Section: Software
Sofa
Participants : François Faure, Matthieu Nesme, Michael Adam.
SOFA is a C++ library primarily targeted at medical simulation research. Based on an advanced software architecture, it allows to (1) create complex and evolving simulations by combining new algorithms with algorithms already included in SOFA; (2) modify most parameters of the simulation – deformable behavior, surface representation, solver, constraints, collision algorithm, etc. – by simply editing an XML file; (3) build complex models from simpler ones using a scene-graph description; (4) efficiently simulate the dynamics of interacting objects using abstract equation solvers; and (5) reuse and easily compare a variety of available methods (see figure 1 ).
SOFA is developed in collaboration with two other INRIA teams: Alcove and Asclepios, as well as The SIM-Group in the Massachussets General Hospital (MGH). The first offical release will occur in the first months of 2007. It will be presented to the medical community at conference Medicine Meets Virtual Reality (MMVR'07) in next February.
Dicussion currently take place between MGH and INRIA about the creation of a consortium, in order to maintain the development of SOFA in the mid- and long-term.
