This issue contains information on items of current interest in the areas of graphics, image processing, multimedia and visualization. In the latter area a new E-mail service for visualization is announced and we include a report on a recent Eurographics Workshop. Two contributions include information on technical meetings: the first with Computer Associates with regard to plans and developments for CA-Cricket products, and the second is the UNIRAS-CHEST Users Technical Forum. The detail in these reports may be useful to those readers interested in future plans in these areas. Finally we report on some new initiatives in the area of Multimedia at the University of Leeds.
Following on from the article in the last Newsletter about the problems of supporting graphics (and indeed any area) in a computer service department, AGOCG is organising a course for support staff in December. This will take place at Loughborough University on 14th and 15th December. The course is being supported by the Information Systems Committee of the UFC. Details on how you can contribute ideas and offer sessions are given in the article by Alex Nolan in this Newsletter.
Chris Osland from Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and I have collected a couple of recent surveys and information on video boards. While I appreciate that this is a moving target, this information might prove a useful starting point Contact me for details.
Evaluations of colour printers and scanners are being carried out at the moment I hope that these will be completed soon after this edition of the Newsletter comes out. Contact me for details.
A new mailbase list has been set up at Newcastle which will be for me to input up-to-date news on AGOCG activities. The listname is agocg-news. This might contain details of evaluations, information on tenders, software updates, new technical reports etc. This will only include very brief information and will in no way replace the detailed information in this Newsletter. To join this list send a piece of E-mail to: mailbase@uk.ac.mailbase which contains the following information only:
join <listname> <your firstname> <your surname>
For example if I (Anne Mumford) wanted to join the agocg-news list I would send the following line as E-mail to:mailbase@uk:.ac.mailbase:
join agocg-news Anne Mumford
A meeting to discuss what AGOCG might do about animation was held recently. A summary of this is given here.
Animation has different meanings to different people: life giving; use of related images to express ideas; moving pictures. It also covers a range of fields from scientific to artistic applications. AGOCG should concern itself with providing post-production facilities which are common to a range of areas. The pre-production is the domain of the specialist in a particular field. The post-production provision covers hardware, software, awareness, training and expertise.
A major requirement is for information to be exchanged by people in the field on hardware and software experiences and needs. A mailbase address for animation is to be set up. The possibility of funding a minder for this is to be considered. A style guide for animation and producing videos is to be considered.
This was thought to be a very useful idea and there is a need to delve into some of the older literature in the field There was considerable discussion of provision of a central video service. If this is provided it needs to be done properly with very high quality output and expertise associated with the equipment Lower quality and lower cost options need to be evaluated for use locally as do preview facilities should a central service be provided.
There needs to be a framework for defining software requirements. A pipeline model is to be drawn up so that software can be labelled as fulfilling a particular need and software can be more easily evaluated. AVS Animator needs to be evaluated as this is part of the CHEST deal. Renderman may warrant CHEST negotiating a site licence.
More details on getting on to the electronic mail list can be obtained from me.
This electronic mail service is being provided to disseminate general information concerning scientific visualization and its associated software products.
There are many software products around which are ideal for certain applications but they are not flexible enough to cover the range of application areas being used throughout the UK Academic community. Therefore the products which will be concentrated on will be the "application builders" which provide both flexibility and extensibility by the ability to include users application code. Examples of these are AVS, Iris Explorer, Khoros and IBM's Visualization Data Explorer.
Activities and events being organised within the UK Academic Community with the theme of visualization will be circulated via this list and will include those organised by AGOCG and the EASE Visualization Community Club.
The service will be operated by Steve Larkin, AGOCG Visualization Support Officer and will be used as the main source for circulating information about forthcoming events.
The list is primarily aimed at circulating general information and informing people where extra help and information may be found.
It is NOT a forum for answering detailed technical problems related to specific systems as these are already provided by other E-mail lists and newsgroups. Details of these other facilities and lists of Frequently Asked Questions will be made available though.
Please note that the maintainers of this service, their institutions or the Advisory Group on Computer Graphics (AGOCG) will not accept any liability for information supplied.
To join the E-mail list simply send the following message to Mailbase (mailbase@uk.ac.mailbase):
join chest-visual <firstname> <surname>
For example, join chest-visual John Smith will add your name (John Smith) and mail address (taken from your message header) to the chestvisual discussion list.
