Component based 3D visualization of simulation results

摘要

The following article describes an approach for the creation of 3D visualizations from simulation results in the area of transport and logistics. It introduces a framework for a library of 3D animation objects, which allows rapid development of new animation objects by users with average computer skills and no special knowledge in computer graphics. An animation behavior editor is described, which allows the composition of new 3D animation objects from existing 3D models and animation components. It further shows how simulation events of a simulation system are analyzed and how their translation into animation events can be defined. We also discuss, how the animation events control the 3D object animations inside the virtual scene. The described approach results from a project in which results from a transport and logistic simulation had to be visualized into a 3D animated virtual scene. However our goal was to develop visualization tools, which can also work with other kinds of discrete event simulations or even with workflow monitoring systems.