Agent warp engine: formula based shape warping for networked applications

  • Authors:
  • Alexander Repenning;Andri Ioannidou

  • Affiliations:
  • AgentSheets, Inc., Boulder, CO;AgentSheets, Inc., Boulder, CO

  • Venue:
  • AVI '08 Proceedings of the working conference on Advanced visual interfaces
  • Year:
  • 2008

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Abstract

Computer visualization and networking have advanced dramatically. 3D hardware acceleration has reached the point where even low-power handheld computers can render and animate complex 3D graphics efficiently. Unfortunately, end-user computing does not yet provide the necessary tools and conceptual frameworks to let end-users access these technologies and build their own networked interactive 2D and 3D applications such as rich visualizations, animations and simulations. The Agent Warp Engine (AWE) is a formula-based shape-warping framework that combines end-user visualization and end-user networking. AWE is a spreadsheet-inspired framework based on Web sharable variables. To build visualizations, users define these variables, relate them through equations and connect them to 2D and 3D shapes. In addition to basic shape control such as rotation, size, and location, AWE enables the creation of rich shape warping visualizations. We motivate the AWE approach with the Mr. Vetro human physiology simulation supporting collaborative learning through networked handheld computers.