Abstract
Data Animator V1.0 is a powerful, easy-to-use scientific visualization package. Its main purpose is to generate animations from any data set collected over time. Geographical references such as a shore, bathymetry information, etc., may be added for additional clarity. Visualization of data as animations can greatly simplify the interpretation of field measurements. Data Animator is designed (but not restricted) to display data collected in aquatic environments, lakes, rivers, estuaries, oceans, etc., in a clear, concise way using colours to represent ranges of data values. Data sets can also be displayed as static images (keyframes). A graphic user interface (GUI) allows the user to choose a viewpoint, fonts, colour palette, data and keyframes. Point-and-click mouse operations allow the user to manipulate many features, with immediate on-screen feedback. This GUI allows the user to quickly design an attractive animation (or single frame) to exact specifications. Animations are generated by defining ‘keyframes’ of known data, each located at a specific point in time. The program can then interpolate over time, between keyframes, to create smoothly animated transitions (in-between frames). Two types of graphs can be rendered with Data Animator. ‘Plane’ type graphs are horizontal slices at a depth specified by the user. ‘Transect’ type graphs are vertical slices along a straight line defined by the user. Data Animator can make use of both shore outline information and three-dimensional bathymetry information. This allows for the generation of realistic-looking graphs which follow the shape of the aquatic environment A typical animation, in FLC format, can be displayed at 30 frames per second. Animations can be displayed on a computer monitor or transferred to video tape.
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© 1996 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Halfon, E. (1996). Data Animator: Visualization of two- and three dimensional data as computer generated animations. In: Denzer, R., Schimak, G., Russell, D. (eds) Environmental Software Systems. IFIP — The International Federation for Information Processing. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-34951-0_23
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-34951-0_23
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