Scientific Visualization Tutorial

Graphics Libraries and Presentation Packages


 
Graphics and presentation software are the traditional means by which one creates ways to view and analyze data. The libraries interface directly to graphics hardware or provide graphics functionality in software. The user has to supply nearly all the pieces of the application, such as the user interface, data handling, geometry mapping, and the main program. The most most basic libraries only supply an interface to the graphics devices, while some higher level libraries handle more sophisticated graphic entities such as axes, curve drawing, etc..

The advantage of this type of software is its flexibility and direct control. However, it suffers from the large amount of time necessary to write and support the code.
 

An example presentation package that includes a user interface.