Tools

VisMOOS Effects EasyViewer RubiGG J3Browser ViSE3D Resources PlugIn

VisMOOS

VisMOOS (Visualization Methods for Object Oriented Software Systems) is a tool for visualizing structures in object oriented software systems (currently only software systems implemented in Java are supported). VisMOOS uses so called visualization methods to visualize selected aspects of software systems. A visualization method combines different visualization and interaction techniques for an aspect of a system to be visualized, taking into account criteria for good visual perception. Details can be found in [Roh04].

The tool analyzes Java source code of software systems to be visualized and generates a structual model. Then it allows the user to choose between visualization methods concerning different aspects of the system. Every visualization method offers different visualization and interaction techniques the user can interactively combine. Example screenshots of several visualization methods can be found below.

Originally VisMOOS was developed as a standalone Java application. But to integrate it in the software development process we ported it to eclipse and added some functionality (easier analyzing process, possibility to open source files out of the 3D visualization, ...). An online help for the VisMOOS plugin is integrated in the Eclipse help.

Download

To run the VisMOOS 1.2.x plugin you will need Eclipse 3.1, Java (≥ 1.4) and the ViSE3D Resources plugin 1.1 must be also installed. To install the plugin just download the jar file and copy it to your plugins directory within the Eclipse installation directory.

Notice VMPlugin uses Javadoc to analyze software projects. Since Javadoc cannot handle special characters (e.g. German umlauts) or empty space in path names they are not allowed in the absolute path to the eclipse workspace.

Version	Date	File
1.2.14	February 15 2007	VisMOOSPlugIn (4,2 MB)

Screenshots

VisMOOS Application

VisMOOS Plugin

Contents

Effects

Effects is a framework for editors for three-dimensional representation and manipulation of software structures. It was developed over a period of one year by a senior student project group in winter 03 and summer 04. It is described in detail in [DFS04].

The Effects framework faciliates the development of diagram editors for three-dimensional visualizations of software system structures with reasonable effort. The framework is based on Eclipse using the Plugin mechanism for developing diagram editors. As an example a class package diagram editor was implemented (see the first screenshot). It viusalizes structural information about software systems that would conventionally be represented by separate UML class and package diagrams. It also allows for editing the visualized structures and writing the changes back to source code. An earlier prototype integrates UML sequence and collaboration diagrams providing a three-dimensional visualization of dynamic aspects of a software system (see the second screenshot).

A brief overview is given by a Poster presented at the 19th IEEE International Conference on Automated Software Engineering (ASE 04).

Screenshots

Downloads

The Effects class package diagram editor is available as an Eclipse Plugin at the Effects homepage.

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EasyViewer

EasyViewer is a tool for generating a 3-D scene based on textual input.

In the input XML file a scene is described in terms of high-level 3-D entities such as cubes or cone trees. Using attributes, the graphical appearence can be parameterized for each entity . EasyViewer analyzes the input file and generates a three-dimensional visualization of the specified scene. The tool is implemented in Java and uses the Java3D API for rendering 3-D scenes. It is also suitable to be used as a library. Based on the EasyViewer library we integrated the EasyViewer in the Eclipse platform and developed an EasyViewer PlugIn (second screenshot).

Screenshots

Downloads

EasyViewer SDK

You can download all stable releases plus the latest development release. In any case you will need a Java runtime environment 1.4+ and the Java3D extension which can be downloaded (Windows, Linux). If you have Java3D installed and a working Webstart setup, you can start EasyViewer right now by using the Webstart links below.

The EasyViewer SDK contains the application, library, sources and documentation. If you plan to develop your own visual objects to compose them to new 3D scenes, you will need the SDK. If you just want to build some scenes using the visual objects contained in the standard library, the Webstart version should suffice. For reference, the API-Documentation generated by javadoc is available online, too.

