An unbelievably cool, deep visualization and DirectManipulation framework for Java 2D and 3D (open source, mature community.)
See http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/~billh/visad.html
A general mathematical data model that can be adapted to virtually any numerical data, that supports data sharing among different users, different data sources and different scientific disciplines, and that provides transparent access to data independent of storage format and location (i.e., memory, disk or remote). The data model has been adapted to netCDF, HDF-5, FITS, HDF-EOS, McIDAS, Vis5D, GIF, JPEG, TIFF, QuickTime, ASCII and many other file formats.
A general display model that supports interactive 3-D, data fusion, multiple data views, DirectManipulation, collaboration, and VirtualReality. The display model has been adapted to Java3D and Java2D and used in an ImmersaDesk? virtual reality display.