Domain Ontologies

In the AIM@SHAPE network it has been realized that the vastness, the complexity and the many distinct areas of specialization within the Computer Graphics domain makes it very difficult for it to be expressed with a single general ontology.

Instead, the development of several more specialized ontologies was decided, in an attempt to utilize expert knowledge that is already available in specific areas in the domain. Obviously, it is very difficult, if at all possible, to find experts for the entire scientific domain of Computer Graphics.

As a result, three ontology clusters have been defined, describing knowledge in a particular area in the domain of Computer Graphics:

• Virtual Humans
• Product Design
• Shape Acquisition and Processing

Even though development on each cluster is independent from that on other clusters, they all share some common knowledge related to shape models and the relevant tools that perform some kind of operation on the shapes.

These shape models and tools thereby constitute common knowledge which needs to be represented and accessed from all domain ontologies. In a specific domain, a shape can have this common metadata information and some additional information which is specific to that particular domain only.

This common metadata information is represented and captured by simple common ontologies describing shape and tool resources and shared by all domain ontologies.