A 3-D application can automatically change shadows and reflectivity as light and materials change. With a few mouse clicks, an architect can change a lobby's carpet to tile or add a domed skylight. ArcView from Environmental Systems Research Institute Inc. in Redlands, Calif., lets users view data on the earth's surface as a 3-D visualization. By linking a 3-D drawing to databases of material characteristics, an architect is able to determine, for example, whether a girder will support the weight of a building, he explains. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Washington uses 3-D images linked to weather data to model hurricanes.
Pilots can fly through virtual storms and learn how hurricanes behave.
At Viewpoint Digital Inc. in Orem, Utah, artists draw a grid on an object and use a specialized scanner to take readings at the grid's interstices. They then use the data to create a 3-D image. Compressed in the Metastream file format, the image resides on a Web server. A site visitor can view the 3-D object, grab it with his mouse and rotate it to see it from any angle. Inc. All rights reserved.