A Graphical User Interface

To assist in the management of information in the virtual environment, we have designed a three-dimensional GUI system that gives the user much greater flexibility and control of the application.

Menus

This figure shows a typical three-dimensional menu system designed as a part of the BoilerMaker project. Using this tool we have been able to incorporate several different operating modes including

  • a data visualization mode that allows the user to toggle the velocity vector fields and create streamlines emminating from any point in the boiler domain. Also the user may interactively define flow field source regions for which arrays of streamlines will be requested and visualized as a single pulse through the boiler.
  • an injector mode which allows the user to interactively optimize injector placement and operating parameters for maximum coverage and pollution control,
  • a features mode which will allow the user to toggle the visualization of complex (and computationally expensive) boiler features such as superheaters and economizers, change navigation schemes, and/or toggle wire frame mode.

    • Scrollbars

    In addition to the menuing system we have designed a simple GUI interface using scrollbars that enables much greater control of the numerical model from within the visualization environment. The figure above shows the scrollbars used to configure initial parameters such as particle size, speed, and spray shape for an injector by injector basis.

    These tools are written using C++, Open Inventor, and Open GL and will be made available for general CAVE use shortly.