To ask a question simply send an E-mail message to chest-visual@uk.ac.mailbase
For more general help on mailbase send a message to mailbase@uk.ac.mailbase which contains the word help.
Professor Bob Hopgood, Head of the Informatics Department at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory was recently awarded the degree of Doktor-Ingenieur Ehren Halber (Honoris Causae) from the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany. Bob is the first computer scientist to achieve this distinction.
The degree is a very high honour in the University - only having been awarded 20 times in the 156 year history of the University. It is awarded to individuals who have made outstanding contributions in their chosen field. The ceremony was attended by his wife Mrs Barbara Hopgood, Prof David Duce and the Director of RAL Dr Paul Williams. The citation reads ... recognising his trend-setting scientific achievements in the field of computer science, especially computer graphics, and the transformation of his research results into applications and the solution of problems. The University also recognises his efforts in fostering a fruitful cooperation with Darmstadt's Computer Science department and European computer graphics groups, and honours a scientist who has achieved exemplary results in the area of computer science.
Prof Hopgood has had a full and varied career. He worked at the Harwell Laboratory (near Oxford) and AWRE Aldermaston, on early IBM computers, before joining the Atlas Computer Laboratory in 1963 (which later merged with RAL). He went on to become Head of the Computing Division. During his career he has written several books, which have become classics of their time.
He is a leading figure in the European Informatics scene and is currently, Chairman of the ERCIM Executive Committee.
Dr. Roger Hubbold, from the Computer Science Department at the University of Manchester gave the Laudatio (the words of praise) at the ceremony. Speaking of Bob as a person, he said I know many people who have worked with Bob over many years. They tell a consistent story of a man who leads from the front and who inspires those who work with him to produce high quality work .... I am sure that all those who know Bob will consider this an honour which he truly deserves, and will wish to join with me in congratulating him and hoping he will continue to lead and inspire us in the years ahead.
The Working Party still hopes to see a deal in this area although the project has been delayed for various reasons. We are currently waiting for CHEST to conclude negotiations with suppliers. The two packages under consideration are market leaders and both run under Windows. As with many other significant packages these days the disk space required to run them seems to be increasing all the time. There may therefore be room for a lighter drawing package in the CHEST deal in addition to a fully functional product.
A very useful meeting has been held with Computer Associates (CA) to discuss issues relating to Cricket Graph and Cricket Presents. A report on this meeting is included separately in this issue.
The Working Party is going to look at image processing packages several of which have recently been released for PCs. In particular CA have supplied us with a pre-release copy of CA-Image for evaluation. I would be pleased to hear from anyone who has views on and/or expertise with image processing on PCs.
This project has progressed to the point where we have replies to a Request For Information from several suppliers. A meeting organised jointly with AGOCG has been arranged for July 1st 1992 to look at the responses and to widen the discussion as much as possible. A request for participants has been sent out to all Computer Centres.
It is hoped to carry out an evaluation over the summer months. This exercise should produce a report and recommendation to CHEST for an Educational deal in this area.
A meeting has been held with Computer Associates representatives to discuss Cricket Graph and Cricket Presents. The idea was to give CHEST representatives an opportunity to present problems encountered with the software and its distribution and to give CA an opportunity to bring the community up to date with latest development of their products.
A detailed report on the meeting was posted to the CHEST-PCGraphics mailing list. The following is a summary of those notes. The meeting was held on 15th May 1992 at Computer Associates, Uxbridge.
Present:
The name CA-Cricket has been adopted as the generic name for CA graphics products. CA perform most initial development of CA-Cricket products on the MacIntosh platform, with development of subsequent PC versions to ensure cross-platform concurrency.
A new version of Presents for the PC, version 1.5, will be available towards the end of Summer 1992. The new version will include improved text editing facilities, improved import/export facilities, support for True Type and Adobe scalable fonts, and a separate screen-show facility, CA-Player. A true network version of this product is currently under development
A new version of Graph will be available for Summer 1992 on the Macintosh (Cricket Graph III version 2.0), and Autumn 1992 on the PC (version 1.4). Improvements will include increased Graph types, enlarged data sheet and improved import/export facilities. A true network version of this product is currently under development.
