Presenting textual and graphic information to annotate objects displayed by 3D visualization software

1. A method to display a dynamic 3D annotation associated with an object displayed in a 3D scene, comprising:

providing a computer system that includes a display device;

establishing a view location and direction;

orienting the dynamic 3D annotation substantially perpendicular to the view direction;

orienting the dynamic 3D annotation substantially horizontal relative to the 3D scene;

positioning the dynamic 3D annotation relative to an attachment point on or near the object;

extending an attachment handle between the dynamic 3D annotation and the attachment point;

displaying the dynamic 3D annotation and the attachment handle in the 3D scene on the display device; and

dynamically recalculating the size of the dynamic 3D annotation to keep its projection displayed by the display device constant as the view location changes.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the dynamic 3D annotation includes an information area.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the information area presents information in the form of text, images, animations, graphs, hyperlinks, and/or tables.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the display device is a monitor, a printer, or a plotter.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising positioning the dynamic 3D annotation to eliminate any overlap between the dynamic 3D annotation and the object.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising positioning the dynamic 3D annotation to eliminate any overlap between the dynamic 3D annotation and other objects displayed in the 3D scene.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising sizing the dynamic 3D annotation based on its distance from the viewing location.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising ordering the rendering of the display objects to draw the dynamic 3D annotation on top.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the 3D annotation tracks the motion of the attachment point.

10. A method to display multiple dynamic 3D annotations associated with various objects displayed in a 3D scene, comprising:

providing a computer system that includes a display device;

establishing a view location and direction;

orienting each dynamic 3D annotation substantially perpendicular to the view direction;

orienting each dynamic 3D annotation substantially horizontal relative to the 3D scene; positioning each dynamic 2D annotation relative to its respective attachment point on or near one of the objects;

extending an attachment handle, for each dynamic 3D annotation, between the dynamic 3D annotation and its respective attachment point;

displaying the dynamic 3D annotations and their respective attachment handles in the 3D scene on the display device; and

dynamically recalculating the size of each dynamic 3D annotation to keep its projection displayed by the display device constant as the view location changes.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein each dynamic 3D annotation includes an information area.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the information area presents information in the form of text, images, animations, graphs, hyperlinks, and/or tables.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the display device is a monitor, a printer, or a plotter.

14. The method of claim 10 , further comprising positioning the dynamic 3D annotations to eliminate any overlap between the dynamic 3D annotations and any of the displayed objects.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising positioning the dynamic 3D annotations to eliminate any overlap among any of the dynamic 3D annotations displayed in the 3D scene.

16. The method of claim 10 , further comprising sizing each dynamic 3D annotation based on its distance from the viewing location.

17. The method of claim 10 , further comprising ordering the rendering of the display objects to draw the dynamic 3D annotations on top.

18. The method of claim 10 , wherein each dynamic 3D annotation tracks the motion of its respective attachment point.