David A. Epstein

An architecture for a scientific visualization system

The architecture of the Data Explorer, a scientific visualization system, is described. Data Explorer supports the visualization of a wide variety of data by means of a flexible set of visualization modules. A single powerful data model common to all modules allows a wide range of data types to be imported and passed between modules. There is integral support for parallelism, affecting the data model and the execution model. The visualization modules are highly interoperable, due in part to the common data model, and exemplified by the renderer. An execution model facilitates parallelization of modules and incorporates optimizations such as caching. The two-process client-server system structure consists of a user interface that communicates with an executive via a dataflow language.<<ETX>>

The EFX editing and effects environment

The EFX digital editing and effects environment integrates facilities for nonlinear editing of digitized film, video, and audio with sophisticated image-manipulating special effects. EFX offers an intuitive, visual, direct-manipulation user interface for building multimedia compositions. This front end, discussed in the paper, is coupled with a powerful parallel-processing computer that computes the special effects and plays back the uncompressed digitized film or video in real time.

The IBM Power Visualization System: A Digital Post-Production Suite in a Box

The combination of processing power, memory capacity, and input/output (I/O) bandwidth found in the IBM POWER Visualization System TM (PVS) makes it an ideal tool for high-end, digital post-production applications. This general-purpose computer can adapt to the specific tasks required during almost any phase of the post-production process, including computer graphics rendering, video editing, rotoscoping, and special effects, auto-assembly, conforming, and compression. This paper examines the post-production process itself: the steps that are taken, how data flows through it, and generally how the PVS can fit in to provide an integrated environment

The IBM POWER visualization system: A system for HDTV postproduction, and more

The unique combination of processing power, memory capacity, and I/O bandwidth found in the IBM POWER Visualization System (PVS) makes it an ideal tool for high‐end, format and resolution‐independent, digital postproduction applications. From computer graphics rendering to video editing, rotoscoping, and special effects, the versatile nature of this general‐purpose computer allows it to adapt constantly to the specific tasks required during almost any phase of the postproduction process. In this articles, we first examine the hardware architecture of the PVS with specific attention paid to the different subsystems and peripherals which provide the large computational power and bandwidth necessary to do HDTV editing and effects work. Next, we describe the PVS system software layer which enables application level software to fully use all of the capabilities of the hardware. We then explore a novel on‐line, nonlinear editing and effects environment available for the PVS, which allows HDTV resolution material to be digitally edited and processed at full resolution. Finally, we conclude by describing some of the applications of the PVS which allow it to be used in a variety of other ways.©1994 John Wiley & Sons Inc