostly outside the scope of this meteorology-
oriented FAQ. Mapping software and datasets are also available in this
directory. Contact bthoen@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(Bill Thoen) for more information.
***ulus.met.ed.ac.uk [129.215.168.19] (FTP)
Change directory to "images". IR and visible images of Europe from
Meteosat, twice daily, in 1152 x 900 GIF format (size of Sun root window).
The subdirectory "gifs" has smaller 3x daily images of the Nordic areas,
the UK, and Europe.
delocn.udel.edu (FTP)
Change directory to "FORTRAN". Programs to do various oceanographic
computations. Inquiries and calls for help can be addressed to
walt@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(FTP)
The CIA World Bank database contains coastlines, rivers and political
boundaries. An 0.5 degree elevation dataset is also there. A program for
decoding the CIA data can be found as "mfil" on pi1.arc.umn.edu
[137.66.130.11] (Info from ken@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
)
hermes.merit.edu [35.1.48.150] (Telnet)
Type um-weather at the "Which Host?" prompt and use menus.
(Connects to madlab.sprl.umich.edu)
liasun3.epfl.ch (FTP)
Change directory to "pub/weather". IR and visible images of Europe
from Meteosat, in GIF format. It appears that this site contains
the same images as ***ulus.met.ed.ac.uk.
madlab.sprl.umich.edu 3000 [141.212.196.79] (Telnet)
Include the "3000" when connecting to the machine. This is a menu
driven
system which has a large variety of information, including US and Canadian
weather forecasts, ski conditions, earthquake re****ts, severe weather
re****ts, and current weather conditions for some international cities.
marlin.jcu.edu.au [137.219.16.14] (FTP)
Change directory to "J***etSat". GMS-4 images updated regularly for
various Australian states, Australia as a whole, the globe, the TOGA/COARE
area, and events of interest such as cyclones. The images are in a format
designed for the package J***etSat on Amiga computers, but can be
converted
to GIF format using the ALCHEMY software (shareware) available at this
site.
(More information on the format and images can be obtained from Professor
C.J. Kikkert, eecjk@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
)
ncardata.ucar.edu [128.117.8.111] (FTP)
Information on datasets available from NCAR (the National Center for
Atmospheric Research), and a few small datasets. If you would like to
order data after browsing this information, email to
datahelp@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Small datasets can be provided by FTP; we also write various kinds of
tapes.
See the README file.
A shell archive containing scripts to retrieve GIFs from
vmd.cso.uiuc.edu,
get_gifs, is located in the "weather" subdirectory. This subdirectory
also
contains Colorado weather and ski re****ts.
A few special datasets are located in the FTP area, and are free. They
are described in the file "pricing". These include a 1 deg resolution
elevation dataset, a continental outline dataset, and a list of all WMO
stations with latitude, longitude, and elevation.
nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov (FTP or Telnet)
Telnet: The National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC) On-Line Data and
Information Service (NODIS) is a menu-driven interactive system which
provides
information on services and data sup****ted by NSSDC. Login as NSSDC.
Some
topics: Nimbus-7 GRID TOMS Data, Geophysical Models, Standards and
Technology Information System.
FTP: some information and actual data is also available via anonymous
FTP.
pioneer.unm.edu [129.24.9.217] (FTP)
Change directory to "pub/info" and retrieve beginner-info, cd-list,
newcd-list, and cd-schedule to get started. This machine is part of the
Space and Planetary Image Facility (SPIF), sponsored by the Computer and
Information Resource Technology group at UNM; it currently has 3 CD
readers
and expects to add more. You can use this machine to FTP data and
software
from a variety of CD-ROMs, including both research data and images. There
is no charge for this service. Contact help@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
for more
information.
sanddunes.scd.ucar.edu (Telnet)
AVHRR (Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer) images from 1989
through
7 Jan 1992 cover CO, WY, KS, NE, and NM, as well as parts of AZ, UT, OK,
and TX. Since 7 Jan 1992, coverage includes these plus CA, OR, NV, WA,
and MT, to 1000 km off Pacific coast. Total coverage of US for
1989-present
will be available soon. West coast data from 1980-1985 will be available
some time this year.
Images are 1024 lines x 1024 elements before 7 Jan 1992, 2560 lines x
1024 elements after. Images are 1 km resolution and 8-bit format.
Contact Tim Kelley by email kelley@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
or telephone
303/497-1221 for login, password, and manual. Service is free to Internet
users and is funded by NASA.
snow.nohrsc.nws.gov [192.46.108.1] (FTP)
Change directory to "snow". Various snow-related images in GIF form.
US snow cover map updated weekly. JPEG of current AVHRR images. Contact
tim@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(Tim Szeliga) for more info.
spectrum.xerox.com [192.70.225.78] (FTP)
Various USGS data in subdirectories under the directory "pub/map".
sseop.jsc.nasa.gov [146.154.11.34] (FTP)
Many pictures taken from the space shuttle. Files are in a 512x512
format as red, green, and blue bitmaps. Image files are binary format,
and have .DAT as an extension.
storm.mmm.ucar.edu [128.117.88.53] (FTP)
Hourly and 5-minute composite surface observations, and composite
rawinsonde soundings, from STORM-FEST, in the directories
"/fest/hrly_sfc",
"fest/5min_sfc", and "/fest/sounding", respectively. There is one file
per
day. The data are in ASCII. This data is a preliminary release.
This FTP system will eventually be replaced by a different data access
system, although the data will still be available via the new system.
(Info from Mark Bradford, bradfrd2@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
)
unidata.ucar.edu [128.117.140.3] (FTP)
Change directory to "images". Weather radar summary map GIFS, surface
maps
for various places, a few soundings on skew-t log-p diagrams, GOES Hugo
images
(in subdirectory "images/hugo"). Surface maps include Europe and China.
uriacc.uri.edu [131.128.1.1] (FTP)
Change directory to "davet.195". Images of the northeast US in GIF
format
from the afternoon p***** of NOAA-11. (Provided by Dave Tetreault,
DAVET@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
)
v |
