CCC contains many nice features, such as the ability to show a radar, or to dynamically distribute the studied data across the network. Furthermore, the users can grab the data and translate it in the virtual domain. However, it lacks the means to do a real-time data processing. For this reason, a network support is being added to capVTE. This addition will result in a collaboration tool more suitable to data analysis.
Future versions of capVTE will allow any number of users to connect through a central server. All actions performed on any of the clients will be communicated through the network. Thus, if one user adds a new cutting plane, this cutting plane will be displayed in every other user's visualization window. Toggling the glyph visibility on a local system will toggle the glyphs through the network. Animation will wait on all systems to update the current frame before advancing to the next frame. Thus, every user will have the same objects loaded into his/her visualization domain, with the only difference among the clients being the position of the active camera. The motion of the camera will also be transmitted through the network. By loading a glyph representation for the remote cameras (i.e. avatars), the local user will be able to track the location of his collegues. Furthermore, just as can be done using CCC, any user will be able to "jump" into anybody else's head.
capVTE allows for an animation playback. As such, the datasets can be fairly large. For this reason, the capVTE network protocol will not contain a feature to distribute the dataset over the network, but instead, all parties will need to obtain the dataset prior to connecting to the server. This will also reduce the possibility of an information theft by an unauthorized third party. The current test implementation of the network protocol relies on the availability of open sockets. This approach is insecure, and the possibility of incorporating SSL/SSH into the protocol is currently being examined.