Portable
WinVis stimuli, trails, and experiments can be run on any registered PC that meets system requirements of WinVis and that particular stimulus, trial, or experiment. Stimuli can also be imported into MatLabŪ using WinVis for Matlab (W4M).

Sharable
All members of your group can have access to the code and can make copies to edit, or use as a sub-member of a larger project.

Object Oriented
A stimulus can be made up of one or more sub-stimuli. A trial is made up of one or more stimuli used as background images, stimulus images, and sprite images. An experiment is made up of one or more trials. This object-oriented hierarchy allows for powerful applications with a minimal amount of coding.

Flexible
Stimuli, Trials, and Experiments can all have run-time parameters that allow users to modify the output of their applications every time they are run.

Powerful
While little or no programming experience is required to create a vast number of Stimuli, Trials, and Experiments, users have all the power of the C++ programming language to create unique applications they might need.
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Every WinVis user has a private database that contains all of his or her Stimuli, Trial, and Experiment files. This database can be accessed any time from anywhere, allowing users to access the editors from any computer with web capabilities. The WinVis user database is private, so only the user can view and change the information and files it contains.

There is also a public database of Stimuli, Trials, and Experiments that is maintained by the WinVis staff. All users have access to the public database so they can use public stimuli in their trials, and public trials in their experiments. Users can also make copies of any of the objects in the public database. This means that if a stimulus, trial, or experiment is similar to the desired application, a user can simply copy that object into his or her database and make the appropriate changes. The WinVis public database already contains enough files to create many different experiments simply by combining or editing publicly available files. The WinVis team is always working to increase the number of Stimuli, Trials, and Experiments in the database. If you have created a file you would like to see in our public database, please contact us. You will be credited with creating the object and will receive bonus credits.
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WinVis provides many methods for organizing and finding files users may need. Each editor has sections that allow users to add organizational information about their files, such as authors, keywords, journal references, and file descriptions. All of this information is searchable using one of the WinVis search engines. The search engines will display a list of files that match the search criteria. Each hit has a link to the WinVis stimulus, trial, or experiment viewer, which allows users to view the information about a file without having to open the file in one of the editors. Anyone may search the public databases, and only the user can search his or her private database.

In addition to the search engines, the WinVis web site has a stimulus gallery so users can browse stimulus images generated from the public database. This makes finding appropriate stimuli for any project quick and easy.

Each WinVis user also has a file archive available which allows her or him to re-download any files that have already been downloaded, and to download any files from the public database. With the WinVis archive, all your finished files are just a few clicks away, allowing you to download and run your programs.
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The WinVis editors are designed to be both powerful and easy to use. The editors divide the large task of creating a stimulus, trial, or experiment into smaller, more manageable tasks, such as adding a sub-stimulus, using a local method, or defining input parameters.

The WinVis database contains a list of global variables and methods to make stimulus, trial, and experiment creation easier. Global variables can be static, dynamic, or machine specific. Static values, such as Pi, are always the same on all platforms. Dynamic values, such as cursor coordinates, give information about what is happening as the application is run. Machine specific globals contain information about the particular experimental environment, such as monitor resolution or the size of a pixel. Global variables allow for properly designed stimuli, trials, and experiments to run on any computer with identical results.

The values of machine specific global variables are initialized using the WinVis calibration utility. The calibration utility provides your WinVis executables with information such as monitor resolution, pixel size, and the distance of the subject from the monitor. Among other things, these global variables allow for distances to be measured in minutes of visual angle, and each calibrated machine works out exactly how many pixels corrispond to that value.

Global methods, like global variables, make application creation easier. Global methods perform common operations specific to stimulus, trial, and experiment creation, such as drawing a line, as well as operations that are useful in general programming, such as converting degrees to radians. Others provide information about a WinVis object, such as returning the maximum intensity of an 8-bit stimulus.
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WinVis for MatlabŪ (W4M) is a MatlabŪ plugin that allows specific control of graphical output using the MatlabŪ environment. W4M users have the option to create stimuli through the WinVis stimulus editor and integrate those stimuli with their W4M trials and experiments. For more information about W4M and integration with WinVis on the web, see the W4M manual, which is packaged in the W4M installation file. Registered users can download those files here.
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