Software mechanisms for extensible and scalable 3D visualization of construction operations

This paper presents research that led to the design and implementation of an extensible and scalable software framework for the dynamic 3D visualization of simulated construction operations. In the domain of operations design and analysis, the ability to see a 3D animation of processes that have been simulated allows for two very important things: verification and validation. In addition, a model can be communicated effectively which, coupled with verification and validation, makes it "credible" and thus used in making decisions. In the presented research, a set of core animation statements of the most general use from the extension viewpoint is first identified. Second, methods to design an add-on interface to the identified core animation methods are investigated by capitalizing on documented principles of application framework design. Finally, the designed add-on interface and its scalability are validated by implementing the extensible framework on multiple computing platforms and then extending the language with several non-trivial extensions using the designed add-on interface. The research concluded that geometric transformation-based animation statements are: (1) collectively sufficient to visually describe a broad class of common construction processes, and (2) are at a level of abstraction that they can be logically concatenated to describe higher-level motion dynamics involved in performing construction. In addition, it was found that an open, loosely-coupled visualization scheme and direct interface methods to append the animation statement interpreter's vocabulary with new add-on designed statements: (1) allows language extensions without modification to or understanding of the underlying methods, and (2) presents users with a consistent interface to visually describe construction processes, thereby providing complexity concealment and a uniform end-user interface. The presented framework is implemented as an extension (add-on) interface to the VITA-SCOPE visualization system. (C) 2007 Published by Elsevier Ltd.