New image processing product offering image transformation, filtering, colour processing, image compression and file format translation. An entertaining demonstration of the product, which is now available, was given at the meeting.
The question of CA training for participating sites was discussed. It was suggested that seminars demonstrating effective use of Cricket products (especially Presents) would be useful. These could be held at central locations such as London and Manchester and co-ordinated through CHEST.
Several technical problems, all associated with the PC versions of the software, were discussed at the meeting. The details of these were posted to the CHEST-PC-GRAPHICS mailing list. Following a request for input from the community the GWP had formulated a list of enhancements to the Cricket products which would be useful to the CHEST community. These were as follows:
CA expressed keen interest in holding further meetings at six-monthly intervals. If anyone has any suggestions for future enhancements to Cricket products then please send them to me and they can be presented to CA at the next meeting.
RALMAN GKS-3D (version 1) has now been completed and despatched to Kent for distribution. It is an enhanced version of RAL GKS 1.34, described in Issue 22, and will be available by the same mechanism. The distribution will contain both source and binaries, and is being offered without support. The British Technology Group (B1'O) hold the copyright to the GKS parts, and the Computer Board (now ISC) provided the funding to the University of Manchester to extend this to 3D. BTG have now agreed that a licence will be granted free of charge to any bona fide UK Academic Institution. The University of Kent will accept and process requests for a small handling charge.
GKS-3D can be used via the Fortran 77 binding. (A Pascal binding is available separately, contact the author). It is a level 2b implementation, without pick input, and versions for VMS .5.5 and SunOs 4.1.1 are available. The following drivers are provided:
A novel feature is that you may use 2D device drivers written for RAL GKS, though some minor modifications may be required, and of course GKS programs should run unmodified in this environment (RAL are working on an X11 driver for RAL GKS, see Issue 22.)
A User Guide, Reference Manual, and Installation Guide are also provided.
Video, audio, text and image are increasingly being used in research and teaching applications. Technology is bringing digital media to the workstation desktop at affordable prices, and software facilities enable these media to be integrated into higher level applications. Such facilities offer opportunities for personalised learning via courseware, and integrated demonstrations and simulations on the workstation or PC using graphics and video sequences.
A Multimedia Group has been established at the University of Leeds by the Dean for Academic Development, Prof David Holdcroft. This Group comprises Prof Simon French (Computer Studies), Dr Rae Earnshaw, Mr Roger Hartley (CBL Unit) and Mr David Brook (Audio Visual Service). Its objective is to prepare plans, coordinate activities, and initiate developments for what is seen to be an important, strategic, and enabling area for the future.
Initial work has concentrated on current activities within the University, and the provision of financial support to enable these activities to move forward more quickly. It has proved opportune to combine these initiatives into the establishment of a CBLI Multimedia Summer School in the University from July to September. It will provide a facilities-rich environment by utilising one of the PC and Workstation Clusters already existing on the University campus (with further: equipment and software added for specific multimedia requirements), and also provide a focus for the promotion of interdisciplinary collaboration and exchange in the area of teaching and research.
The initial objectives of the Summer School are therefore to coordinate the current development programme in multimedia in the University; provide a series of Workshops, Demonstrations and Colloquia to disseminate information and stimulate interest; offer a programme of activity to enable staff to produce CBL and related materials; and provide a reference library with a complete set of publications from the Computers in Teaching Initiative (CTI) and the work that has already been done by the CTI Centres.
Current projects in the development programme include 'Teaching for Computer Vision', 'A Library Guidance System', 'Introduction to UNIX', 'Automated Tutorial Teaching', 'Chemistry Experiments', 'Drug Studies', 'Tutorial Aids', 'A Multimedia CAD System Tutorial', 'Application of Mathematica', and 'Understanding Kinematics'.
The emphasis is upon real tools for real users, and more importantly real tools for users who have not been users before, and who wish to produce materials and move applications forward with the minimum of effort in learning how to use and apply the current software tools and facilities available. This is a real and valid test of current tools and the friendliness and usability of the interfaces! Perhaps we can do much to shape future developments and products in this area (provided they conform to agreed standards, of course).
