Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!aplcen!uunet!ogicse!decwrl!shelby!helens!baroque!jim From: jim@baroque.Stanford.EDU (James Helman) Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi Subject: Re: Stardent's Application Visualization System (AVS) on SGI boxes ?? Message-ID: Date: 22 Feb 90 06:57:47 GMT References: <1423@merlin.bhpmrl.oz> Sender: news@helens.Stanford.EDU Organization: Stanford University Lines: 20 In-reply-to: ianh@merlin.bhpmrl.oz's message of 22 Feb 90 05:01:36 GMT From what I've seen AVS looks like a prototype, albeit a good one, of what a visualization environment should be. It will be quite some time before AVS or its successors actually have enough capabilities to match custom, application specific, scientific visualization software. But for a general purpose tool, it's not bad. At a recent demostration at Stardent, they indicated that AVS is being ported to Dore for use on the Ardent Titan machines. The port involves the writing of a graphics independent level, which should make it easier to port to other architectures. I too would like to see AVS on our 4D machines. When or whether it will happen is anybody's guess. Even Stardent and SGI may not know yet. Also, the problem with porting prototypes is that the original may be changing so fast that the porters can't keep up. Jim Helman Department of Applied Physics P.O. Box 10494 Stanford University Stanford, CA 94309 (jim@thrush.stanford.edu) (415) 723-4940