Conference
stringclasses
6 values
Year
int64
1.99k
2.03k
Title
stringlengths
8
187
DOI
stringlengths
16
32
Abstract
stringlengths
128
7.15k
Accessible
bool
2 classes
Early
bool
2 classes
AuthorNames-Deduped
listlengths
1
24
Award
listlengths
0
2
Resources
listlengths
0
5
ResourceLinks
listlengths
0
10
Vis
1,995
Automated generation of visual simulation databases using remote sensing and GIS
10.1109/VISUAL.1995.480799
This paper reports on the development of a strategy to generate databases used for real-time interactive landscape visualization. The database construction from real world data is intended to be as automated as possible. The primary sources of information are remote sensing imagery recorded by Landsat's Thematic Mapper (TM) and digital elevation models (DEM). Additional datasets (traffic networks and buildings) are added to extend the database. In a first step the TM images are geocoded and then segmented into areas of different land coverage. During the visual simulation highly detailed photo textures are applied onto the terrain based on the classification results to increase the apparent amount of detail. The data processing and integration is carried out using custom image processing and geographic information systems (GIS) software. Finally, a sample visual simulation application is implemented. Emphasis is put on practical implementation to test the feasibility of the approach as a whole.
false
false
[ "Martin Suter", "Daniel Nüesch" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,995
Automatic generation of triangular irregular networks using greedy cuts
10.1109/VISUAL.1995.480813
Proposes a new approach to the automatic generation of triangular irregular networks (TINs) from dense terrain models. We have developed and implemented an algorithm based on the greedy principle used to compute minimum-link paths in polygons. Our algorithm works by taking greedy cuts ("bites") out of a simple closed polygon that bounds the yet-to-be triangulated region. The algorithm starts with a large polygon, bounding the whole extent of the terrain to be triangulated, and works its way inward, performing at each step one of three basic operations: ear cutting, greedy biting, and edge splitting. We give experimental evidence that our method is competitive with current algorithms and has the potential to be faster and to generate many fewer triangles. Also, it is able to keep the structural terrain fidelity at almost no extra cost in running time and it requires very little memory beyond that for the input height array.
false
false
[ "Cláudio T. Silva", "Joseph S. B. Mitchell", "Arie E. Kaufman" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,995
Case study: an integrated approach for steering, visualization, and analysis of atmospheric simulations
10.1109/VISUAL.1995.485157
In the research described, we have constructed a tightly coupled set of methods for monitoring, steering, and applying visual analysis to large scale simulations. The work shows how a collaborative, interdisciplinary process that teams application and computer scientists can result in a powerful integrated approach. The integrated design allows great flexibility in the development and use of analysis tools. The work also shows that visual analysis is a necessary component for full understanding of spatially complex, time dependent atmospheric processes.
false
false
[ "Yves Jean", "Thomas Kindler", "William Ribarsky", "Weiming Gu", "Greg Eisenhauer", "Karsten Schwan", "Fred Alyea" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,995
Case study: using spatial access methods to support the visualization of environmental data
10.1109/VISUAL.1995.485171
As part of a large effort evaluating the effect of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, we are using the spatial selection features of an object relational database management system to support the visualization of the ecological data. The effort, called the Sound Ecosystem Assessment project (SEA), is collecting and analyzing oceanographic and biological data from Prince William Sound in Alaska. To support visualization of the SEA data we are building a data management system which includes a spatial index over a bounding polygon for all of the datasets which are collected. In addition to other selection criteria the prototype provides several methods for selecting data within an arbitrary region. This case study presents the requirements and the implementation for the application prototype which combines visualization and database technology. The spatial indexing features of the Illustra object relational database management system are linked with the visualization capabilities of AVS to create an interactive environment for analysis of SEA data.
false
false
[ "Charles Falkenberg", "Ravi Kulkarni" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,995
Compression domain rendering of time-resolved volume data
10.1109/VISUAL.1995.480809
An important challenge in the visualization of three-dimensional volume data is the efficient processing and rendering of time-resolved sequences. Only the use of compression techniques, which allow the reconstruction of the original domain from the compressed one locally, makes it possible to evaluate these sequences in their entirety. In this paper, a new approach for the extraction and visualization of so-called time features from within time-resolved volume data is presented. Based on the asymptotic decay of multiscale representations of spatially localized time evolutions of the data, singular points can be discriminated. Also, the corresponding Lipschitz exponents, which describe the signals' local regularity, can be determined, and can be taken as a measure of the variation in time. The compression ratio and the comprehension of the underlying signal is improved if we first restore the extracted regions which contain the most important information.
false
false
[ "Rüdiger Westermann" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,995
Defining, computing, and visualizing molecular interfaces
10.1109/VISUAL.1995.480793
A parallel, analytic approach for defining and computing the inter and intra molecular interfaces in three dimensions is described. The molecular interface surfaces are derived from approximations to the power diagrams over the participating molecular units. For a given molecular interface our approach can generate a family of interface surfaces parametrized by /spl alpha/ and /spl beta/, where /spl alpha/ is the radius of the solvent molecule (also known as the probe radius) and /spl beta/ is the interface radius that defines the size of the molecular interface. Molecular interface surfaces provide biochemists with a powerful tool to study surface complementarity and to efficiently characterize the interactions during a protein substrate docking. The complexity of our algorithm for molecular environments is O(nk log/sup 2/ k), where n is the number of atoms in the participating molecular units and k is the average number of neighboring atoms-a constant, given /spl alpha/ and /spl beta/.
false
false
[ "Amitabh Varshney", "Frederick P. Brooks Jr.", "David C. Richardson", "William V. Wright", "Dinesh Manocha" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,995
Direct rendering of Laplacian pyramid compressed volume data
10.1109/VISUAL.1995.480812
Volume rendering generates 2D images by ray tracing 3D volume data. This technique imposes considerable demands on storage space as the data set grows in size. In this paper, we describe a method to render compressed volume data directly to reduce the memory requirements of the rendering process. The volume data was compressed by a technique called the Laplacian pyramid. A compression ratio of 10:1 was achieved by uniform quantization over the Laplacian pyramid. The quality of the images obtained by this technique as virtually indistinguishable from that of the images generated from the uncompressed volume data. A significant improvement in computational performance was achieved by using a cache algorithm to temporarily retain the reconstructed voxels to be used by the adjacent rays.
false
false
[ "Mohammad H. Ghavamnia", "Xue D. Yang" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,995
Enhanced spot noise for vector field visualization
10.1109/VISUAL.1995.480817
Spot noise is a technique for texture synthesis, which is very useful for vector field visualization. This paper describes improvements and extensions of the basic principle of spot noise. First, better visualization of highly curved vector fields with spot noise is achieved, by adapting the shape of the spots to the local velocity field. Second, filtering of spots is proposed to eliminate undesired low frequency components from the spot noise texture. Third, methods are described to utilize graphics hardware to generate the texture, and to produce variable viewpoint animations of spot noise on surfaces. Fourth, the synthesis of spot noise on grids with highly irregular cell sizes is described.
false
false
[ "Wim C. de Leeuw", "Jarke J. van Wijk" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,995
Enhancing transparent skin surfaces with ridge and valley lines
10.1109/VISUAL.1995.480795
There are many applications that can benefit from the simultaneous display of multiple layers of data. The objective in these cases is to render the layered surfaces in a such way that the outer structures can be seen and seen through at the same time. The paper focuses on the particular application of radiation therapy treatment planning, in which physicians need to understand the three dimensional distribution of radiation dose in the context of patient anatomy. We describe a promising technique for communicating the shape and position of the transparent skin surface while at the same time minimally occluding underlying isointensity dose surfaces and anatomical objects: adding a sparse, opaque texture comprised of a small set of carefully chosen lines. We explain the perceptual motivation for explicitly drawing ridge and valley curves on a transparent surface, describe straightforward mathematical techniques for detecting and rendering these lines, and propose a small number of reasonably effective methods for selectively emphasizing the most perceptually relevant lines in the display.
