Geomview

Hi Daeron,

thanks for you fast response to my 'help-call' in 
comp.graphics.visualization. 
I wrote there:
Searching for visualization/animation tool
Who can help us ?

Since yesterday, 12-01-1994, i've the interactive geometry viewing program,
called geomview.
Now i'am testing this tool on NeXTSTEP (with NextStep/Intel boxes running NeXTStep 3.2) and on Solaris (SunOS 4.1.3) with a SPARCStation 10/30.
At this time i'am overwhelmed from the efficiency of geomview.

I look forward getting the next release of geomview, especially a new
X11-version for our SPARC, because i'am overwhelmed from the efficiency of geomview. Geomview is great.
Now we try the interface between geomview and an external application (emodule), such as 
our developing powerful simulation tool.
We want to use geomview for complex, on-line animation and visualization of 
the on-line behaviour of our simulation-kernel.
Let's me to give a short description of our simulation-tool, called
poses++.

The simulation system POSES++ (Predicate-Transition-Net-Oriented-Simulation and Engineering-System) developed and implemented by the GPC mbH Chemnitz allows modelling and simulation based on extended predicate 
transition nets. Extentions to predicate transition nets are (fix or stochastic
value dependent) time consumpting transitions, free matching expressions on
arcs, additional boolean conditions for transition concession, 
special access mechansims for predicates (ram, lifo, fifo, fiforam, liforam), logical token generating interrupts and so on. The models have to be specified
by using the POSES++-language. In this language the user have to define data
structures for tokens and predicate types like in the programming language C++.
Also the net structure with all necessary arc expressions have to be defined in
these language. 
The POSES++-Editor, Compiler, Linker and Generator are in a POSES++-development 
shell included tools to create undependent runable simulation programs. Near
all parameters (consumption time, capacities, priorities, tokens, states,
lifeness, trace parameters, ...) of modeled net elements can be defined or
changed by an user during experiment sessions. By using high level petri nets
the abstraction level for modelling and simulation depends only from users selection. Global and detailed aspects in the same model are possible. Moduls 
of ready made net substructures are also usefull. To control the net behavior
like a machine control computer POSES++ offers the inclusion of user defined
C++- routines. In this way is POSES++ also a simulation environment to develop 
a test control software on a level choosen by user. POSES++ is applicated by GPC mbH Chemnitz to sell simulation services for plant and warehouse logistic, for
organisation, computer communication and control software development problems.

The way to use your tools is the following:
a POSES-Simulation-Server (without any IO to a console) is running on a machine
in a net. One ore more POSES-clients are usefull to control and analyse the
activities of the server. Users can act on the model running on the server by
change model components, model parameters and so on. A special POSES-client
should be existent to animate a graphic scene dependend on the protocol events from
the POSES-server. We think we need a tool, an interface and graphic component libraries to do so. Geomview (we hope also usefull as 2D-viewer) can be
a solution to create such a special POSES-client. For future and more powerfull
machines Geomview offers today also 3D-scenes, but much object to control in
one scene are to much demand to our machines.

One problem we saw is that Geomview can load by a panel or by a comand a 
predefined OOGL-file. We searching for possibilities to convert other 
vector oriented graphic formats to the OOGL definition !!! 
The reason is very simple. To simulate a problem from a new to design 
factory we can get informations about causal, time and stochastic behaviour
of the system to create, we also can get a 2D-CAD-File (f.i. from AutoCad or
Caddy). That's why it is necessary for us to convert such files to the OOGL
format to use them as background in an animation scene. 
Have you an idea to solve such problems ?

Yours sincerely,

Bernd.

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|Bernd Fankhaenel                |                               |
|GPC                             |Tel.: +49 +371 50593           |
|Gesellschaft fuer Prozess-      |Fax.: +49 +371 5194 261        |
|automation & Consulting mbH     |email:                         |
|GERMANY                         |burli at infotech.tu-chemnitz.de  |
|Senefelder Strasse 38           |                               |
|09126 Chemnitz                  |                               |
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