Danyel Merkert

CoVis 3: Visual Representaion of three-dimensional Data and Functions of two Variables Danyel Merkert

Bachelorarbeit, die am 20.05.2002 erfolgreich an einer Technische Fachhochschule in Irland im Fachbereich Mathematics and Computer Studies eingereicht wurde. Abstract: The visualisation of information is a broad area of study not uniquely associated with computing. Its origins can be traced back to the earliest attempts at cartography. It is, however, with the development of computing technology that the discipline has flourished. It is not simply that the technology has allowed for more detailed visual representations to be produced, it is equally the case that the wealth of data available and the understanding of its importance have accelerated the demand for its analysis. The range of modern visualisation is huge, including medical imaging, engineering simulations and geographical and meteorological analysis. Information can come in many forms - the two most common to visualisation are numerical data and functional representation. This thesis investigates visualisation methods for both mathematical functions of two variables and three-dimensional data. In particular I examined techniques as contour plots and surface plots. Within the bounds of this project OpenGL turned out to be the most powerful tool regarding visualisation of information. Due to the procedural architecture of OpenGL and an ambition to learn the core architecture of Microsoft Windows?, I decided to exclusively implement this project in Win32?, for which I pay particular attention in this dissertation. Table of Contents: 1.|Introduction|5 1.1|Visualisation|5 1.2|History|8 1.3|Literature Review|9 1.4|Summery of Dissertation|10 2.|The Application|12 2.1|Overall|12 2.2|Components|15 2.2.1|Toolbar|16 2.2.2|Information Window|16 2.2.3|Manipulation Modes|16 2.2.4|Contour Map|18 2.2.5|Acquiring data files|19 2.2.6|Creating datasets of mathematical formulas|21 2.2.7|Colour Shading|23 2.3|User Profile|24 2.4|Alternatives to CoVis3|25 3.|Technical Found