Systems and Tools

This theme contains descriptions of a wide variety of tools and systems currently in existence. The classification used is by multi-purpose tools and specialized systems.

(8.1) Wide variety of computer tools and integrated systems

There have been a wide variety of computer tools and integrated systems developed for visualizing the various types of data from the many disciplines that are active in this field. This chapter is grouped into two types: Multi-purpose tools and Specialized systems.

(8.2) Discuss multi-purpose tools

The multi-purpose tools have been developed to handle a wide variety of data, independent of a discipline, although in many cases it was a specific discipline that motivated the development. The tools range from languages that require the user to write complex and detailed programs to tools that allow the user to manipulate the data in a very easy and convenient manner to produce complex visualizations.

(8.3) Discuss specialized systems

The specialized systems have been developed for specific disciplines and are tailored for the unique data in that field. For example, GIS (geo information systems) capture and visually present geographic based data. Typically such systems are large and complex and able to produce complex visualizations. However, they typically take significant amounts of time to learn and master since they have many modes of operation and features.

(8.4) Examples of multi-purpose tools

(8.4.1) Languages and Libraries

(8.4.1.1) The languages range from the traditional computer programming language such as Visual Basic with its own graphics routines embedded in the language, to C, C++ and Java (or specifically for visualization simplified programming languages like Processing) where the user writes a structured program that interfaces to a graphics library such as OpenGL. These examples produce anywhere from a simple presentation to complex simulations and animation, e.g. OpenGL, X3D and formerly OpenInventor, VRML.

(8.4.1.2) OpenGL (free)- A set of graphics routines originally developed by SGI that are called from C, C++ and Java to manipulate data and graphical images.

(8.4.1.3) X3D (free)

(8.4.1.4) VTK - Visualization Toolkit (free)

(8.4.1.5) ITK - Insight Segmentation and Registration Toolkit (free)

(8.4.2) Graphics Systems - modeling, rendering, animation

(8.4.2.1) A number of high level systems have been developed and are used extensively in the entertainment industry to create complex models, render them, and produce animations and simulations. The modeling systems are based on surface models and have a rich set of tools and features to produce very complex models. They are also able to interface with other graphics systems to produce special effects so important to the entertainment.

(8.4.2.2) Maya

(8.4.2.3) Blender (free)

(8.4.2.4) 3D Studio Max

(8.4.2.5) Poser

(8.4.2.6) SoftImage

(8.4.3) Graphics Systems - modeling

(8.4.3.1) SketchUp (free)

(8.4.4) Graphics Systems - rendering

(8.4.4.1) Radiance (free)

(8.4.4.2) POVRay (free)

(8.4.4.3) SunFlow (free)

(8.4.4.4) LuxRender (free)

(8.4.5) General Visualization Systems

(8.4.5.1) OpenDX (formerly Data Explorer / free)

(8.4.5.2) EnSight (MPGS)

(8.4.5.3) IDL

(8.4.5.4) Vis5D+ (free)

(8.4.5.5) ParaView (free)

(8.4.5.6) NCSA Visualization Suite (free)

 

(8.4.6) 3D & Game Engines

(8.4.6.1) OGRE (free)

(8.4.6.2) CryENGINE

(8.4.6.3) ID Tech 3 Engine (free)

(8.4.6.4) Unreal Engine

(8.4.6.5) Delta 3D (free)

(8.4.6.6) Irrlicht (free)

(8.4.6.7) Retribution Engine (free)

for more Engines use DevMaster's Database.

(8.4.7) Data Mining - Visual Analytics

(8.4.7.1) RapidMiner (free)

(8.4.7.2) GGobi (free)

(8.4.7.3) Protovis (free)

(8.4.7.4) PASW Modeler (formerly Clementine)

(8.4.7.5) Weka 3 (free)

(8.4.7.6) Mondrian (free)

(8.4.7.7) Magnum Opus

(8.4.8) Spreadsheets

e.g. MS Office, OpenOffice.org (free), GoogleDocs (free)

(8.4.9) Paint/Draw Programs

e.g. MS Paint, Gimp (free), Adobe Photoshop

(8.4.10) Community Platforms

(8.4.10.1) ManyEyes (free)

(8.4.11) Miscellaneous

(8.4.11.1) DIA (free)

(8.5) Examples of specialized systems

(8.5.1) GIS Systems

e.g. Arc/Info and ArcView (ESRI), GRASS (free)

(8.5.2) CAD Systeme

e.g. Catia, Solidworks

(8.5.3) Medical and Bimolecular

(8.5.3.1) SCIRun (free)

(8.5.3.2) ITK-SNAP (free)

(8.5.3.3) ImageVis3D (free)

(8.5.3.4) 3D Slicer and FiberViewer (free)

(8.5.4) Chemistry

(8.5.5) Physics

(8.5.6) Mathematics

(8.5.6.1) MATLAB

(8.5.6.2) Maple

(8.5.6.3) Mathematica

(8.5.7) Statistics

e.g. S, S plus, SAS

(8.5.8) Computational Fluid Dynamics

"flow visualization", included in visualization software listed above, e.g. VTK, EnSight CDF

(8.5.9) Mind maps

(8.5.9.1) FreeMind (free)