false
false
[ "Victoria Interrante", "Henry Fuchs", "Stephen M. Pizer" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,995
Fast Algorithms for Visualizing Fluid Motion in Steady Flow on Unstructured Grids
10.1109/VISUAL.1995.485144
The plotting of streamlines is an effective way of visualizing fluid motion in steady flows. Additional information about the flowfield, such as local rotation and expansion, can be shown by drawing in the form of a ribbon or tube. In this paper, we present efficient algorithms for the construction of streamlines, streamribbons and streamtubes on unstructured grids. A specialized version of the Runge-Kutta method has been developed to speed up the integration of particle pathes. We have also derived close-form solutions for calculating angular rotation rate and radius to construct streamribbons and streamtubes, respectively. According to our analysis and test results, these formulations are two to four times better in performance than previous numerical methods. As a large number of traces are calculated, the improved performance could be significant.
false
false
[ "Shyh-Kuang Ueng", "Kris Sikorski", "Kwan-Liu Ma" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,995
Fast multiresolution surface meshing
10.1109/VISUAL.1995.480805
Presents a new method for adaptive surface meshing and triangulation which controls the local level-of-detail of the surface approximation by local spectral estimates. These estimates are determined by a wavelet representation of the surface data. The basic idea is to decompose the initial data set by means of an orthogonal or semi-orthogonal tensor product wavelet transform (WT) and to analyze the resulting coefficients. In surface regions where the partial energy of the resulting coefficients is low, the polygonal approximation of the surface can be performed with larger triangles without losing too much fine-grain detail. However, since the localization of the WT is bound by the Heisenberg principle, the meshing method has to be controlled by the detail signals rather than directly by the coefficients. The dyadic scaling of the WT stimulated us to build a hierarchical meshing algorithm which transforms the initially regular data grid into a quadtree representation by rejection of unimportant mesh vertices. The optimum triangulation of the resulting quadtree cells is carried out by selection from a look-up table. The tree grows recursively, as controlled by the detail signals, which are computed from a modified inverse WT. In order to control the local level-of-detail, we introduce a new class of wavelet space filters acting as "magnifying glasses" on the data.
false
false
[ "Markus H. Gross", "Roger Gatti", "Oliver G. Staadt" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,995
Fast normal estimation using surface characteristics
10.1109/VISUAL.1995.480808
To visualize the volume data acquired from computation or sampling, it is necessary to estimate normals at the points corresponding to object surfaces. Volume data does not holds the geometric information for the surface comprising points, so it is necessary to calculate normals using local information at each point. The existing normal estimation methods have some problems of estimating incorrect normals at discontinuous, aliased or noisy points. Yagel et al. (1992) solved some of these problems using their context-sensitive method. However, this method requires too much processing time and it loses some information on detailed parts of the object surfaces. This paper proposes the surface-characteristic-sensitive normal estimation method which applies different operators according to characteristics of each surface for the normal calculation. This method has the same advantages of the context-sensitive method, and also some other advantages such as less processing time and the reduction of the information loss on detailed parts.
false
false
[ "Byeong-Seok Shin", "Yeong-Gil Shin" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,995
Flow visualization in a hypersonic fin/ramp flow
10.1109/VISUAL.1995.485156
A recent study of a flow detail of an engine intake of future ground to orbit transport systems provided extremely complex data from numerical flow simulation and experimental flow visualization. The data posed a challenging problem to flow visualization, computational flow imaging (CFI), and the comparison of experimental imaging techniques versus computational imaging techniques. Some new visualization techniques have been implemented to provide compact representations of the complex features in the data. It turned out to be most useful to combine various specialized techniques for an icon-like representation of phenomena in a single image in order to study interaction of flow features. Some lessons were learned by simulating experimental visualization techniques on the numerical data.
false
false
[ "Hans-Georg Pagendarm", "Thomas Gerhold" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,995
High Dimensional Brushing for Interactive Exploration of Multivariate Data
10.1109/VISUAL.1995.485139
Brushing is an operation found in many data visualization systems. It is a mechanism for interactively selecting subsets of the data so that they may be highlighted, deleted, or masked. Traditionally, brushes have been defined in screen space via methods such as painting and rubberband rectangles. In this paper we describe the design of N-dimensional brushes which are defined in data space rather than screen space, and show how they have been integrated into XmdvTool, a visualization package for displaying multivariate data. Depending on the data display technique in use, brushes may be specified and manipulated via direct or indirect methods, and the specification may be demand-driven or data-driven. Various brush operations such as highlighting, linking, masking, moving average, and quantitative display have been developed to apply to the selected data. In addition, we have explored several new brush concepts, such as non-discrete brush boundaries, simultaneous display of multiple brushes, and creating composite brushes via logical operators. Preliminary experimental evaluation with test subjects supports the usefulness of N-dimensional brushes in data exploration tasks.
false
false
[ "Allen R. Martin", "Matthew O. Ward" ]
[ "TT" ]
[]
[]
Vis
1,995
High-speed volume rendering using redundant block compression
10.1109/VISUAL.1995.480810
Presents a novel volume rendering method which offers high rendering speed on standard workstations. It is based on a lossy data compression scheme which drastically reduces the memory bandwidth and computing requirements of perspective raycasting. Starting from classified and shaded data sets, we use block truncation coding or color cell compression to compress a block of 12 voxels into 32 bits. All blocks of the data set are processed redundantly, yielding a data structure which avoids multiple memory accesses per raypoint. As a side effect, the tri-linear interpolation of data coded in such a way is very much simplified. These techniques allow us to perform walkthroughs at interactive frame rates. Furthermore, the algorithm provides depth-cueing and the semi-transparent display of different materials. The algorithm achieves a sustained frame generation rate of about 2 Hz for large data sets (/spl sim/200/sup 3/) at an acceptable image quality on an SGI Indy workstation. A number of examples are shown.
false
false
[ "Günter Knittel" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,995
Iconic techniques for feature visualization
10.1109/VISUAL.1995.485141
Presents a conceptual framework and a process model for feature extraction and iconic visualization. Feature extraction is viewed as a process of data abstraction, which can proceed in multiple stages, and corresponding data abstraction levels. The features are represented by attribute sets, which play a key role in the visualization process. Icons are symbolic parametric objects, designed as visual representations of features. The attributes are mapped to the parameters (or degrees of freedom) of an icon. We describe some generic techniques to generate attribute sets, such as volume integrals and medial axis transforms. A simple but powerful modeling language was developed to create icons, and to link the attributes to the icon parameters. We present illustrative examples of iconic visualization created with the techniques described, showing the effectiveness of this approach.
false
false
[ "Frank J. Post", "Theo van Walsum", "Frits H. Post", "Deborah Silver" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,995
IFS fractal interpolation for 2D and 3D visualization
10.1109/VISUAL.1995.480798
Reconstruction is used frequently in visualization of one, two, and three dimensional data. Data uncertainty is typically ignored, and a deficiency of many interpolation schemes is smoothing which may indicate features or characteristics of the data that are not there. The author investigates the use of iterated function systems (IFS's) for interpolation. He shows new derivations for fractal interpolation in two and three dimensional scalar data, and new point and polytope rendering algorithms with tremendous speed advantages over ray tracing. The interpolations may be used to give an indication of the uncertainty of the data, statistically represent the data at a variety of scales, allow tunability from the data, and may allow more accurate data analysis.
false
false
[ "Craig M. Wittenbrink" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,995
Interactive 3D visualization of actual anatomy and simulated chemical time-course data for fish
10.1109/VISUAL.1995.485169
Outputs from a physiologically based toxicokinetic (PB-TK) model for fish were visualized by mapping time series data for specific tissues onto a three dimensional representation of a rainbow trout. The trout representation was generated in stepwise fashion: cross sectional images were obtained from an anesthetized fish using a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system; images were processed to classify tissue types; images were stacked and processed to create a three dimensional representation of the fish, encapsulating five volumes corresponding to the liver, kidney, muscle, gastrointestinal tract, and fat. Kinetic data for the disposition of pentachloroethane in trout were generated using a PB-TK model. Model outputs were mapped onto corresponding tissue volumes, representing chemical concentration as color intensity. The visualization was then animated, to show the accumulation of pentachloroethane in each tissue during a continuous branchial (gill) exposure.
false
false
[ "Penny Rheingans", "Martin Marietta", "John Nichols" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,995
Interactive maximum projection volume rendering
10.1109/VISUAL.1995.480790
Maximum projection is a volume rendering technique that, for each pixel, finds the maximum intensity along a projector. For certain important classes of data, this is an approximation to summation rendering which produces superior visualizations. We show how maximum projection rendering with additional depth cues can be implemented using simple affine transformations in object space. This technique can be used together with 3D graphics libraries and standard graphics hardware, thus allowing interactive manipulations of the volume data. The algorithm presented allows for a wide range of tradeoffs between interactivity and image quality.
