David J. Kasik

A user interface management system

The design and construction of the user interface to interactive systems is receiving increased attention. This paper describes a user interface management system that allows a designer/developer to focus on the logical functionality of an application without the usual bookkeeping associated with a conventional programming language. The user interface management system contains two components: a special purpose, application independent dialogue specification language and a run-time interpreter that provides a number of interaction extensions not possible with procedure libraries.

Goals and objectives for user interface software

This written report summarizes the discussions an d conclusions of the goals and objectives group at th e ACM/SIGGRAPH Workshop on Software Tools for Use r Interface Development . The report is organized into th e following sections : e Section 1 — Overview of group goals and discussions Section 2 — Definition and characteristics of a UIM S ® Section 3 — Criteria used to develop a taxonomy of a UIM S Section 4 — Tasks and tools fo r user interface developmen t o Section 5 — Suggested topics and areas of research

Technical strategies for massive model visualization

Interactive visualization of massive models still remains a challenging problem. This is mainly due to a combination of ever increasing model complexity with the current hardware design trend that leads to a widening gap between slow data access speed and fast data processing speed. We argue that developing efficient data access and data management techniques is key in solving the problem of interactive visualization of massive models. Particularly, we discuss visibility culling, simplification, cache-coherent layouts, and data compression techniques as efficient data management techniques that enable interactive visualization of massive models.

Real-Time Massive Model Rendering

Interactive display and visualization of large geometric and textured models is becoming a fundamental capability. There are numerous application areas, including games, movies, CAD, virtual prototyping, and scientific visualization. One of observations about geometric models used in interactive applications is that their model complexity continues to increase because of fundamental advances in 3D modeling, simulation, and data capture technologies. As computing power increases, users take advantage of the algorithmic advances and generate even more complex models and data sets. Therefore, there are many cases where we are required to visualize massive models that consist of hundreds of millions of triangles and, even, billions of triangles. However, interactive visualization and handling of such massive models still remains a challenge in computer graphics and visualization. In this monograph we discuss various techniques that enable interactive visualization of massive models. These techniques include visibility computation, simplification, levels-of-detail, and cache-coherent data management.We believe that the combinations of these techniques can make it possible to interactively visualize massive models in commodity hardware. Table of Contents: Introduction / Visibility / Simplification and Levels of Detail / Alternative Representations / Cache-Coherent Data Management / Conclusions / Bibliography

Expanding the Frontiers of Visual Analytics and Visualization

The field of computer graphics combines display hardware, software, and interactive techniques in order to display and interact with data generated by applications. Visualization is concerned with exploring data and information graphically in such a way as to gain information from the data and determine significance. Visual analytics is the science of analytical reasoning facilitated by interactive visual interfaces. Expanding the Frontiers of Visual Analytics and Visualization provides a review of the state of the art in computer graphics, visualization, and visual analytics by researchers and developers who are closely involved in pioneering the latest advances in the field. It is a unique presentation of multi-disciplinary aspects in visualization and visual analytics, architecture and displays, augmented reality, the use of color, user interfaces and cognitive aspects, and technology transfer. It provides readers with insights into the latest developments in areas such as new displays and new display processors, new collaboration technologies, the role of visual, multimedia, and multimodal user interfaces, visual analysis at extreme scale, and adaptive visualization.

Visibility-guided rendering to accelerate 3D graphics hardware performance

Visibility-guided Rendering (VGR) is an output-sensitive approach for real-time rendering of very large 3d data sets, using a GPU. The goal of this section is to understand the foundations of VGR and its application to visualization of complex scenes, using hardware-accelerated OpenGL. The key issues covered in this section are hardware-based occlusionculling, memory management and out-of-core visibility determination, the data structures and algorithms as well as low-level operating system issues.

Massive model visualization techniques: course notes

Interactive display and visualization of large geometric and textured models is becoming a fundamental capability. There are numerous application areas, including games, movies, CAD, virtual prototyping, and scientific visualization. One of observations about geometric models used in interactive applications is that their model complexity continues to increase because of fundamental advances in 3D modeling, simulation, and data capture technologies. As computing power increases, users take advantage of the algorithmic advances and generate even more complex models and datasets. Therefore, there are many cases where we are required to visualize massive models that consist of hundreds of millions of triangles and, even, billions of triangles. However, interactive visualization and handling of such massive models still remains a challenge in computer graphics and visualization. In this monograph we discuss various techniques that enable interactive visualization of massive models. These techniques include visibility computation, simplification, levels-of-detail, and cache-coherent data management. We believe that the combinations of these techniques can make it possible to interactively visualize massive models in commodity hardware.

Jim Thomas, 1946-2010

Jim Thomas, a visionary scientist and inspirational leader, died on 6 August 2010 in Richland, Washington. His impact on the fields of computer graphics, user interface software, and visualization was extraordinary, his ability to personally change people’s lives even more so. He is remembered for his enthusiasm, his mentorship, his generosity, and, most of all, his laughter. This collection of remembrances images him through the eyes of his many friends.

Guest Editors' Introduction: Real-Time Interaction with Complex Models

Over the past few decades, advances in acquisition, modeling, and simulation technologies have resulted in databases of 3D models that seem to be unlimited in size and complexity. Highly detailed models are increasingly produced in areas such as industrial CAD for airplanes, ships, production plants, and buildings; geographic information systems; oil and gas exploration; medical imaging; scanned 3D models; unorganized information spaces; and high-end scientific simulations. Such models might contain millions or even billions of 3D primitives, such as triangles, point sets, surfaces, and voxels. The models often have additional, higher-dimensional attributes associated with the primitives. The Guest Editors of this Special Issue of IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications discuss the challenges that complex models present and how those articles represent and address some of those challenges.

Case Study: Successful Deployment of Industry-University Collaborative Visual Analytics Research

Successful joint industry-university projects are as rewarding as they are rare. Even more rare is the effective transfer of technology from an academic research laboratory to an industrial application. Having the transfer take less than 3 years is rarest of all. This paper describes a case study where a successful joint industry-university project resulted in a considerable reduction in the time to move a new form of technology - Visual Analytics - from university laboratories into multiple industrial uses. Significant events and lessons learned along the way are described from both an industrial and an academic perspective.