Scientific visualization and the Rivers Project at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications

The author describes NCSA´s approach to the development of visualization tools for scientists at remote locations as well as those with complex special requirements. The Rivers (Research on Interactive Visual Environments) Project is an interesting and potentially important attempt to extend high-end visualization to the interactive steering of supercomputer simulations. Other groups at NCSA deal with ´routine´ graphics, with custom high-quality animations for scientists, and with the development of toolsets ranging from generating color palettes to volume visualization.<>