false
false
[ "Michael D. McCool", "Wolfgang Heidrich", "John Stevens" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,995
Interactive realism for visualization using ray tracing
10.1109/VISUAL.1995.480791
Visual realism is necessary for many virtual reality applications. In order to convince the user that the virtual environment is real, the scene presented should faithfully model the expected actual environment. A highly accurate, fully modeled, interactive environment is thus seen as "virtually real". The paper addresses the problem of interactive visual realism and discusses a possible solution: a hybrid rendering paradigm that ties distributed graphics hardware and ray tracing systems together for use in interactive, high visual realism applications. This new paradigm is examined in the context of a working rendering system. This system is capable of producing images of higher fidelity than possible through the use of graphics hardware alone, able both to render images at speeds useful for interactive systems and to progressively refine static, high quality snapshots.
false
false
[ "Robert A. Cross" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,995
Interactive visualization of mixed scalar and vector fields
10.1109/VISUAL.1995.480818
This paper describes an approach for interactive visualization of mixed scalar and vector fields, in which vector icons are generated from pre-voxelized icon templates and volume-rendered together with the volumetric scalar data. This approach displays simultaneously the global structure of the scalar field and the detailed features of the vector field. Interactive visualization is achieved with incremental image update, by re-rendering only a small portion of the image wherever and whenever a change occurs. This technique supports a set of interactive visualization tools, including change of vector field visualization parameters, real-time animation of vector icons advected within the scalar field, a zooming lens, and a local probe.
false
false
[ "Lichan Hong", "Xiaoyang Mao", "Arie E. Kaufman" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,995
Interval set: a volume rendering technique generalizing isosurface extraction
10.1109/VISUAL.1995.480789
A scalar volume V={(x,f(x))|x/spl isin/R} is described by a function f(x) defined over some region R of the three dimensional space. The paper presents a simple technique for rendering interval sets of the form I/sub g/(a,b)={(x,f(x))|a/spl les/g(x)/spl les/b}, where a and b are either real numbers of infinities. We describe an algorithm for triangulating interval sets as /spl alpha/ shapes, which can be accurately and efficiently rendered as surfaces or semi transparent clouds. On the theoretical side, interval sets provide an unified approach to isosurface extraction and direct volume rendering. On the practical side, interval sets add flexibility to scalar volume visualization-we may choose to, for example, have an interactive, high quality display of the volume surrounding or "inside" an isosurface when such display for the entire volume is too expensive to produce.
false
false
[ "Baining Guo" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,995
Interval volume: a solid fitting technique for volumetric data display and analysis
10.1109/VISUAL.1995.480807
Proposes as a generalization of isosurfaces, the 'interval volume', which is a new type of geometric model representing 3D subvolumes with field values belonging to a closed interval. A dominant surface fitting algorithm called 'marching cubes' is extended to obtain a solid fitting algorithm, which extracts from a given volumetric dataset a high-resolution polyhedral solid data structure of the interval volume. Rendering methods for the interval volume and principal related operations are also presented. The effectiveness of this approach is illustrated with 4D simulated data from atomic collision research.
false
false
[ "Issei Fujishiro", "Yuji Maeda", "Hiroshi Sato" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,995
Legibility enhancement for information visualisation
10.1109/VISUAL.1995.480814
Navigation in computer generated information spaces may be difficult, resulting in users getting "lost in hyperspace". This work aims to build on research from the area of city planning to try to solve this problem. We introduce the concepts of legibility and cognitive maps and the five features of urban landscape with which they are associated. Following this will be descriptions of techniques and algorithms which we have developed to allow these features to be introduced to three dimensional spaces for information visualisation. Next we describe a specific application of these techniques in the visualisation of the World Wide Web and conclude with a look at future development of the system.
false
false
[ "Rob Ingram", "Steve Benford" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,995
Marching through the Visible Man
10.1109/VISUAL.1995.485154
The National Library of Medicine is creating a digital atlas of the human body. This project, called the Visible Human, has already produced computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging and physical cross-sections of a human male cadaver. This paper describes a methodology and results for extracting surfaces from the Visible Male's CT data. We use surface connectivity and isosurface extraction techniques to create polygonal models of the skin, bone, muscle and bowels. We also report early experiments with the physical cross-sections.
false
false
[ "William E. Lorensen" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,995
On enhancing the speed of splatting with indexing
10.1109/VISUAL.1995.480797
Splatting is an object space direct volume rendering algorithm that produces images of high quality, but is computationally expensive like many other volume rendering algorithms. The paper presents a new technique that enhances the speed of splatting without trading off image quality. This new method reduces rendering time by employing a simple indexing mechanism which allows to visit and splat only the voxels of interest. It is shown that this algorithm is suitable for the dynamic situation in which viewing parameters and opacity transfer functions change interactively. We report experimental results on several test data sets of useful site and complexity, and discuss the cost/benefit trade off of our method.
false
false
[ "Insung Ihm", "Rae Kyoung Lee" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,995
Optimization of time-dependent particle tracing using tetrahedral decomposition
10.1109/VISUAL.1995.485145
An efficient algorithm is presented for computing particle paths, streak lines and time lines in time-dependent flows with moving curvilinear grids. The integration, velocity interpolation, and step size control are all performed in physical space which avoids the need to transform the velocity field into computational space. This leads to higher accuracy because there are no Jacobian matrix approximations, and expensive matrix inversions are eliminated. Integration accuracy is maintained using an adaptive step size control scheme which is regulated by the path line curvature. The problem of point location and interpolation in physical space is simplified by decomposing hexahedral cells into tetrahedral cells. This enables the point location to be done analytically and substantially faster than with a Newton-Raphson iterative method. Results presented show this algorithm is up to six times faster than particle tracers which operate on hexahedral cells, and produces almost identical traces.
false
false
[ "David N. Kenwright", "David A. Lane" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,995
Pictorial statistics-visualization of high-dimensional statistical distributions
10.1109/VISUAL.1995.485149
A general framework for visualization of statistical properties of high-dimensional pattern samples and the related computational steps are introduced. These procedures are exemplified on applications in anthropometrical research (shape information in faces) but can be easily generalized to various other morphometrical questions and data sets with pattern structure, e.g., data stemming from sensor arrays. Presently, the visualization techniques illustrated concentrate on (higher) moments of first order. It is suggested, how moments of second order can be visualized by animations and how this approach can be used in the context of comparative visualization.
false
false
[ "Andreas A. Müller" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,995
Propositional n-traces: visualizing a problem in philosophical logic
10.1109/VISUAL.1995.485147
As part of an inter-disciplinary effort, we are visually exploring a current problem in philosophical logic related to information processing. Given a set of inconsistent sentences or inputs, a processor cannot unambiguously infer any specific consequence. Traces represent subsets of possible consequences which can be inferred classically from partitions of the set of inputs. We are interested in the relationship between a given set of Boolean inputs and its respective trace(s). We have developed a visualization paradigm which allows us to view and explore this relationship effectively.
false
false
[ "Nathalie Prevost", "Ray E. Jennings", "Loki Jörgenson", "F. David Fracchia" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,995
Qualitative analysis of invariant tori in a dynamical system
10.1109/VISUAL.1995.485148
Invariant tori are examples of invariant manifolds in dynamical systems. Usual tools in dynamical systems such as analysis and numerical simulations alone are often not sufficient to understand the complicated mechanisms that cause changes in these manifolds. Computer-graphical visualization is a natural and powerful addition to these tools used for the qualitative study of dynamical systems, especially for the study of invariant manifolds. The dynamics of two linearly coupled oscillators is the focus of this case study. With little or no coupling between the oscillators, an invariant torus is present but it breaks down for strong coupling. Visualization has been employed to gain a qualitative understanding of this breakdown process. The visualization has allowed key features of the tori to be recognized, and it has proven to be indispensable in developing and testing hypotheses about the tori.
