The idea behind the Pentagon project as a whole is to produce a visual representation (using 3D Studio Max) from output produced by the physics simulator program LS-Dyna. Once this has been done actual tests can begin which test various materials under certain circumstances, like plane crashes or hurricanes. Also, the visual data may provide helpful information for firefighters and rescue crews with respect to things such as smoke movement or debris.

The part of the project on which Dave Sapirstein and I have been working is a largely developmental process with little real research being done, but it is an important bridge between LS-Dyna’s physical representation and 3D Studio Max’s graphic one. With this complete, animators can finish up the process making the representation look real.

There were a number of things that didn’t go as well as planned, namely due to 3DS’ lack of support for plugin writers. As a result, we had to put in more testing to get things working, but there were no serious roadblocks.

In the end, our code will likely be refined more, perhaps to suit the animators’ needs and tastes, and in time (when simulated tests are done) the real value of the project will be seen.