For our final project in MSE 2094, Analytical Methods, our class was required to do a group presentation for the world wide web (WWW). This presentation was focused on the topic of diffusion. Diffusion was chosen because it is a part of the ciriculum for MSE 2044, the first and most basic materials course that all MSE students are required to take. The project was assigned to help the students in MSE 2034 / 2044 gain a better understanding of diffusion, while teaching our class how to work on a team project and teaching us a wide range of computer skills.
Our class was broken up into several two person teams, each team assigned a different task. Examples, applications, and scientific visualization are examples of a few of the tasks assigned to the teams. My teammate, Mike Craven, and I were the scientific visualization team and we were required to provide each team with any graphics that were needed for their reports. We also created several movies that would help in the visualization of some of the diffusion example problems. This project required me to work closely with my teammate, Mike, and my professor, Dr. Kriz. I also needed to make myself available to all the other teams in the class since we were responsible for their graphics. All of the graphics were done on the computer so that they could be put on the WWW. In order to do all of the graphics, I was required to use two computer systems and several different software programs. Mike did more of the programming that produced the images, and I took the images and put them together to finally form MPEG movies that can be put onto the WWW. Mike and I also worked equally on scanning images and changing them to GIF files for all of the teams that needed graphics for their reports. Finally, we created a text file for the WWW that gave specific instructions on how use PV-Wave and other programs to create our movies, hopefully making the job easier for the person behind us.
Scanning images was the easiest thing that Mike and I had to do. We used Adobe Photoshop and a Scanmaker scanner to get images and equations from books onto the computer. We had to use a Macintosh for scanning, but the images had to be saved as GIF files and then transported to a UNIX machine in another lab and placed in each groups respective directories. We used a program called gopher to transport images to the UNIX machine over a network instead of walking over to the other lab each time we had to scan images. Most of the scanned images were figures from the text book used in MSE 2044 and should be familiar to the students in the class. Many of the images, once scanned, had to be modified on the Macintosh using Adobe Photoshop. We had to level, darken, and crop images to make them presentable for the WWW. Once the images are on the UNIX in the correct directories, they are ready to use on the web.
Most of the time working on this project was spent on movie making. Mike and I were responsible for making three movies; one showing how diffusion works on the atomic level and two that showed how diffusion worked when a pure sample of steel was exposed to a large concentration of carbon. The first movie, showing how diffusion works, was very easy to make. We scanned an image from a text book showing a diffused atom in a material. Using Adobe Photoshop, we made four-teen separate pictures of the diffused atom moving from its first location to a vacancy, showing the mechanics of diffusion at the atomic level. With fourteen ordered pictures, we used Quicktime Convert to Movie to make a quicktime movie, and then finally with Sparkle, converted the quicktime into an MPEG movie. To show movies on the WWW, they must be in MPEG format.
The movies that go along with the diffusion example were the most involved and required the most time. First we had to write a program that would produce images that fit with the diffusion example problem. In the example problem, a sample of steel is subjected to an infinite concentration of carbon gas. The problem asks for the concentration of carbon that has diffused into the steel at a given temperature at a given distance into the steel sample. Dr. Kriz wrote a basic program for PV-Wave that would produce a graph of the concentration versus distance into the sample. The program produced a series of graphs, starting at time zero, and progressing in equivalent time steps to the time given in the problem. Superimposed on the graph is a visual representation of the sample with the carbon diffusing into the steel. The graph however does not reach the exact solution given in the book. In order to illustrate this fact, we created two movies. The first movie only exposes a small section of the side of the sample to the carbon gas. As the carbon enters the sample it spreads out to the side as well as forward. The problem in the book assumes that the entire side of the steel sample is exposed, so we created a second movie that exposes almost the entire side to the carbon gas. In this case, the carbon spreads only slightly to the side and further into the sample. The program does not allow the entire side of the sample to be exposed so the graph gets close to the exact solution given in the book, but never reaches the solution.
Mike was very involved with the programming required for the movies. I took the responsibility of taking the images that the program produced and turning them into MPEG movies. Since the program had to be run on the UNIX machine, and the movie making had to be done on the Macintosh, I had to use Fetches to transport the files from machine to machine over the network. Once the files were on the Mac, I could take the twelve separate image files and turn them into a Quicktime movie. Again using Sparkle, I was able to change the movies to MPEG format and then send them back to the UNIX machine in their correct folders.
This project required a lot of teamwork between me and Mike. We scanned most of the images together, but we had to split up to take care of the movies. With Mike working on the program and me on the movie making, we were able to successfully finish all of the graphics required for the project. We also thought that a text file on movie making would be helpful for future students. Mike and I created an html mark up of the instructions that we were given for making movies. Hopefully future students will have an easier time making movies with the instructions right there on the web. Mike and I also had to make ourselves available to the other teams in the class so that they could have all of their images scanned for their part of the project.
I really feel that I have learned a lot working on this project. I have learned about the WWW, UNIX and Macintosh machines, several different programs, how to transport files over the network, and also how to work in a team atmosphere. This project not only teaches our class, but it presents a learning tool for future MSE students, and anyone else who happens to look at it on the WWW.
End of comments by Justin Gravatt on visualizing diffusion