false
false
[ "Daryl H. Hepting", "Gianne Derks", "Kossi D. Edoh", "Robert D. Russell" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,995
Recursive pattern: a technique for visualizing very large amounts of data
10.1109/VISUAL.1995.485140
An important goal of visualization technology is to support the exploration and analysis of very large amounts of data. In this paper, we propose a new visualization technique called a 'recursive pattern', which has been developed for visualizing large amounts of multidimensional data. The technique is based on a generic recursive scheme which generalizes a wide range of pixel-oriented arrangements for displaying large data sets. By instantiating the technique with adequate data- and application-dependent parameters, the user may greatly influence the structure of the resulting visualizations. Since the technique uses one pixel for presenting each data value, the amount of data which can be displayed is only limited by the resolution of current display technology and by the limitations of human perceptibility. Beside describing the basic idea of the 'recursive pattern' technique, we provide several examples of useful parameter settings for the various recursion levels. We further show that our 'recursive pattern' technique is particularly advantageous for the large class of data sets which have a natural order according to one dimension (e.g. time series data). We demonstrate the usefulness of our technique by using a stock market application.
false
false
[ "Daniel A. Keim", "Mihael Ankerst", "Hans-Peter Kriegel" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,995
Space walking
10.1109/VISUAL.1995.480804
Proposes an interactive method for exploring topological spaces based on the natural local geometry of the space. Examples of spaces appropriate for this visualization approach occur in abundance in mathematical visualization, surface and volume visualization problems, and scientific applications such as general relativity. Our approach is based on using a controller to choose a direction in which to "walk" a manifold along a local geodesic path. The method automatically generates orientation changes that produce a maximal viewable region with each step of the walk. The proposed interaction framework has many natural properties to help the user develop a useful cognitive map of a space and is well-suited to haptic interfaces that may be incorporated into desktop virtual reality systems.
false
false
[ "Andrew J. Hanson", "Hui Ma" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,995
Splatting of curvilinear volumes
10.1109/VISUAL.1995.480796
The paper presents a splatting algorithm for volume rendering of curvilinear grids. A stochastic sampling technique called Poisson sphere/ellipsoid sampling is employed to adaptively resample a curvilinear grid with a set of randomly distributed points whose energy support extents are well approximated by spheres and ellipsoids. Filter kernels corresponding to these spheres and ellipsoids are used to generate the volume rendered image of the curvilinear grid with a conventional footprint evaluation algorithm. Experimental results show that our approach can be regarded as an alternative to existing fast volume rendering techniques of curvilinear grids.
false
false
[ "Xiaoyang Mao", "Lichan Hong", "Arie E. Kaufman" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,995
Subverting structure: data-driven diagram generation
10.1109/VISUAL.1995.480815
Diagrams are data representations that convey information predominantly through combinations of graphical elements rather than through other channels such as text or interaction. We have implemented a prototype called AVE (Automatic Visualization Environment) that generates diagrams automatically based on a generative theory of diagram design. According to this theory, diagrams are constructed based on the data to be visualized rather than by selection from a predefined set of diagrams. This approach can be applied to knowledge represented by semantic networks. We give a brief introduction to the underlying theory, then describe the implementation and finally discuss strategies for extending the algorithm.
false
false
[ "Gene Golovchinsky", "Klaus Reichenberger", "Thomas Kamps" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,995
Sweeping simplices: a fast iso-surface extraction algorithm for unstructured grids
10.1109/VISUAL.1995.480806
Presents an algorithm that accelerates the extraction of iso-surfaces from unstructured grids by avoiding the traversal of the entire set of cells in the volume. The algorithm consists of a sweep algorithm and a data decomposition scheme. The sweep algorithm incrementally locates intersected elements, and the data decomposition scheme restricts the algorithm's worst-case performance. For data sets consisting of hundreds of thousands of elements, our algorithm can reduce the cell traversal time by more than 90% over the naive iso-surface extraction algorithm, thus facilitating interactive probing of scalar fields for large-scale problems on unstructured three-dimensional grids.
false
false
[ "Han-Wei Shen", "Christopher R. Johnson 0001" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,995
Tensor product surfaces guided by minimal surface area triangulations
10.1109/VISUAL.1995.480820
Presents a method for constructing tensor product Bezier surfaces from contour (cross-section) data. Minimal area triangulations are used to guide the surface construction, and the final surface reflects the optimality of the triangulation. The resulting surface differs from the initial triangulation in two important ways: it is smooth (as opposed to the piecewise planar triangulation), and it is in tensor product form (as opposed to the irregular triangular mesh). The surface reconstruction is efficient because we do not require an exact minimal surface. The triangulations are used as strong hints, but no more than that. The method requires the computation of both open and closed isoparametric curves of the surface, using triangulations as a guide. These isoparametric curves form a tensor product Bezier surface. We show how to control sampling density by filling and pruning isoparametric curves, for accuracy and economy. A rectangular grid of points is produced that is compatible with the expected format for a tensor product surface interpolation, so that a host of well-supported methods are available to generate and manipulate the surface.
false
false
[ "John K. Johnstone", "Kenneth R. Sloan" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,995
Turbulent flow visualization in computational and experimental hydraulics
10.1109/VISUAL.1995.485158
Many practical problems in open channel hydraulics that were traditionally investigated in hydraulic model experiments, are nowadays being solved by using computational fluid dynamics. However, in order to interpret computational results, there is a clear preference among scientists and engineers for visualization in analogy with experimental techniques. One such technique, particle tracing, enables a dynamic (Lagrangian) interpretation of a statically (Eulerian) computed vector field. However, quite often the emphasis in particle tracing is only on the mean flow properties, while effects due to dispersion and mixing are often not accounted for. Hence turbulent flow characteristics have to be incorporated in a visualization system for practical hydraulic engineering problems. The particle tracing technique presented in this case study has been specifically developed to combine both mean and fluctuating velocity vectors, thus simulating stochastic perturbations around mean flow conditions. A number of cases are presented that demonstrate the practical applicability of advanced visualization techniques in realistic engineering studies.
false
false
[ "Arthur E. Mynett", "I. Ari Sadarjoen", "A. J. S. Hin" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,995
Unsteady flow volumes
10.1109/VISUAL.1995.485146
Flow volumes are extended for use in unsteady (time-dependent) flows. The resulting unsteady flow volumes are the 3D analogs of streaklines. There are few examples where methods other than particle tracing have been used to visualize time-varying flows. Since particle paths can become convoluted in time, there are additional considerations to be made when extending any visualization technique to unsteady flows. We present some solutions to the problems which occur in subdivision, rendering and system design. We apply the unsteady flow volumes to a variety of field types, including moving multi-zoned curvilinear grids.
false
false
[ "Barry G. Becker", "Nelson L. Max", "David A. Lane" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,995
Vector plots for irregular grids
10.1109/VISUAL.1995.480819
A standard method for visualizing vector fields consists of drawing many small "glyphs" to represent the field. This paper extends the technique from regular to curvilinear and unstructured grids. In order to achieve a uniform density of vector glyphs on nonuniformly spaced grids, the paper describes two approaches to resampling the grid data. One of the methods, an element-based resampling, can be used to visualize vector fields at arbitrary surfaces within three-dimensional grids.
false
false
[ "Don Dovey" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,995
Virtual GIS: a real-time 3D geographic information system
10.1109/VISUAL.1995.480800
Advances in computer graphics hardware and algorithms, visualization, and interactive techniques for analysis offer the components for a highly integrated, efficient real-time 3D Geographic Information System. We have developed "Virtual GIS", a system with truly immersive capability for navigating and understanding complex and dynamic terrain-based databases. The system provides the means for visualizing terrain models consisting of elevation and imagery data, along with GIS raster layers, protruding features, buildings, vehicles, and other objects. We have implemented window-based and virtual reality versions and in both cases provide a direct manipulation, visual interface for accessing the GIS data. Unique terrain data structures and algorithms allow rendering of large, high resolution datasets at interactive rates.
false
false
[ "David Koller", "Peter Lindstrom 0001", "William Ribarsky", "Larry F. Hodges", "Nickolas Faust", "Gregory A. Turner" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,995
Visualization for aerodynamic design of helicopter rotor blades
10.1109/VISUAL.1995.485150
Visualization, animation, and simulation techniques are applied to the problem of rotor design for helicopters. Periodic unsteady experimental velocity data (laser Doppler velocimetry or LDV) in two dimensions and velocity data derived from simulated vortex systems in three dimensions are compared using the same visual tools. Animations show the development of rotor wake systems and induced velocities over time. Modified particle trace integration schemes are used to calculate steady streamlines and unsteady particle paths for both kinds of data. In an extension of this work, a virtual environment (VE) system was used to view the wake vortex system and an interactive probe was used to explore the induced velocity field. Future work will enable interactive visual debugging and simulation steering.