The 10th Eurographics UK Chapter conference was hosted by the University of Edinburgh on the 14th and 15th of Apri11992. In deference to the main Eurographics conference being held in the UK this year, the UK Chapter conference was reduced in size to just two days. Instead of running multiple full-day tutorials, a half-day tutorial was offered as one of the parallel streams during the afternoon of the first day. As usual, participation by Special Interest Groups was an important part of the conference. The GHOST, GINO and UNIRAS User Groups supported the conference which was enjoyed by over 70 delegates.
The conference themes were Parallelism for Real-Time and Distributed Graphics and Scientific Visualization. The first theme was well supported by a line-up of speakers from the University of Edinburgh's Parallel Computing Centre and the second theme was supported by speakers covering a broad range of subject areas and software systems. The tutorial session by Todd Elvins encompassed both themes, and more.
The conference opened on Tuesday morning (well actually it was in full swing some 14 hours earlier, more later!) with a paper by Prof Wallace of the Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre. He outlined the development of parallel processing from Richardson's Weather Prediction by Numerical Processes of 1922. In 1922 the 'computer' was a human and Richardson's hall full of such computers, communicating with the help of lanterns represents one of the earliest known proposals for a MIMD, loosely synchronous system using optical interconnections. After outlining the relevance of parallel systems to providing the ever increasing power needed for visualization, Prof. Wallace reviewed the history of the Edinburgh Centre from their first ICL DAP in 1982 through to the current network incorporating several large parallel systems. Prof. Wallace closed with examples of the many activities being supported by these systems.
The tutorial on Tuesday afternoon was given by Todd Elvins of the San Diego Supercomputer Centre. Todd's subject Scientific Visualization in a Network Computing Environment was excellently presented, with over 200 slides. Todd started with an outline of the networking of the four NSF Supercomputer Centres, and in particular the four parallel/vector Supercomputers at the San Diego site, to user sites spread right across the USA. Todd then introduced us to the network visualization tools being developed by SDSC with particular reference to their (Mac based) colour tutorial software and their image toolkit which is now available for a range of Unix systems. After tea, Todd moved on through the problems and solutions of networking hardcopy facilities and on to the plans for SIGGRAPH later this year. Multiple Supercomputers are to be linked through a Gigabit network to do realtime visualization of a global climate model.
The parallel sessions covered a variety of topics. Molecular modelling and remote sensing featured strongly but more common place matters were catered for (including tree imaging and designing loudspeakers) as well as theoretical matters and the development of standards. Above all there was an emphasis on the practical aspects of scientific visualization covering applications from many disciplines.
The closing plenary session on Wednesday afternoon incorporated two speakers, Gus Scott of the Computer Graphics Suppliers Association and Robert Stone of the UK National Advanced Robotics Research Centre. Gus Scott's title was The Role of the CGSA in the CG Industry and he provided a useful insight into an organisation which few of us academics have any contact with. Roben Stone's title was Virtual Reality and Cyberspace: From Science Fiction to Science Fact. The talk covered a broad range of VR systems, peripherals and techniques from the early days through the recent wave of High Street systems to the current state of the an. To illustrate his talk Roben Stone brought along an array of VR peripheral equipment which caused considerable amusement when he demonstrated it and showed how primitive and cumbersome it is at present.
The Ken Brodlie prize (50 pounds and a bottle of Glenfiddich) for the best paper was awarded to Glen Carver (University of Cambridge, previously University of Edinburgh) for his paper Meteorological Graphics.
Despite the shorter duration of the conference, no sacrifice was made on the number or quality of the social events. The conference started on Monday evening with a visit to the Scotch Whisky Heritage Centre including a distinctly liquid (single malt) buffet supper which set us up nicely for a chilly tour of the backstreet Ghosts and Ghouls of the City. We then descended on a local hostelry to await the return coach - which some mischievous ghoul had sent to wait at the other end of the Royal Mile. The conference fragmented at this point, some walked and some called taxis and (I am told) some looked for the coach, decided on a pizza instead and finally returned to the hall at around 2:30. Malt whisky is clearly a wonderful thing for the conference still got under way promptly on Tuesday morning! Tuesday evening's conference dinner took place in the City Chambers which we now knew to have a ghostly reputation going back to the days of the plague. The conference was piped from the coach to a Civic Reception hosted by Councillor Margaret MacGregor deputising for the Lord Provost of Edinburgh. Following the reception we were piped onwards to an excellent dinner which was enjoyed by all. After dinner we were entertained by the Lothian Gaelic Choir (by courtesy of Liant Software) which was recalled, by popular demand, for an encore.
