Xref: utzoo comp.sys.amiga:29792 comp.sys.amiga.tech:3895
Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ukma!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!ut-emx!mjl
From: mjl@ut-emx.UUCP (Maurice LeBrun)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga,comp.sys.amiga.tech
Subject: Re: Need advice on color-fill type plots
Summary: some more info
Keywords: graphics visualization color-fills
Message-ID: <10774@ut-emx.UUCP>
Date: 25 Feb 89 07:26:21 GMT
References: <10767@ut-emx.UUCP>
Organization: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas
Lines: 47

In article <10767@ut-emx.UUCP>, mjl@ut-emx.UUCP (Maurice LeBrun) writes:
> ---
> I want to use my Amiga in my research (finally), and am asking for advice on
> how to address my graphics needs.
		[much deleted]

After I made my post, I realized I should mention some of the similar
research efforts (involving the Amiga) that I know of, to help put my
problem in perspective.  

Jim Crotinger at MIT has put together some nice animations as part of his
dissertation work illustrating his simulation results.  These were either
3-d perspective plots or contour plots of a function of two variables.  
Dr. Richard Matzner at UT plots a function of three variables (coordinate
space) by plotting three different isosurfaces in three different colors
(an isosurface is the 3-d analogue of a contour line, i.e.  everywhere the
function has a given value, and you "see" the surface via a large number of
contour lines covering it [sorry, that's the best I can do at the moment --
everyone's seen them though, in Star Trek or somewhere]).

In both cases, graphics software existed on the remote machine to do the
actual plotting (both used VLT), and the plot was captured and made into
part of an animation.  The problems with applying this same approach to my
problem are: (1) color-fill type plots in high level graphics packages are
still not widespread, and (2) the number of colors supported is often lousy
even if color fill routines are present (at NMFECC, the limit is 8 colors,
or 7 if you don't count the background).  For color fill plots, 7 colors is
just not good enough for me.  Also I should put in a (3) that color fills
are not currently supported in VLT, but I think this is the least concern
of the three.

So, it looks like I have to download a raw data file and just do it
locally.  Fortunately, it's *much* simpler to do this than the very complex
tasks of building a decent contour plot, or (especially) a 3-d perspective
plot with hidden line removal.  As I mentioned previously, it's a real
simple problem with 8 bit planes, since you can basically just download a
raster file and need to have a nice way of selecting the palette.  For the
Amiga it's a bit harder because I have to decide between graphics modes,
and make good use of the available screen area.  In any case, your
opinions, encouragement, etc. are welcomed.


Maurice LeBrun		      | "A computer is like a hole in the ground
Institute for Fusion Studies  |     into which you pour money"
University of Texas at Austin | 
Internet:                     |    - some poor, mistaken person, 
  mjl@fusion.ph.utexas.edu    |              obviously wrong :-)