Bringing computational steering to the user

Computational steering is a technique that combines simulation and visualization. The user is continuously provided with visual feedback about the state of the simulation, and can change parameters on the fly. Designers can vary parameters to optimize their product, users can detect errors in the input early, researchers can do qualitative sensitivity analyses easily. The implementation of computational steering is very tedious. It requires knowledge of the simulation, visualization, user interfacing, and data communication. In this paper we discuss an environment that enables users to implement and use computational steering effectively without much support from user interface experts. We show how the environment is applied to various applications.