As always, an exhibition was staged in conjunction with the conference. As well as a demonstration of the recent AGOCG (Advisory Group on Computer Graphics) evaluation work on visualization application builder software, the exhibition was supported by a variety of suppliers covering a wide range of both software and hardware for computer graphics. We thank Advanced Visual Systems, ABA Industrial Technology (GHOST), Dicoll, Digital Equipment Corporation, Evans and Sutherland, Hewlett-Packard, International Business Machines, Liant Software, Precision Visuals and Tektronix for supporting the conference.
Next year the UK Chapter will be holding its conference in York. The University site has, as its centre-piece, a man-made lake which supports a variety of bird life. It is situated two miles south-east of the centre of the Roman City which will be known to many for its famous Minster. The social events include a conference dinner in Alcuin College and a visit to the Castle Museum which features the Victorian streets of Kirkgate and the Edwardian Half Moon Court. The conference will revert to its three day format, starting with tutorials on Tuesday 30th March and finishing on Thursday 1st April and the themes will be The Application of Computer Graphics to Modelling and Electronic Publishing. I look forward to seeing you there.
Copies of the proceeding of the 1992 conference are available from Roy Middleton.
Summary of 4th meeting, Coventry Polytechnic, 5th March, 1992
23 members were present, plus Lars Kjaergaard and Mette Moellebaek from UNIRAS AS, and Mark Mason from UNIRAS Ltd.
Steve Morgan opened the meeting and noted that apologies had been received from CHEST.
UNIRAS will make these available for v6.3. UNIRAS to look into distributing to us by some means other than tapes to each Site.
These are currently needed. ROOT privileges will not be needed by UNIX ports of 6.3.
Bob McGonigle's report is now available. It will be sent to all UNIRAS contacts. AGOCG are funding production of agX training materials as part of the X-training project
John Owen (AFRC) has become the monitor of the CHEST-UNIRAS mailing list at Newcastle. It was noted that Les was to be monitor of the CHEST-PC-GRAPHICS mailing list.
Lars and Mette attended this meeting as Poul Moller had left UNIRAS. Lars repeated that a representative will continue to attend the Forum meetings. Currently, there are 8 staff in Europe+, with 5 based in Copenhagen. Volume of sales in the UK is insufficient to warrant a person here.
Current usage of E-mail by CHEST sites is running at 1 or 2 phone calls, plus 1 or 2 SPARs per day. NSFNET-RELAY (the recommended gateway) seems to be a major problem, and MHS-RELAY seems to be even worse. Anne will write to JNT re the performance of NSFNET-RELAY. UNIRAS will accept telephone calls for non-urgent problems, but these should cease when the gateway problems are solved.
Europe+ hotline are receiving calls from people who are not listed CHEST contacts. CHEST must keep UNIRAS updated on changes of names, but equally, it is incumbent on Sites to keep CHEST informed. UNIRAS reserve the right to refuse calls from names which are not on their list.
(UNIRAS personnel were absent for this session). Steve tabled a note from Bob Gray (since sent to the mailing list) reporting the current status of MCC's position on distribution of both UNIRAS v6.2B software and documentation. MCC intend to charge for media. Yien tabled a new order form for manuals. It was noted that it listed only A5 versions. Several Sites use the A4 versions in the User's reference library, and would be inconvenienced if they were no longer available.
UNIRAS gave a short review of the changes in v6.3A: new versions of the MHPGL,DHCPCL,DPOST,MPOST, MVGS and MX11 drivers are included and a new DRIVERS system manual is available. New AGS/Vectors and AGS/Volumes libraries are included.
Machine ranges formerly supported by UNIRAS UK will not be updated under the terms of the new deal.
Apollo Domain - Rob Symberlist received a tape which was only readable on a Sun, though it was the correct software. Convex - there will be two versions, the IEEEE version is being worked on. Sequent - UNIX 5.4 386 binary standard now available. Have UNIRAS any plans to port to this? Solbourne - problems are solved, accepted to be binary compatible with Suns.