false
false
[ "G. David Kerlick" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,995
Visualization of biological sequence similarity search results
10.1109/VISUAL.1995.480794
Biological sequence similarity analysis presents visualization challenges, primarily because of the massive amounts of discrete, multi dimensional data. Genomic data generated by molecular biologists is analyzed by algorithms that search for similarity to known sequences in large genomic databases. The output from these algorithms can be several thousand pages of text, and is difficult to analyze because of its length and complexity. We developed and implemented a novel graphical representation for sequence similarity search results, which visually reveals features that are difficult to find in textual reports. The method opens new possibilities in the interpretation of this discrete, multidimensional data by enabling interactive investigation of the graphical representation.
false
false
[ "Ed H. Chi", "Phillip Barry", "Elizabeth Shoop", "John V. Carlis", "Ernest F. Retzel", "John Riedl" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,995
Visualization of high speed aerodynamic configuration design
10.1109/VISUAL.1995.485151
Three topics of aerodynamic research at DLR are chosen to illustrate the need for visualization. These include aircraft configuration design variations, adaptation devices and unsteady flow simulation in the transonic, the supersonic and the hypersonic speed regime call for the combined use of a geometry generator, a powerful graphic system and video technology. Projects currently under investigation are illustrated and generic case studies are presented.
false
false
[ "Monika Hannemann", "Helmut Sobieczky" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,995
Visualizing the tracking and diving behavior of marine mammals: a case study
10.1109/VISUAL.1995.485170
A new method of tracking free ranging marine mammals has been developed which employs a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver to accurately fix an animal's position when it surfaces and a tri axial magnetometer and velocity time depth recorder to track the animals underwater movements between surfacings in 3 dimensions. Concurrent with the development of the electronics of this movement and position tracking (MAP) tracking system has been the development of ways to analyze data from the MAP system. Spray rendering has been used to visualize the data and to combine it with environmental data allowing biologists view the animals activity in an environmental context. Considerable effort has been has been made to incorporate estimations of uncertainty and ways of minimizing it into our visualizations of the data.
false
false
[ "Guy W. Oliver" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,995
Volume-based reasoning and visualization of diecastability
10.1109/VISUAL.1995.485152
Because of the nature of the die casting process, the part geometry severely restricts the die geometry and hence affects the quality of the part. However, as is often the case in other manufacturing processes, diecastings are currently designed purely based on their function. The manufacturability of the diecastings is not considered until the design has been nearly completed and detailed. This is due to the design support limitations of current CAE tools. We present a new volume-based approach to support diecastability evaluation, especially in preliminary design. Our approach can be applied to arbitrarily shaped parts without pre-defined feature libraries. The focus is on the identification of geometric characteristics, e.g. heavy mass regions, that could be responsible for thermal-related part defects. A distance transform with city-block metric is used to extract this geometric property. Volume visualization techniques are also adopted to allow users to visualize the results in a clear and precise way.
false
false
[ "Roni Yagel", "Shao-Chiung Lu", "Alec B. Rebello", "Richard Allen Miller" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,995
Voxel based object simplification
10.1109/VISUAL.1995.485142
Presents a simple, robust and practical method for object simplification for applications where gradual elimination of high-frequency details is desired. This is accomplished by sampling and low-pass filtering the object into multi-resolution volume buffers and applying the marching cubes algorithm to generate a multi-resolution triangle-mesh hierarchy. Our method simplifies the genus of objects and can also help existing object simplification algorithms achieve better results. At each level of detail, a multi-layered mesh can be used for an optional and efficient antialiased rendering.
false
false
[ "Taosong He", "Lichan Hong", "Arie E. Kaufman", "Amitabh Varshney", "Sidney W. Wang" ]
[]
[]
[]
InfoVis
1,995
Case study. A WWW viewpoint on scientific visualization: an EPA case study for technology transfer
10.1109/INFVIS.1995.528694
The paper examines how to provide scientific visualization capabilities to environmental scientists, policy analysts and decision makers with personal computers (PCs) on their desktops. An approach for using the World Wide Web (WWW) for disseminating knowledge on scientific visualization and for intelligent access to visualization capabilities on high performance (UNIX) workstations is outlined.
false
false
[ "Theresa-Marie Rhyne" ]
[]
[]
[]
InfoVis
1,995
Case study. Narcissus: visualising information
10.1109/INFVIS.1995.528691
It is becoming increasingly important that support is provided for users who are dealing with complex information spaces. The need is driven by the growing number of domains where there is a requirement for users to understand, navigate and manipulate large sets of computer based data; by the increasing size and complexity of this information and by the pressures to use this information efficiently. The paradigmatic example is the World Wide Web, but other domains include software systems, information systems and concurrent engineering. One approach to providing this support is to provide sophisticated visualisation tools which lead the users to form an intuitive understanding of the structure and behaviour of their domain and which provide mechanisms which allow them to manipulate objects within their system. The paper describes such a tool and a number of visualisation techniques that it implements.
false
false
[ "Robert J. Hendley", "Nick S. Drew", "Andrew Wood", "Russell Beale" ]
[]
[]
[]
InfoVis
1,995
Case study. Visualising cyberspace: information visualisation in the Harmony Internet browser
10.1109/INFVIS.1995.528692
The explosive growth of information systems on the Internet has clearly demonstrated the need to organise, filter, and present information in ways which allow users to cope with the sheer quantities of information available. The scope for visualisation of Gopher and WWW spaces is restricted by the limitations of their respective data models. The far richer data model supported by the Hyper-G Internet information system is exploited by its Harmony client to provide a number of tightly-coupled, two- and three-dimensional visualisation and navigational facilities, which help provide location feedback and alleviate user disorientation.
false
false
[ "K. Andrews" ]
[]
[]
[]
InfoVis
1,995
Case study: 3D displays of Internet traffic
10.1109/INFVIS.1995.528697
The explosive growth in world-wide communications, especially the Internet, has highlighted the need for techniques to visualize network traffic. The traditional node and link network displays work well for small datasets but become visually cluttered and uninterpretable for large datasets. A natural 3D metaphor for displaying world-wide network data is to position the nodes on a globe and draw arcs between them coding the traffic. This technique has several advantages of over the traditional 2D displays, it naturally reduces line crossing clutter, provides an intuitive model for navigation and indication of time, and retains the geographic context. Coupling these strengths with some novel interaction techniques involving the globe surface translucency and arc heights illustrates the usefulness for this class of displays.
false
false
[ "Kenneth C. Cox", "Stephen G. Eick" ]
[]
[]
[]
InfoVis
1,995
Case study: an empirical investigation of thumbnail image recognition
10.1109/INFVIS.1995.528695
The use of thumbnails (i.e., miniatures) in the user-interface of image databases allows searching and selection of images without the need for naming policies. Treating parent images prior to reduction with edge-detecting smoothing, lossy image compression, or static codebook compression resulted in thumbnails where the distortion caused by reduction was lessened. An experiment assessing these techniques found resulting thumbnails could be recognised more quickly and accurately than thumbnails of the same parent images that had been reduced without treatment. This pretreatment in thumbnail creation is offered as an improvement.
false
false
[ "C. A. Burton", "L. J. Johnston", "Liz Sonenberg" ]
[]
[]
[]
InfoVis
1,995
Case study: fishing for information on the Internet
10.1109/INFVIS.1995.528693
As the Internet continues to grow, the amount of accessible information becomes increasingly vast. Search tools exist that allow users to find relevant information. However, a search can often produce such a large amount of data that it becomes hard to ferret out the most appropriate and highest quality information. In addition, some search tools lose valuable information when displaying the results to the user. The paper describes a search visualization tool, called FISH, for viewing hierarchically structured information and managing information overload. FISH (Forager for the Information Super Highway) allows users to visualize the results of search requests across large document spaces in a way that preserves the structure of the information space. FISH displays the returned documents as rectangles, using a combination of order, indentation, size, and color to denote document hierarchy, the score of the documents with respect to the search, and other data attributes. In addition, the user can navigate through the document space for in-depth probing and refinement.
