Visualization and Graphics_Representations Development & Release Plan from February 2006

• Items marked (0) are scheduled for Patch release 4.8.0p1, Feb 2006
• Items marked (1) are scheduled for Minor release 4.8.1, 30 June 2006
• Items marked (2) are scheduled for Minor/Major release, 16 December 2006
• Items marked (*) not necessarily to be achieved in 2006

Release 4.8.0p1:

• Fix bug that omits geometry volumes from file-based visualization drivers for first /run/beamOn - (0)
• Fix behavior of messengers when RayTracerX is used - (0)

Release 4.8.1:

• Support visualization of G4Polyhedra with generic constructor (done in greps-V08-00-00) - (1)
• Add polyhedral representation of twisted solids so they can be visualized in all graphics systems (already done in collaboration with Oliver Link) - (1)
• Add "/vis/geometry" commands to allow interactive editing of geometry volume visualization attributes such as visibility and color - (1)
• Add more "/vis/modeling/trajectories" commands such as "drawByInteractionType", "drawByInteractionVolume", "colorByIntensityAndParticleType" - (1)
• Replace i_mode parameter of /vis/scene/add/trajecories with new commands "/vis/modeling/trajectories/show=[lines | markers | linesAndMarkers ]" and "/vis/modeling/trajectories/stepPointSize" - (1) deprecate in 8.1, remove in 9.0
• Give G4RichTrajectory more attributes and some control commands (to enable for just certain trajectories or to adjust modeling) and provide examples - (1)
• Provide convenient visualization tools for new Scorers - (1)
• Provide example (initially outside of vis code) that generates volume data file suitable for rendering with GRAPE visualizer (intended for medical apps) - (1)

Release of December 2006:

• Extend handling of text to more visualization drivers (currently done in Linux OpenGL and DAWN) - (2)
• Add "/vis/modeling/trajectories/cut" or "cull" commands that cut trajectories based on various G4Atts - (2)
• Make it easy to output same event (or event set) to multiple visualization drivers (by automatically re-running simulation with same random seed) - (2)
• Make it easy to copy view information from one visualization driver to another (already works for some but not all drivers) - (2)
• Correct HepRepFile driver's hierarchy location of volumes that have culled parents - (2)
• Support initial magnification hint for HepRep browsers - (2)
• Support asymmetric scaling in more drivers (currently only done in OpenInventor and OpenGL) - 2
• Support window location hints in more drivers (currently done in OpenInventor, OpenGL and RayTracerX) - 2
• Support 2D Text - (2)
• Make all drivers respect /vis/viewer/set/background (currently only done in OpenInventor and OpenGL) - 2
• Make RayTracer handle geometry culling as other vis drivers do - 2
• Obtain a complicated example geometry to help with visualization development - (2)
• Provide solution integrated into normal visualization system for visualization of DICOM files (including overlay of DICOM data and Geant4 geometry) - (2)
• Develop visualization tests to be incorporated into release procedure (diff results of file-based vis drivers) - (2)

May not get to in 2006 (volunteers?):

• Solve remaining problems with Boolean Operations. Requires significant redesign. See proposal by Allison and Tchernaev - (3)
• Extend ability of generic sections and cuts. Would give better result if had new boolean operation "Cut" instead of "Subtract". See proposal by Allison and Tchernaev - (3)
• Support visualisation of regions/envelopes/parallel geometries - (3)
• Develop web-based DAWN service (submit .prim file to this service, along with view parameters, get back EPS file) - (3)
• Create HepRepFile to DAWNFile converter - (3)
• Develop immediate-mode for HepRep to WIRED or FRED - (3)
• Support visualization of electric and magnetic field-lines - (3)
• Solve issues with G4SmoothTrajectory (not always smooth enough and can crash) - (3)
• Support dynamic loading of visualization drivers - (3)

Joseph Perl
7 February 2006