The Collaborative AVS Users Manual

Introduction to Collaborative Visualization

Traditionally, the visualization process consists of a cyclic progression of filtering raw data to select the desired resolution and region of interest, mapping the result into a graphical form, and producing an image, animation, or other product. The result is evaluated, the visualization parameters tweaked, and the process run again.

The term collaborative visualization refers to the set of applications in which control over parameters or products of the scientific visualization process is shared. Examples of the potential of these systems are extensive. Consider a molecular biologist working with a researcher at a remote pharmaceuticals company to find potential docking sites for a new drug, by cooperatively studying a shared 3D representation of the target protein molecule. Or perhaps a pair of radiologists compare their findings by cooperatively controlling the view and tissue types displayed in a volume rendering of an ultrasonic scan of the patient.

The SDSC Collaborative AVS or Share modules seek to augment the functionality of the Application Visualization System (AVS 5), to allow two or more geographically remote scientists and researchers to cooperatively perform complex data analysis and visualization tasks. AVS was selected because of its wide use, flexibility, broad visualization tool set, and extensibility. By extending the capabilities of a visualization system already in use, we hope to encourage collaborative work habits where appropriate.

Data Flow Collaboration

AVS is often referred to as a data flow visualization system, and operates on the paradigm of data moving from module to module in a network, typically resulting in a graphical form of the original data. We can extend this idea to support collaboration if we imagine the data moving from one module to another in the same AVS network or to a module in an AVS network on a different computer by way of a collaboration or share module:

Further, we could pass data from one AVS network to multiple AVS networks on different computers by adding a collaboration server:

In addition to sending data between AVS networks, we also want the ability to send the values of the parameters associated with a particular module, thereby giving the collaborators the ability to share control over particular parameters in any AVS module (share control over the isolevel dial in the AVS isosurface module for example).

How This Manual is Put Together

The Collaborative AVS Users Manual provides you with a concise introduction and general reference to the behavior and use of the Share modules. It is designed for users who are already familiar with the basic concepts involved in using AVS 5.

This manual is divided into five sections. Introduction (this section) contains a brief introduction to the term "collaborative visualization", and how the Share modules implement this idea.

The second section, Basics, provides you with an overview of the fundamental design of the Share modules, examples of how to use them, and details regarding the basic behavior shared by all seven modules.

Section three, Collaboration Modules, covers specifics particular to each of the seven Share modules, including an overview of the data type the module supports, as well as the type of collaboration it can enable.

In the fourth section, Additional Modules, a handful of additional collaboration modules are briefly described. While not a part of the main Share package, these modules provide additional collaborative functionality, and are designed to operate in concert with specific Share modules.

The fifth section, Informational Messages, describes the Share module informational messages, and includes suggested courses of action when a given message appears.

Conventions

This manual is written with conventions which are designed to clarify, and to draw your attention to certain kinds of information. This is done to help you quickly find documentation specific to a given subject, and to help you better understand many of the concepts involved in using the Share modules.

The names of menus, commands, panels, directories, fields, files, and buttons are bolded. They are spelled just as they appear on the screen.
The names of books, manuals, or other types of documentation, including specific sections of this manual, are italicized.
Pictures of various Share components are included as they appear on screen, to scale. These pictures are included to help clarify the features described in the surrounding text.
The contents of data files and other plain ASCII text are printed using a constant width font, so the printed version closely resembles what you would see on a computer screen.