Section: Software

SOFA

Participants : Guillaume Bousquet, Ali Hamadi Dicko, François Faure, François Jourdes.

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. The GPU capabilities of SOFA have been demonstrated at a SIGGRAPH talk [16] (see fig. 2 ) and presented in a book chapter [27] .

SOFA is currently used by company Digital Trainers to develop basic skill endoscopic simulators. A start-up company based on SOFA, InSimo, is being created in the Strasbourg IHU, and is expected to start in first semester 2012.

Figure 2. GPU methods in SOFA for detailed deformable objects at interactive rates.