false
false
[ "R. Mitchell", "David S. Day", "Lynette Hirschman" ]
[]
[]
[]
InfoVis
1,995
Case study: visualizing Internet resources
10.1109/INFVIS.1995.528696
The goal is to improve the ability of people from all walks of life and interests to access, search, and use the information distributed in Internet resources. The process of interacting with information resources starts with browsing, continues with digesting and assimilating pieces of information, terminates with generation of new information, and begins anew with analysis of pre-existing and new information. Our approach is user-centric-taking users needs into account by allowing them to interact with the information contained in large arrays of documents. The visualization process is an integral part of the overall process. We have covered three related categories in this methodology. The first one is browsing through the World-Wide Web (WWW) hyperspace without becoming lost, based on a visual representation of the hyperspace hierarchical structure (hyperspace view). The second category is overcoming the rigidity of the WWW by allowing the user to construct interactively and visually a personal hyperspace of information, linking the documents according to the application or problem domain, or to the user's own perception, experience, culture, or way of thinking. The third category includes discovery and analysis of new information and relationships in retrieved documents by aggregating relevant information and representing it visually.
false
false
[ "Nahum D. Gershon", "Joshua LeVasseur", "Joel Winstead", "J. Croall", "A. Pernicks", "William Ruh" ]
[]
[]
[]
InfoVis
1,995
IVEE: an Information Visualization and Exploration Environment
10.1109/INFVIS.1995.528688
The Information Visualization and Exploration Environment (NEE) is a system for automatic creation of dynamic queries applications. IVEE imports database relations and automatically creates environments holding visualizations and query devices. IVEE offers multiple visualizations such as maps and starfields, and multiple query devices, such as sliders, alphasliders, and toggles. Arbitrary graphical objects can be attached to database objects in visualizations. Multiple visualizations may be active simultaneously. Users can interactively lay out and change between types of query devices. Users may retrieve details-on-demand by clicking on visualization objects. An HTML file may be provided along with the database, specifying how details-on-demand information should be presented, allowing for presentation of multimedia information in database objects. Finally, multiple IVEE clients running on separate workstations on a network can communicate by letting one user's actions affect the visualization in an another IVEE client.
false
false
[ "Christopher Ahlberg", "Erik Wistrand" ]
[]
[]
[]
InfoVis
1,995
Research report. DataSpace: 3-D visualizations of large databases
10.1109/INFVIS.1995.528690
DataSpace is a system for interactive 3-D visualization and analysis of large databases. DataSpace utilizes the display space by placing panels of information, possibly generated by different visualization applications, in a 3-D graph layout, and providing continuous navigation facilities. Selective rearrangements and transparency can be used to reduce occlusion or to compare or merge a set of images (e.g. line graphs or scatter plots) that are aligned and stacked in depth. A prototype system supporting the basic 3-D graphic operations (layout, zoom, rotation, translation, transparency) has been implemented. We provide several illustrative examples of DataSpace displays taken from the current system. We present the 3-D display paradigm, describe the query, layout and rendering steps required to create a display, and discuss some performance issues.
false
false
[ "Vinod Anupam", "Shaul Dar", "Ted Leibfried", "Eric Petajan" ]
[]
[]
[]
InfoVis
1,995
Research report. Interacting with huge hierarchies: beyond cone trees
10.1109/INFVIS.1995.528689
The paper describes an implementation of a tool for visualizing and interacting with huge information hierarchies, and some preliminary empirical evaluation of the tool's efficacy. Existing systems for visualizing huge hierarchies using cone trees "break down" once the hierarchy to be displayed exceeds roughly 1000 nodes, due to increasing visual clutter. The paper describes a system called fsviz which visualizes arbitrarily large hierarchies while retaining user control. This is accomplished by augmenting cone trees with several graphical and interaction techniques: usage-based filtering, animated zooming, hand-coupled rotation, fish-eye zooming, coalescing of distant nodes, texturing, effective use of colour for depth cueing, and the applications of dynamic queries. The fsviz system also improves upon earlier cone tree visualization systems through a more elaborate node layout algorithm. This algorithm enhances the usefulness of cone tree visualization for large hierarchies by all but eliminating clutter.
false
false
[ "S. Jeromy Carrière", "Rick Kazman" ]
[]
[]
[]
InfoVis
1,995
Research report: improving browsing in information by the automatic display layout
10.1109/INFVIS.1995.528683
It is well known that graphical representations could be very helpful to browse in graph structured information. But this promising approach requires the capability of an automatic layout system because the tedious and time consuming task of a manual layout leads to a rejection of this approach by the user. In our approach, we split the task of retrieving information into two phases that are getting the orientation within the network and reading currently visited information. We present layout algorithms for both phases which have the benefit of being flexible and adaptable to individual user requests and ensure the topological consistency, i.e. the stability of the topology of the information layout during a sequence of display layouts. The results show that especially the possibility of an animation of the layout process can assist the user essentially in maintaining the orientation in the information network.
false
false
[ "Peter Lüders", "Rolf Ernst" ]
[]
[]
[]
InfoVis
1,995
Research report: information animation applications in the capital markets
10.1109/INFVIS.1995.528682
3D computer graphics can be extremely expressive. It is possible to display an entire securities market, like the S&P 500, on a single screen. With the correct approach to the visual design of the layout, these massive amounts of information can be quickly and easily comprehended by a human observer. By using motion and animated interaction, it is possible to use 3D as a reliable, accurate and precise decision-support tool. Information animation applications are particularly suited to the securities industry because that is where we find huge amounts of data, the value of which declines rapidly with time, and where critical decisions are being made on this data in very short periods of time. Information animation technology is an important new tool for the securities industry, where people need to be in the decision-making loop without suffering from information overload. Several examples are discussed including equity trading analytics, fixed income trading analytics and fixed-income risk viewing.
false
false
[ "W. Wright" ]
[]
[]
[]
InfoVis
1,995
SDM: malleable information graphics
10.1109/INFVIS.1995.528684
Selective dynamic manipulation (SDM) is a paradigm for interacting with objects in visualizations. Its methods offer a high degree of selectivity, in choosing object sets, in the selection of interactive techniques and the properties they affect, and in the degree to which a user action affects the visualization. Our goal is to provide a flexible set of techniques and feedback mechanisms that enable users to move objects and transform their appearance to perform a variety of information analysis tasks.
false
false
[ "Mei C. Chuah", "Steven F. Roth", "Joe Mattis", "John Kolojejchick" ]
[]
[]
[]
InfoVis
1,995
The information mural: a technique for displaying and navigating large information spaces
10.1109/INFVIS.1995.528685
Visualizations which depict entire information spaces provide context for navigation and browsing tasks; however, the limited size of the display screen makes creating effective global views difficult. We have developed a technique for displaying and navigating large information spaces. The key concept is the use of an information mural, a two-dimensional reduced representation of an entire information space that fits completely within a display window or screen. Information murals use grayscale shading and color along with anti-aliasing techniques to create a miniature version of the entire data set. By incorporating navigational capabilities, information murals become a tool that can be used as a global view along with more detailed informational displays. Information murals are utilized in our software visualization research to help depict the execution of object-oriented programs, and can also be used in more general information visualization applications.
false
false
[ "Dean F. Jerding", "John T. Stasko" ]
[]
[]
[]
InfoVis
1,995
Towards a generative theory of diagram design
10.1109/INFVIS.1995.528681
We describe the theoretical background for AVE, an automatic visualization engine for semantic networks. We have a functional notion of aesthetics and therefore understand meaningfulness as a central issue for information visualization. This implies that the diagrams should communicate the characteristics of the data as effectively as possible. In this generative theory of diagram design, we include data characterization, systematic use of graphical means of expression and the combination of graphical means of expression. After giving a brief introduction and an application scenario we discuss these aspects in detail. Finally, a process model of an automatic visualization process is sketched and directions for further research are outlined.
false
false
[ "Klaus Reichenberger", "Thomas Kamps", "Gene Golovchinsky" ]
[]
[]
[]
InfoVis
1,995
Visualisation for functional design
10.1109/INFVIS.1995.528680
We present two novel visualisation tools: the Influence Explorer and the Prosection Matrix. These were specifically created to support engineering artifact design and similar tasks in which a set of parameter values must be chosen to lead to acceptable artifact performance. These tools combine two concepts. One is the interactive and virtually immediate responsive display of data in a manner conducive to the acquisition of insight. The other, involving the precalculation of samples of artifact performance, facilitates smooth exploration and optimisation leading to a design decision. The anticipated benefits of these visualisation tools are illustrated by an example taken from electronic circuit design, in which full account must be taken of the uncertainties in parameter values arising from inevitable variations in the manufacturing process.
