Interactive 3D visualization of rigid body systems

Simulation of rigid body dynamics has been a field of active research for quite some time. However, the presentation of simulation results has received far less attention so far. We present an interactive and intuitive 3D visualization framework for rigid body simulation data. We introduce various glyphs representing vector attributes such as force and velocity as well as angular attributes including angular velocity and torque. We have integrated our visualization method into an application developed at one of the leading companies in automotive engine design and simulation. We apply our principles to visualization of chain and belt driven timing drives in engines.