ESM4714
Scientific Visual Data Analysis and Multimedia


Introduction to CAVE programming at Virginia Tech 2003



Develope at the Desktop First: Introduction to CAVE programming at Virginia Tech 1997 was first taught in ESM4714 Fall Semeser 1997 when the VT-CAVE was under construction. As a consequence many of the student's CAVE class projects required that they develope using the CAVE simulator on our "one-and-only" SGI Octane.  The VE lab has since expanded to accomodate many more CAVE developers, but the emphasis remains the same -- "develop at the desktop computers first". We now have several SGI Octanes and many more Del-Linux desktop computers in the VE-Viz Lab.

Below is a collection of CAVE programming and "how-to-use" and "how-to-convert" Web tutorials created since 1997. WARNING: Although I've updated these web pages, many of this pages work only with older releases of software. COMMENT: Although not required, we encourage students to use mountable 4.2G R/W optical media if they are going to be working with very large data sets, here are instructions for using optical media. To get accounts on the VE Lab computers and/or the CAVE for ESM4714 please contact rkriz@vt.edu


CAVE Programming

Two different CAVE programming APIs are used at Virginia Tech: 1) EVL's CAVE-Lib and 2) Virginia Tech's DIVERSE API. Both can be used either in the CAVE or on the desktop computers in the VE Lab. We encourage students to develop CAVE applications using the desktop simulators available with both APIs. DIVERSE can be used both on the SGI Octanes (viz8 and tensor) and the Del-computers (glyph, pitr, and ok) running Linux.


CAVE programming at NCSA & EVL using the CAVE-Lib API


CAVE programming at Virginia Tech using the CAVE-Lib API

Chad Wingrave, former CAVE-SLUGer, created a Web page tutorial on " Introduction to CAVE programming" for students who are novice C++ programmers and willing to learn UNIX. Ron Kriz provides an example of how to draw a "Glyph" of a fourth-order stiffness tensor (Cijkl) which is constructed from polygonal and vertice files using VRML, OpenGL (still under construction), and Performer.


Creating Multigen-Paradigm Vega Immersive Modules for the CAVE-Lib API

Procedure on how to transfer a desktop Vega application into the CAVE.


Creating and setting up an AVS module in the CAVE using the CAVE-Lib API

Procedure on how to setup and run an AVS module in the CAVE.


CAVE programming at Virginia Tech using the DIVERSE API

Our group has organized a number of DIVERSE Workshops and posted these workshops on the Web for access. The most recent workshop contains a large number of examples that are designed to take the novice user through a set by step tutorial where examples can be copied from these workshop Web pages and into a shell. For the beginner (nonprogrammer) DIVERSE user the first day of this workshop included a tutorial on how to create simple VRML V1.0 models and how to load these models in the CAVE using DIVERSifly either in the CAVE or at a desktop computer using the CAVE-simulator.



Creating 3D Models to be used in "CAVE Walkthrus"

The majority of our CAVE users are not programmers and simply want to use their existing 3D modeling software to create 3D models, convert these models into CAVE compatible format, and load these models into the CAVE and "walkthru" these models.


Transforming AutoDesk 3D Studio files into CAVE compatible format
WARNING: Some of these tutorials are based on old software releases but can still
provide some value as a starting point.

This section provides links and outlines how to transform AutoDesk 3D Studio files into a CAVE file format. Over the last two years we have observed that the Interior Design Futures Laboratory (IDFL) and the College of Architecture and Urban Studies VELab here at Virginia Tech have been the biggest users of AutoDesk 3D  Studio and Max.  The VELab created three workshops on Introduction to VE, From CAD to CAVE, Advanced Simulation.   There has been several Projects that have documented conversion of AutoDesk 3D Studio (*.3ds) files using third party software (polytrans and NuGraf):

  1. Dennis Cafiero (ESM4714 Class Project)
  2. Priya Malhotra (ESM4714 Class Project)
IDFL created a web page on Getting Started in CAVE programming for Interior Design students who need to learn about the UNIX environment to work in the VT-CAVE.  Part of this getting started page includes Converting 3D Studio MAX files to OpenFlight Format (*.flt).

Below is a very simple procedure for converting 3DS files to inventor (*.iv) and performer binary (*.pfb) file formats. This conversion requires an executable file 3dsToIv which is installed on the VE-Viz Lab SGI Octanes. This conversion does not work well for all *.3ds files. Please refer to the more recent conversion procedures listed above that use NuGraf.


Transforming AutoCAD files into CAVE compatible format
This section privides links and outlines how to transform AutoCAD *.dxf files into a CAVE file format.
WARNING: Some of these tutorials are based on old software releases but can still provide some value as a starting point.

There are several projects that outline and give examples on how to convert AutoCAD files into CAVE compatible format. NOTE: these conversions may not work with the current versions of AutoCAD.

The first two were student class projects in this class, ESM4714. The last project was a special project with the CAVE Springs High School Mentor program.
Email questions-comments on CAVE conversion to Dr. R.D. Kriz
Email DIVERSE questions to Mr. John Kelso
Email CAVE hardware-software problems to Mr. John Kelso

Return to Visualization Home Page


Ronald D. Kriz
College of Engineering
Virginia Tech
Revised February 17, 2003

http://www.sv.vt.edu/classes/ESM4714/cave/prgintro.html