false
false
[ "Robert Spence", "Lisa Tweedie", "Huw Dawkes", "Hua Su" ]
[]
[]
[]
InfoVis
1,995
Visualizing the non-visual: spatial analysis and interaction with information from text documents
10.1109/INFVIS.1995.528686
The paper describes an approach to IV that involves spatializing text content for enhanced visual browsing and analysis. The application arena is large text document corpora such as digital libraries, regulations and procedures, archived reports, etc. The basic idea is that text content from these sources may be transformed to a spatial representation that preserves informational characteristics from the documents. The spatial representation may then be visually browsed and analyzed in ways that avoid language processing and that reduce the analysts mental workload. The result is an interaction with text that more nearly resembles perception and action with the natural world than with the abstractions of written language.
false
false
[ "James A. Wise", "James J. Thomas", "Kelly Pennock", "David Lantrip", "Marc Pottier", "Anne Schur", "Vern Crow" ]
[ "TT" ]
[]
[]
InfoVis
1,995
VRMosaic: WEB access from within a virtual environment
10.1109/INFVIS.1995.528687
Virtual reality can aid in designing large and complex structures such as ships, skyscrapers, factories, and aircraft. But before VR can realize this potential, we need to solve a number of problems. One of these problems: the user's need to see and interact with non-geometric information is examined. Our VR environment, RealEyes, can display large-scale and detailed geometry at reasonable frame rates (>20 Hz) allowing a user to see and navigate within a design from a first person perspective. However, much (if not most) of the information associated with a particular design has no geometric representation. This includes information such as schematics of electrical, hydraulic, and plumbing systems; information describing materials or processes; and descriptive (textual) information of other types. Many researchers have developed a wealth of techniques for presenting such data on flat-screen displays, but until recently, we have not had a means for naturally displaying such information within a VR environment. To make non-geometric data more available, we have implemented a version of Mosaic that functions within a fully immersive VR system. Our system, VRMosaic, allows a user of VR to access and display most of the data available using flat screen Mosaic. Moreover, we have made it extensible to allow for the seamless integration of specialized forms of data and interaction. This paper describes how we implemented VRMosaic using a VR-capable version of Interviews, It also describes some Mosaic-like uses of that system and some "non-Mosaic-like" extensions.
false
false
[ "Ian G. Angus", "Henry Sowizral" ]
[]
[]
[]
CHI
1,995
A Focus+Context Technique Based on Hyperbolic Geometry for Visualizing Large Hierarchies
10.1145/223904.223956
We present a new focus+context (fisheye) technique for visualizing and manipulating large hierarchies. Our technique assigns more display space to a portion of the hierarchy while still embedding it in the context of the entire hierarchy. The essence of this scheme is to lay out the hierarchy in a uniform way on a hyperbolic plane an d map this plane onto a circular display region. This supports a smooth blending between focus and context, as well as continuous redirection of the focus. We have developed effective procedures for manipulating the focus using pointer clicks as well as interactive dragging, and for smoothly an imating transitions across such manipulation. A laboratory experiment comparing the hyperbolic browser with a conventional hierarchy browser was conducted.
false
false
[ "John Lamping", "Ramana Rao", "Peter Pirolli" ]
[]
[]
[]
CHI
1,995
An Organic User Interface for Searching Citation Links
10.1145/223904.223913
This paper describes Butterfly, an Information Visualizer application for accessing DIALOG'S Science Citation databases across the Internet. Network information often involves slow access that conflicts with the use of highly-interactive information visualization. Butterfly addresses this problem, integrating search, browsing, and access management via four techniques: 1) visualization supports the assimilation of retrieved information and integrates search and browsing activity, 2) automatically-created "link-generating" queries assemble bibliographic records that contain reference information into citation graphs, 3) asynchronous query processes explore the resulting graphs for the user, and 4) process controllers allow the user to manage these processes. We use our positive experience with the Butterfly implementation to propose a general information access approach, called Organic User Inteifacesfor Infomiation Access, in which a virtual landscape grows under user control as information is accessed automatically.
false
false
[ "Jock D. Mackinlay", "Ramana Rao", "Stuart K. Card" ]
[]
[]
[]
CHI
1,995
Articulating a Metaphor through User-Centered Design
10.1145/223904.223981
TabWorksTM book metaphor enhances the standard WindowsTM user interface, providing an alternative way to organize applications and documents in a familiar, easy to use environment. The TabWorks interface was designed collaboratively by IDEO and XSoft and was based on a concept developed at Xerox PARe. This briefing describes how a user-centered approach affected the design of the TabWorks user interface: how the metaphor's visualization evolved and how interaction mechanisms were selected and designed.
false
false
[ "H. J. Moll-Carrillo", "Gitta Salomon", "Matthew Marsh", "Jane Fulton Suri", "Peter Spreenberg" ]
[]
[]
[]
CHI
1,995
Bridging the Gulf Between Code and Behavior in Programming
10.1145/223904.223969
Program debugging can be an expensive, complex and frustrating process. Conventional programming environments provide little explicit support for the cognitive tasks of diagnosis and visualization faced by the programmer.
false
false
[ "Henry Lieberman", "Christopher Fry" ]
[]
[]
[]
CHI
1,995
Electronic Futures Markets versus Floor Trading: Implications for Interface Design
10.1145/223904.223942
The primary concern in designing an interface for an electronic trading system is the impact on market liquidity [9]. Current systems make use of efficient order-execution algorithms but fail to capture elements of the trading floor that contribute to an efficient market [9]. We briefly describe tasks conducted in futures pit trading and current off-hours electronic trading systems. Understanding the tasks helps define key components to an interface for electronic trading. These include visualization of the market and its participants, a trading process which allows active participation and price discovery as well as concurrent interaction among each of the participants.
false
false
[ "Satu S. Parikh", "Gerald L. Lohse" ]
[]
[]
[]
CHI
1,995
GeoSpace: An Interactive Visualization System for Exploring Complex Information Spaces
10.1145/223904.223959
null
false
false
[ "Ishantha Lokuge", "Suguru Ishizaki" ]
[]
[]
[]
CHI
1,995
Providing Assurances in a Multimedia Interactive Environment
10.1145/223904.223936
In ordinary telephone calls, we rely on cues for the assurance that the connection is active and that the other party is listening to what we are saying. For instance, noise on the line (whether it be someone's voice, traffic sounds, or background static from a bad connection) tells us about the state of our connection. Similarly, the occasional "uhuh" or muffled sounds from a side conversation tells us about the focus and activity of the person on the line. Conventional telephony is based on a single connection for communication between two parties — as such, it has relatively simple assurance needs. Multimedia, multiparty systems increase the complexity of the communication in two orthogonal directions, leading to a concomitant increase in assurance needs. As the complexity of these systems and services grows, it becomes increasingly difficult for users to assess the current state of these services and the level of the user interactions within the systems. We have addressed this problem through the use of assurances that are designed to provide information about the connectivity, presence, focus, and activity in an environment that is part virtual and part real. We describe how independent network media services (a virtual meeting room service, a holophonic sound service, an application sharing service, and a 3D augmented reality visualization system) were designed to work together, providing users with coordinated cohesive assurances for virtual contexts in multimedia, multiparty communication and interaction.
false
false
[ "Dorée D. Seligmann", "Rebecca Mercuri", "John T. Edmark" ]
[]
[]
[]
CHI
1,995
Space-Scale Diagrams: Understanding Multiscale Interfaces
10.1145/223904.223934
Big information worlds cause big problems for interfaces. There is too much to see. They are hard to navigate. An armada of techniques has been proposed to present the many scales of information needed. Space-scale diagrams provide an analytic framework for much of this work. By representing both a spatial world and its different magnifications explicitly, the diagrams allow the direct visualization and analysis of important scale related issues for interfaces.
