Visualization architecture for now and the future

It is pointed out that modern workstations, such as the VITec Image Computing System, are beginning to address the performance and functionality issues involved with interactive visualization in an integrated, cost-effective environment. Visualization, combining computer graphics with imaging, enables users to visualize both image and non-image data, and to be able to integrate images with text and graphics. This type of interactive computing requires sufficient processing power to handle the large amounts of data involved. In addition, the hardware system is a complete computer in itself, which is programmable, and therefore the function library for imaging is included within the instructions of the hardware system. Thus the functionality is not hardwired. The speed of the computing system permits more complex functionality than was practical in the past