Version	Date	Webstart	SDK	API Docs
2.0	March 01 2005	not available	Download (1MB)	Browse
1.2	June 22 2004	Start	Download (1MB)	Browse
1.0	December 19 2003	not available	Download (2MB)	Browse

EasyViewer Eclipse PlugIn

The EasyViewer Eclipse PlugIn needs an Eclipse 3.+ Version, a Java runtime environment (1.4+ for Windows and 5.0+ for Linux systems) and the Java3D extension.

For version 1.1 and higher Java 5.0 is required on both Linux and Windows. Additionaly, the plugin requires the ViSE3D Resources Plugin.

Version	Date	Windows	Linux
1.0	November 11 2004	Windows Setup (725KB)	Linux ZIP (2,1MB)
1.1	February 01 2005	ZIP for Windows and Linux (21KB)

Contents

RubiGG

Description

RubiGG is a simplification of the famous Rubik's Cube. Its dynamics is implemented by graph transformation using AGG. The 3D parts are implemented using the EasyViewer library.

The cube is limited to 2x2x2 cubies, the 3x3x3 version is under development. You have to mix up the cube yourself. The goal is to get the six sides labelled "ABCDEF" to the color as seen on the buttons. A click on a button rotates that side clockwise. Drag the cube to rotate it.

RubiGG is still in BETA state, so there is no documentation available yet. You need Java 1.4+ and Java3D to play it. Read above howto obtain these. Windows users can double click the jar file in the archive, Linux users find a shell script. Have fun :-)

Download

RubiGG 1.0-beta1 (ZIP: 2MB)

Screenshot

Contents

J3Browser

Description

J3Browser is a tool for a 3-D visualization of class and interface relations of software systems implemented in Java. It is described in detail in [Eng00].

The tool consists of two parts: the first analyzes Java source code and generates a structure model. The second part is a Java applet, which interactively allows applying visualization techniques on the structure model and thereby creates a 3D model represented as a VRML scene. The scene is displayed by the Cosmoplayer plugin within the Netscape browser. Furthermore, the applet provides higher level control mechanisms to manipulate the scene, such as setting specific parameters of visualization techniques or hiding certain types of relationships. The entire tool is implemented in Java.

Screenshots

Contents

ViSE3D Resources PlugIn

Description

The ViSE3D resources plugin provides the system dependend Java3D jars. To run or develop one of the ViSE3D plugin tools the ViSE3D resources plugin must be installed for your Eclipse.

Download

The ViSE3D Resources Plugin is available for Windows (Java3D DirectX and OpenGL Version) and Linux systems.

Version	Date	Windows	Linux	Comment
1.0	February 01 2005	Windows Setup (0,8 MB)	Linux ZIP (3,4 MB)	Requires Java3D 1.3.1
1.1	July 18 2006	Windows ZIP (1,6 MB)	Linux ZIP (1,6 MB)	Requires Java3D 1.3.2
1.2	June 19 2007	Windows ZIP (1,9 MB)	Linux ZIP (2,3 MB)	Requires Java3D 1.5.0

The Windows installer for version 1.0 does not include the Java3D jars, it copies the jars automatically from your Java3D installation directory in the plugin folder. Hence you must have Java3D installed on your system (either DirectX or OpenGL version). The Linux zip-file contains the Java3D jars for Linux.

The new version 1.1 requires Java3D version 1.3.2. Since there is no distinction between DirectX and OpenGL version on Windows anymore a setup that copies the apt jars is not needed. The versions for both operating systems are now deployed as zip-files, which need to be extracted into the Eclipse plugins directory.

The new version 1.2 does not ship Log4J, because since version 3.2 the eclipse distribution contains a plug-in for Log4J. The new version requires Eclipse 3.2 and Java3D version 1.5.0. Since there is no distinction between DirectX and OpenGL version on Windows anymore a setup that copies the apt jars is not needed. The versions for both operating systems are now deployed as zip-files, which need to be extracted into the Eclipse plugins directory.

Contents

Last edited on July 18 2006