It is unlikely that Postscript versions of the manuals or the pictures in them will be made available. The Fortran source of the program which produces the UNIRAS color cube will be made available on the Cranfield server. Colour versions of the manuals can be ordered from UNIRAS at full price.
This was scheduled for 18th June. Various venues were discussed, Manchester has since been confirmed.
Following a number of years of stability with systems based upon the dual architectures of DEC VAX/VMS and IBM VM/CMS the NERC is now moving towards distributed computing and the Unix operating system.
As with many organisations this has resulted in both diversification and increased specialism within the graphics software arena. The traditional packages such as Uniras, UniGKS and Dynamic Graphics ISM are now being augmented by Silicon Graphics Explorer, Precision Visuals PV -WAVE and Wavefronts Data Visualiser, not to mention an increasing number of GIS installations, increased image analysis requirements and a proliferation of X based Toolkits. These packages are now available on a number of machines throughout NERC and the associated support issues have had to be addressed, both internally through the creation of specialist support teams, and externally with participation in the recent AGOCG Computer Graphics Support Workshop.
With the introduction of a dual architecture model 6 years ago NERC adopted the policy of purchasing off-the-shelf software where possible as an aid to reducing support issues. This policy has proved most successful in the majority of cases and is still endorsed today.
Uniras continues to be the most widely used graphics package in NERC, thanks largely to the CHEST initiative ensuring availability on a large number of platforms at minimal cost However, as mentioned, specialist packages are now appearing on a number of machines and which are likely to complicate support issues. Wavefronts Data Visualiser is now used at a number of Marine Science Institutes as it is well suited to fluid dynamics. PV-Wave is now being used where applications require combinations of image and vector graphics and particularly at sites where scientists are experienced Fortran programmers such that the CL functionality is readily accessible. Within the Earth Sciences Dynamic Graphics ISM (Interactive Surface Modeller) continues to be widely used, particularly for gridding, with grid files often imported to Uniras, Silicon Graphics Explorer and user developed GKS application programs.
Graphics Software is now available on a number of NERC Research Vessel Services (RVS) ships, including the latest vessel, the James Clarke Ross, which has both VAX! VMS and SUN systems on board, running both Uniras and SAS.
The move to Unix has brought further problems with regards to Plot Despooling, and many of these issues remain to be resolved. The use of CGM for plot despooling has been rejected due to various reasons, and 3 plotter languages / codes are now recommended; Postscript, HPGL and XES's Versatec VGS. While in the short term raster processing of AO Postscript files is likely to be problematic due to the high costs of the plot server hardware, with increasing performance and reduced prices this is less likely to cause problems in the long term.
NERC has, by its nature, always been involved with spatial data and has been involved with GIS-type products since the Experimental Cartography Unit (ECU) was set up in the 1960s. By the end of the 198Os, various institutes in NERC had purchased proprietary GISs for project work. Notable examples are the use of Intergraph by BGS and the use of Arc/Info by ITE.
In 1990 an attempt was made to coordinate effort in GIS work and provide a centralised support base. A number of Laser-Scan Horizon configurations on Dec Vaxstations were installed and NERC took advantage of the CHEST deal and installed ESRI's Arc/Info package on Dee Vaxstations and IBM PCs. With the move to Unix platforms and distributed computing environments a great number of Arc/Info installations on Suns are now used.
GIS software suppliers have had to adapt their software to cope with the use of their packages within distributed networks and NERC has experienced some initial installation problems when attempting to take advantage of distributed computing.
NERC image analysis facilities have remained stable for a number of years. The 12S S600 software and specialised hardware have been used in NERC for over ten years and have provided an essential service for scientists, especially for satellite remote sensing. Kontron PC based systems are used as complementary systems for microscope-based image analysis. There are also a number of other isolated IA systems such as Erdas and Grenell used in institute project work.
The I2S software currently resides on Vax mini and micro computers. The software is very comprehensive although the underlying technology is now dated. With the move towards distributed computing and away from specialised hardware it is timely to examine the products that will operate in Unix under a distributed environment NERC is closely monitoring the current negotiations on a possible CHEST deal for an image analysis package.
Many problems remain to be resolved, and NERC are still at the early stages of introducing distributed computing, but hopefully can gain from the lessons learnt by other sections of the academic community with regards graphics support.
