From lbaker01@risd.edu Tue Nov  2 08:21:29 2004
Date: Tue, 02 Nov 2004 04:33:25 -0500
From: Laura Baker <lbaker01@risd.edu>
To: daf@cs.brown.edu
Subject: project proposals

1. From working with cave painting, I think that the problem of
visualizing a bat in flight should start with the rendering of the bat
itself, since the airflow is mainly affected by it. 
There are also important variables that read off the bat wings such as
bat wing pressure and vorticity.
The second most important thing is what kind of icon is used to read the
important things such as speed, direction, vorticity etc and that they
read in a legible hirearchy. The idea of having them put in diferent
layers enables the variables to be read one by one and also all
together. The second idea would be to have icons that would range in
size and saturation to deferentiate then from each other. The idea of
using color gradiants from hot to cool colors definately reads for
pressure. The size of the icon could ideally be not too large or small
in relation to the bat so that they can be seen easily and clearly. Yet
there would be a selection tool that would allow the person working on
the bat to select and zoom into a specific area. The icons would enlarge
also but remain proportional. The interphases designed to deal with that
would make it easy and accesible.
2, The second idea would consist of using a more gestural version of the
interphase to access the bat and the important air properties. maybe the
interphase could be a solution and in one of the options the scientist
could "be the bat" and observe the data flow around him/her.
3. The third proposal would be to use very simple icons that depict the
information withought necesarily making everything look like its flying
in in space and through wind and other things but that its in motion and
then the data would change we the scientist adjusts the speed of the
wind the bat is flying in and then we could see the results in the icons
of how the bat reacts to such simple changes.