Overall Conclusions

The two methods of visualization examined in this presentation both have strengths and weakness that make neither an excellent choice. AVS is a very powerful tool that can handle the field data required for doing practical work. However AVS is mostly a research tool which makes it difficult to create applications that would be simple enough for a user with little computer expertise to use. Although making easy to use programs for visualization in AVS is possible, it is a very tedious process because the processes of the programmed cannot all be controlled by the programmer since there is no way to avoid using AVS built in modules.

Using java and VRML, the developers are able to control the entire flow of the program and use VRML simply as a renderer. With java the developers create the user interface and control the entire flow of the program. This makes it much easier to create applications since everything but the renderer is created by the developers so there is nothing outside the control of the programmers. Unfortunately VRML can only handle geometries and is still in its primitive states making it impractical for real medical usage.

Neither AVS nor VRML is an excellent choice for the time being. I personally think that the best option would be to use AVS to export fields into geometries and then use java and VRML to view the data. It certainly is not a very viable solution, but for the time being it works.