Distributed Volume Modelling and Collaborative Visualization

In this brief paper we describe a conferenced environment that we have built in a client-server networked environment called SHASTRA to support distributed volume modelling and collaborative visualization. The SHASTRA environment allows multiple users to share and interact over extremely large volume data sets while viewing multiple isosurfaces and renderings with independent viewing directions and cutaways. The distributed modelling and visualization algorithms uses the computational power of multiple networked workstations to speedily produce piecewise trivariate polynomial nite elements (modelling) and translucent shaded images of isosurfaces as well as volume rayshaded renderings (visualization) of extremely large data sets. The color graphics in SHASTRA are built on top of XS, a machine independent 3D-graphics and windows library, that runs on multiple platforms in a heterogeneous environment.

[1]  Michael J. Gerald-Yamasaki.  Cooperative visualization of computational fluid dynamics , 1991, [1991] Proceedings of the First International Conference on Parallel and Distributed Information Systems.

[2]  Chandrajit L. Bajaj,et al.  SHASTRA-an architecture for development of collaborative applications , 1993, [1993] Proceedings Second Workshop on Enabling Technologies@m_Infrastructure for Collaborative Enterprises.

[3]  William E. Lorensen,et al.  Marching cubes: A high resolution 3D surface construction algorithm , 1987, SIGGRAPH.

[4]  J. Wilhelms,et al.  Octrees for faster isosurface generation , 1992, TOGS.

[5]  Chandrajit L. Bajaj,et al.  Reconstruction of Surfaces and Surfaces- on- Surfaces from Unorganized Weighted Points , 1994 .

[6]  C. Bajaj,et al.  Collaborative Multimedia in Scienti c Design , 1993 .

[7]  Daniel R. Schikore,et al.  Distributed and Collaborative Volume Visualization , 1993 .

[8]  Jindong Chen,et al.  Free Form Surface Design with A-Patches , 1994 .