Report on the First Eurographics Workshop on Visualization in Scientific Computing

It is fundamental for the kinematics simulation and mechanism design to apply the visualization in scientific computing on the simulation research of 3D mechanism. It is also the basis of independent development for 3D CAE software without any copyright limit. This paper offered a parameterized kinematics simulation template for 3D mechanism based on the visualization in scientific computing, in which the open graphics library is applied by MFC compiler. This paper illuminates the fundamental principle of the simulation development applying the OpenGL technology. The principle of OpenGL, the procedure structure, the working flow of OpenGL, the concept of program designing and the code implementation based on VC++ is demonstrated and an application approach for mechanism simulation is developed under the MFC environment. Keywords: visualization in scientific computing, MFC compiler, OpenGL, parameterized, kinematics simulation for 3D mechanism

Initial impetus for scientific visualization was provided in 1987 by a National Science Foundation (NSF) Panel Report of a Workshop on ‘Visualization in Scientific Computing’ (McCormick et al. 1987).

Isosurface extraction from volumetric data plays an important role in the field of visualization in scientific computing. To solve the ambiguity that the classical marching cube algorithm often suffers from and improve the extraction precision, first, accurate isosurface in the interior of cube is constructed by using the trilinear interpolant method. The face shoulder points, body shoulder points and inflection point are computed as the critical points located on the isosurface. The geometrical characteristics of those critical points are analyzed. Based on these preliminary results, a robust and high resolution triangulation algorithm for constructing a triangular mesh approximation to isosurface for data given on a 3D rectilinear grid is presented. Unlike the past work on marching cube algorithm, the new solution presented produces a robust representation of the surface in the interior of each grid cell without using look-up-table and complementary and rotation operations. For arbitrary cube configuration, once the corresponding inflection points have been computed, the new approach is intelligent to triangulate the isosurface. Finally, some examples are given to show the performance of the new algorithm.

Visualization in scientific computing has been a developing computer technology in recent years. It has been used in many fields because of its strong ability in large data management and display, while its applications in power systems are still in the study stage. The method introduced in this paper combines geographic images and power system information, and gives a more accessible and realistic visual expression of static security assessment. This method applied ArcViewGIS software (a product of ESRI) to the traditional static security assessment algorithm. Using the function of image overlapping, automatic image making and large-scale data processing, the method turns the results of security assessment into outstanding pictures and tables on a geographic map. In this way, one can obtain a more efficient power system security assessment method.

We are very glad to host VRCAI2009 in Japan and welcome you to Tokyo Institute of Technology which is a very active university in VR, CG and Image processing fields. Virtual Reality Continuum (VRC), which spans across next-generation info information communication environments, like Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Virtuality (AV), Augmented Reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR), is a key in the way we define and interact with, and within, our virtual worlds. To advance research in the VRC field, the VRCAI conference seeks to provide a forum for scientists, researchers, developers, users and industry players in the international VRC community to come together to share experiences, exchange ideas and spur one another in the knowledge of this fast-growing field. This year, VRCAI 2009 focuses on the following themes: Fundamentals, Systems, Computer Graphics, Image Processing, Interactions , and Industry and Applications. A new focus area on Computer Graphics and Image Processing related to Virtual Reality has been introduced. We see the importance of CG and image processing for developing VR systems and applications growing more and more. Especially, VRCAI2009 is held just 2 days before SIGGRAPH ASIA 2009. VRCAI and SIGGRAPH ASIA should be more strongly connected each other. So, we hope VRCAI welcomes the papers in the fields of CG and Image Processing. Since its beginning as the 1st International Workshop on Virtual Reality and Visualization in Scientific Computing held in Hangzhou, China in 1995, VRCAI has grown and matured into a reputable biennial conference. Selected papers from past VRCAI conferences have been published in special issues of Computers & Graphics journal, International Journal of Virtual Reality, International Journal of Image and Graphics, and Computer Animation and Virtual Worlds. Since 2004, the conference has been indexed by EI. It has been also co-sponsored by ACM SIGGRAPH, and its papers included in the ACM Digital Library. The 8th VRCAI 2009 conference attracted 98 submissions from 17 countries in Europe, North and South America and Asia. The submissions were reviewed by about 70 reviewers, with each full paper receiving at least three reviews. The papers were of high quality and very competitive. 40 submissions have been accepted as full papers and 29 as poster papers.