[vtkusers] Advantages/Disadvantages of VTK in creating a 2d/3d Space Science Visualization project

[Dan Avram]

Hello,

I am currently reviewing different visualization technologies for a space
science project.

Basically, what must be achieved is:

2d:  - get scientific data from a database and build, charts, graphs,
reports, display real-time data etc.
3d:  - create a simulation which contains some 3d objects including a
spacecraft, the sun, a comet and other space objects
      - work with texures, display as UV map
      - 3d models & textures are supplied beforehand so they do not need to
be created
      - field of view, orbits, trajectories, space dust etc
      - rotation/movement of spacecraft
      - data is again retrieved from a database and should be real-time or
updated at fixed intervals such as 5 seconds

The created application must be configurable on all parts - 2d: should be
used to display many or few parameters, configure colors etc

- 3d: add/remove objects and update what is  displayed,  add f
future options


Is VTK suitable for this project? Why? Please detail.

Are there any advantages of using VTK over pure OpenGL(I am guessing it can
make things easier and not reinventing the wheel)?

What about rendering engines? Are they more suitable for my project (ex:
UDK, Ogre3d etc) than VTK or not ?

There are timing constraints, which I guess that demand a more high level
approach than using pure OpenGL for this project.

One more thing, the application needs to be cross-platform. It should run on
Windows, Linux & Mac machines. If we will use VTK, is using a Java Wrapper
the best approach? (we are considering C/C++ and Java)

Thank You & Best  Regards,
Dan Avram
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www.vtk.org/pipermail/vtkusers/attachments/20110629/d59c9901/attachment.htm>