Dview
Dview is a
high level interpreted programming language,
of over 500 commands,
that is oriented towards realtime 3D
graphics.
Three dimensional models, realtime animation of
those models, and the ways in which those animations are viewed
are all specified using character string commands consisting
of a Dview command keyword followed by its arguments.
Additionally,
all of the constructs offered by the TCL language can be
utilized. This affords the ability to set variables and utilize them
within Dview commands, it allows for
Dview commands to be embedded in looping constructs, and
it allows for Dview to return results from commands that
query for information.
Dview has a
complete interactive user interface development environment
which includes a model builder, animation player, and general purpose
GUI for realtime visualization or creation of sequenced animations.
Dview was developed by Patti Koenig of the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory. Patti recieved her Bachelors degree in Computer
Science at UC Berkeley, Masters degree in Electrical and
Computer Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University and
her Doctorate in Computer Science
at University of Southern California (USC).
Dview has been actively utilized at the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory (JPL) since 1991 for many missions
including Mars Global
Surveyor (MGS), Cassini, and the new Space Interferometry Mission (SIM).
It has demonstrated success in its longevity and ability to serve many
missions with often very different visualization goals.
The Dview language
and its implementation however
is not specific to spacecraft applications.
Dview is mature in its development and
has serious potential for widespread use in other science and
application domains.
Dview does not compete with other APIs such as
VRML, OpenInventor, OpenGL and Java3D. Rather, it is a higher level
3D modeling protocol which is implemented on top of such API's as
a fast front-end.
Dview gives the user an option of specifying 3D
modeling in a language that is at a high level which facilitates
rapid prototyping of realtime animations. Dview will
soon be available to the public domain for demonstration purposes
and usage. More information on Dview can be found at
the Dview Web site: http://dview.jpl.nasa.gov.
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