Abstract
Virtual-reality interfaces offer several advantages for scientific visualization, such as the ability to perceive 3D data structures in a natural way. This chapter focuses on direct manipulation, the ability for a user in virtual reality to control objects in the virtual environment in a direct and natural way. Direct manipulation provides many advantages for the exploration of complex, multidimensional datasets, by allowing the investigator the ability to intuitively explore the data environment. Direct manipulation is most relevant to the analysis of complex data that fills a volume of 3D space. This chapter uses the example of a data probe of a vector field in 3D space that emits streamlines of that vector field. The chapter explores the design and implementation of direct-manipulation interfaces useful for scientific visualization. After providing a simple model of the visualization process, the chapter develops implementation strategies tailored for scientific visualization in virtual environments, including issues of run-time software architectures, distribution, and control of time flow. These implementation strategies are driven by consideration of the human factors of interaction.
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