The leading PLM Visualization and Interoperability Solution group CT Core Technologies extends 3D visualisation and collaboration capability, with a partnership with PDF3D® technology. The goal of this partnership is to provide end users of CT Core Technologies 3D_Evolution and 3D_Kernel_IO products the ability to write interactive 3D PDFs. Bringing PDF3D to an expanded reach of the global PLM interoperability market, the partnership will further encourage collaboration, automation and integration among users via the widely available free Adobe Reader® software.

The leading hydraulics research group HR Wallingford Ltd. extends 3D visualisation capability, deploying a site license for PDF3D®, leveraging 3D PDF document generation for hydraulics engineering reports. One of the world's leading research consultancies in civil engineering hydraulics and water management, HR Wallingford has adopted PDF3D software to extend 3D visualization and technical report collaboration capabilities across its 250+ employees, is currently deploying PDF3D based tools and expects to harness PDF to more reliably and securely share 3D hydraulics and marine environment designs via the widely available free Adobe Reader® software.

This joint ARK CLS , dGB Earth Sciences and Visual Technology Services special project involved developing a new plug-in with custom developments with PDF3D-SDK , COIN3D and the OpendTect seismic interpretation system. ARK CLS are a specialist seismic data processing algorithm and development company, in Bedford UK. Through a close collaboration, this new plug-in allows users of OpendTect to publish and share interpretation results with other team members, managers and clients. See news page for more information, covered in press releases.

The Oxford Biosignals special project involved Qt user interface development, supporting a novel and critical scientific data acquisition system. The interface supported advanced mathematical vibration analysis of turbine blade sections of modern high performance jet engines. Oxford Biosignals is a leader in this field, endorsed by a significant investment and support from Rolls-Royce, the UK aero engine manufacturer. The Engine Health Monitoring technology has recently won a technical innovation award and has been featured on ITV and BBC. For more information, see Qt consultancy services page.

The HR Wallingford special project involved 3D hydrodynamic modelling and numerical code development applied to real-world applications such as marine, coastal, estuary, flood risk and river flow modelling. HR Wallingford is a world-class research consultancy in civil engineering hydraulics and water environments. Working closely within the Hydrodynamics and Metocean group, the project involved reporting and communication to senior management over research and appraisal of state-of-the-art 3D hydrodynamic modelling techniques and model codes. In addition the project involved aspects of scientific data management, graphics and reporting work-flow with advanced scientific data visualisation tools.

As a research & development project for Oxford Visual Geosciences (www.geoexpress.co.uk) a new interactive visualisation technique was developed for mapping borehole televiewer images onto 3D borehole positioned cylinders. The technique employs dynamic geometry generation to represent measured assay data values along the borehole as variable radii, as well as image correction and orientation texture-mapping methods. This work is ongoing, as GeoExpress has now been acquired and is directly marketed by Visual Technology Services.

Under a development project for Oxford nanoScience Ltd. (www.oxfordnanoscience.com) and Imago Scientific Instruments (www.imago.com) the PoSAP 3D Atom Probe Analysis Software was upgraded, released and maintained. New data analysis methods, visual presentation, interpretation and interaction techniques were developed. Large data handling and memory efficiency improvements were also introduced. The PoSAP software is part of the three dimensional atom probe microscope, a commercial nanotechnology analytical technique for characterising materials at atomic scale.

As a development project for Advanced Visual Systems Inc. (AVS) (www.avs.com) a new interactive visualisation technique was developed called "illuminated lines". As shown in the short animation, CFD flow streamlines are illuminated by a light source and halos are added to improve depth differentiation with closely packed lines. The technique was coded in OpenGL within the AVS/Express system with a white paper available on request. The illuminated line system is now supported and shipped to 1000's of AVS customers.

Visual Technology Services assisted in development of the pre & post-processor GUI for the commercial mechanical engineering analysis software ANSYS AUTODYN from ANSYS (formerly Century Dynamics) The interface allows users to set-up problems, run simulations and review results from explicit large displacement hydrodynamics codes. The simulation and visualisation data structures include 2D and 3D coupled Lagrange finite element meshes, Euler meshes, and mesh-free methods in one easy to use interface.

A complete engineering post-processor GUI was developed for the Microwave analysis code from the UK based KCC Ltd., before they merged with Flowmerics EMC (now part of MENTOR GRAPHICS Inc.). A template framework provided a starting base for expansion, with user interface, file i/o, visualisation, graphics and full event-driven architecture, based on AVS/Express. As a client start-up project for Advanced Visual Systems, the GUI included 3D interactive review of all analysis results, including complex vector fields, and surface currents on shell elements within the microwave field. The example shows surface current on a CPU heat sink, with the field sampled using vector cone glyphs.

For a number of years the fluid dynamics code CFX post-processor from ANSYS CFX (prior to ANSYS acquisition) was based on work started in the UK as an engineering visualisation product development project. Here an unstructured tetrahedral mesh solution for an industrial mixing chamber is shown, with isosurface set at a critical flow field value.

As a development project for iX imaging plc A complete GUI application was created to manage data acquisition, image processing and review for a direct X-ray sensor technology. As a Windows application based on the MDI scheme, the application provided technical control and data processing for device testing and evaluation within medical and industrial laboratory environments. Linear Tomographic Reconstruction algorithms were employed for a moving X-ray beam in addition to 2D image processing techniques.

CGNS (CFD General Notation System) is a new industry standard for the transport of Computational Fluid Dynamics data. As a development project for Advanced Visual Systems, a fully operational and supported data interchange facility was developed for the AVS/Express software product. Large model validation was carried out in cooperation with Fluent Inc. (now part of ANSYS) and CD Adapco (STAR-CD). The interface is now shipping and in use around the world with AVS/Express versions 6.0+.

Using Finite Element techniques coupled with electric field and electron transport through semiconductors simulation, TCAD (Technology CAD) is a critical step in the design of modern microelectronic devices. As a development project with TMA, then acquired by AVANT! and now Synopsys Inc. , the Taurus & Raphael TCAD simulation tools are accessed using a full interactive 2D and 3D GUI. The interface is available as "Taurus-Visual" from Synopsys worldwide to the microelectronics industry.

Complex Geological models, including multiple surface grids, vertical and non-vertical faults, are accessed using a new visual application interface developed by Visual Technology Services. Data collected over many years and interpreted by the British Geological Survey (BGS) is accessed directly from the native EarthVision archive file storage facility into a fully interactive review application GeoExpress, a product of Oxford Visual Geosciences Ltd., under a business partnership agreement. The application software allows BGS scientists to review complex geological models using application macros which create virtual 3D surfaces with contours, perspective, zoom, pan, rotate; while allowing important quantitative data to be exported to other 3rd party modeling packages.