data display

[kgarr]

What I would like to be able to do is have a set of X and Y coordinates, and then have a 2D matrix of values for the Z axis, to create a 3D surface plot.

I would also like to be able to create a cylinder, where the 2D matrix corresponds to the diameter of the cylinder at points along and around the cylinder. The result being a tube that is smooth at some points, and "spiky" at others.

The data can be static, but if it can be manipulated in the running world, that would be great. I am hoping to be able to skip the middle step of coverting our data to another format to be able to import into Vizard.

The basic reason I am asking this, is because we use VR manly for scientific visualization. The software we are using now does these surfaces very easily, but lacks in navigation, manipulation and event triggering, among other things. If Vizard can prove to be a tool for displaying the scientific data we need, it will be a much greater asset than our current software.