GR - A Universal Framework for Visualization Applications

Josef Heinen

Audience level:: Novice
Category:: Other

Description

For the creation of visualization programs there are a number of free and commercial tools and libraries. In a heterogeneous environment it points out that there is no universal solution that covers the specific needs in a scientific environment. GR is a framework for cross-platform visualization applications ranging from publication quality 2D graphs to the representation of complex 3D scenes.

Abstract

GR - a universal framework for visualization applications

For the creation of visualization programs there are a number of free and commercial tools and libraries. In a heterogeneous computing environment, however, it points out that there is no universal solution that covers the specific needs in a scientific environment.

GR is a universal framework for cross-platform visualization applications. It offers developers a compact, portable and consistent graphics library for their programs. Applications range from publication quality 2D graphs to the representation of complex 3D scenes.

The talk begins by describing the functionality of the GR framework, which is essentially based on an implementation of a Graphical Kernel System (GKS) and OpenGL. It describes how GR - as a self-contained system - can quickly and easily be integrated into existing applications (i.e. using the ctypes mechanism in Python). The GR framework can be used in imperative programming systems or integrated into modern object-oriented systems, in particular those based on GUI toolkits. In addition, the special abilities of the GR framework are emphasized in terms of interoperability with current web technologies and mobile devices.

Based on selected applications it is pointed out that the GR framework is especially suitable for real-time environments. In demanding live applications the performance of the system will be demonstrated.