false
false
[ "George W. Furnas", "Benjamin B. Bederson" ]
[]
[]
[]
CHI
1,995
TileBars: Visualization of Term Distribution Information in Full Text Information Access
10.1145/223904.223912
null
false
false
[ "Marti A. Hearst" ]
[]
[]
[]
CHI
1,995
Virtual Reality on a WIM: Interactive Worlds in Miniature
10.1145/223904.223938
This paper explores a user interface technique which augments an immersive head tracked display with a hand-held miniature copy of the virtual environment. We call this interface technique the Worlds in Miniature (WIM) metaphor. By establishing a direct relationship between life-size objects in the virtual world and miniature objects in the WIM, we can use the WIM as a tool for manipulating objects in the virtual environment. In addition to describing object manipulation, this paper explores ways in which Worlds in Miniature can act as a single unifying metaphor for such application independent interaction techniques as object selection, navigation, path planning, and visualization. The WIM metaphor naturally offers multiple points of view and multiple scales at which the user can operate, all without requiring explicit modes or commands. Informal user observation indicates that users adapt to the Worlds in Miniature metaphor quickly and that physical props are helpful in manipulating the WIM and other objects in the environment.
false
false
[ "Richard Stoakley", "Matthew Conway", "Randy F. Pausch" ]
[]
[]
[]
CHI
1,995
Visualizing Complex Hypermedia Networks through Multiple Hierarchical Views
10.1145/223904.223947
Our work concerns visualizing the information space of hypermedia systems using multiple hierarchical views. Although overview diagrams are useful for helping the user to navigate in a hypermedia system, for any real-world system they become too complicated and large to be really useful. This is because these diagrams represent complex network structures which are very difficult to visualize and comprehend. On the other hand, effective visualizations of hierarchies have been developed. Our strategy is to provide the user with different hierarchies, each giving a different perspective to the underlying information space, to help the user better comprehend the information. We propose an algorithm based on content and structural analysis to form hierarchies from hypermedia networks. The algorithm is automatic but can be guided by the user. The multiple hierarchies can be visualized in various ways. We give examples of the implementation of the algorithm on two hypermedia systems.
false
false
[ "Sougata Mukherjea", "James D. Foley", "Scott E. Hudson" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,994
3D visualization of unsteady 2D airplane wake vortices
10.1109/VISUAL.1994.346328
Air flowing around the wing tips of an airplane forms horizontal tornado-like vortices that can be dangerous to following aircraft. The dynamics of such vortices, including ground and atmospheric effects, can be predicted by numerical simulation, allowing the safety and capacity of airports to be improved. We introduce three-dimensional techniques for visualizing time-dependent, two-dimensional wake vortex computations, and the hazard strength of such vortices near the ground. We describe a vortex core tracing algorithm and a local tiling method to visualize the vortex evolution. The tiling method converts time-dependent, two-dimensional vortex cores into three-dimensional vortex tubes. Finally, a novel approach is used to calculate the induced rolling moment on the following airplane at each grid point within a region near the vortex tubes and thus allows three-dimensional visualization of the hazard strength of the vortices.<<ETX>>
false
false
[ "Kwan-Liu Ma", "Z. C. Zheng" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,994
A case study on visualization for boundary value problems
10.1109/VISUAL.1994.346299
In this paper we present a method, and a software based on this method, making highly inter-active visualization possible for computational results on nonlinear BVPs associated with ODEs. The program PCR relies partly on computer graphics tools and partly on real-time computations, the combination of which not only helps the understanding of complex problems, it also permits the reduction of stored data by orders of magnitude. The method has been implemented on PCs (running on DOS) and on the Application Visualization System (AVS) for UNIX machines, this paper provides a brief introduction to the latter version besides describing the mathematical background of the method.<<ETX>>
false
false
[ "Gábor Domokos", "Randy C. Paffenroth" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,994
A distributed, parallel, interactive volume rendering package
10.1109/VISUAL.1994.346341
This paper presents a parallel ray-casting volume rendering algorithm and its implementation on the massively parallel IBM SP-1 computer using the Chameleon message passing library. Though this algorithm takes advantage of many of the unique features of the SP-1 (e.g. high-speed switch, large memory per node, high-speed disk array, HIPPI display, et al.), the use of Chameleon allows the code to be executed on any collection of workstations. The algorithm is image-ordered and distributes the data and the computational load to individual processors. After the volume data is distributed, all processors then perform local ray tracing of their respective subvolumes concurrently. No interprocess communication takes place during the ray tracing process. After a subimage is generated by each processor, the final image is obtained by composing subimages between all the processors. The program itself is implemented as an interactive process through a GUI residing on a graphics workstation which is coupled to the parallel rendering algorithm via sockets. The paper highlights the Chameleon implementation, the GUI, some optimization improvements, static load balancing, and direct parallel display to a HIPPI framebuffer.<<ETX>>
false
false
[ "John S. Rowlan", "G. Edward Lent", "Nihar Gokhale", "Shannon Bradshaw" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,994
A lattice model for data display
10.1109/VISUAL.1994.346304
In order to develop a foundation for visualization, we develop lattice models for data objects and displays that focus on the fact that data objects are approximations to mathematical objects and real displays are approximations to ideal displays. These lattice models give us a way to quantize the information content of data and displays and to define conditions on the visualization mappings from data to displays. Mappings satisfy these conditions if and only if they are lattice isomorphisms. We show how to apply this result to scientific data and display models, and discuss how it might be applied to recursively defined data types appropriate for complex information processing.<<ETX>>
false
false
[ "Bill Hibbard", "Charles R. Dyer", "Brian E. Paul" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,994
A library for visualizing combinatorial structures
10.1109/VISUAL.1994.346323
Describes ANIM3D, a 3D animation library targeted at visualizing combinatorial structures. In particular, we are interested in algorithm animation. Constructing a new view for an algorithm typically takes dozens of design iterations, and can be very time-consuming. Our library eases the programmer's burden by providing high-level constructs for performing animations, and by offering an interpretive environment that eliminates the need for recompilations. We also illustrate ANIM3D's expressiveness by developing a 3D animation of Dijkstra's shortest-path algorithm in just 70 lines of code.<<ETX>>
false
false
[ "Marc Najork", "Marc H. Brown" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,994
An annotation system for 3D fluid flow visualization
10.1109/VISUAL.1994.346309
Annotation is a key activity of data analysis. However, current data analysis systems focus almost exclusively on visualization. We propose a system which integrates annotations into a visualization system. Annotations are embedded in 3D data space, using the Post-it metaphor. This embedding allows contextual-based information storage and retrieval, and facilitates information sharing in collaborative environments. We provide a traditional database filter and a Magic Lens filter to create specialized views of the data. The system is customized for fluid flow applications, with features which allow users to store parameters of visualization tools and sketch 3D volumes.<<ETX>>
false
false
[ "Maria M. Loughlin", "John F. Hughes" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,994
An evaluation of reconstruction filters for volume rendering
10.1109/VISUAL.1994.346331
To render images from a three-dimensional array of sample values, it is necessary to interpolate between the samples. This paper is concerned with interpolation methods that are equivalent to convolving the samples with a reconstruction filter; this covers all commonly used schemes, including trilinear and cubic interpolation. We first outline the formal basis of interpolation in three-dimensional signal processing theory. We then propose numerical metrics that can be used to measure filter characteristics that are relevant to the appearance of images generated using that filter. We apply those metrics to several previously used filters and relate the results to isosurface images of the interpolations. We show that the choice of interpolation scheme can have a dramatic effect on image quality, and we discuss the cost/benefit tradeoff inherent in choosing a filter.<<ETX>>
false
false
[ "Steve Marschner", "Richard Lobb" ]
[ "TT" ]
[]
[]
Vis
1,994
An object oriented design for the visualization of multi-variable data objects
10.1109/VISUAL.1994.346303
This paper presents an object-oriented system design supporting the composition of scientific data visualization techniques based on the definition of hierarchies of typed data objects and tools. Traditional visualization systems focus on creating graphical objects which often cannot be re-used for further processing. Our approach provides objects of different topological dimension to offer a natural way of describing the results of visualization mappings. Serial composition of data extraction tools is allowed, while each intermediate visualization object shares a common description and behavior. Visualization objects can be re-used, facilitating the data exploration process by expanding the available analysis and correlation functions provided. This design offers an open-ended architecture for the development of new visualization techniques. It promotes data and software re-use, eliminates the need for writing special purpose software and reduces processing requirements during interactive visualization sessions.<<ETX>>
false
false
[ "Jean-Marie Favre", "James K. Hahn" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,994
Approximation of isosurface in the Marching Cube: ambiguity problem
10.1109/VISUAL.1994.346307
The purpose of the article is the consideration of the problem of ambiguity over the faces arising in the Marching Cube algorithm. The article shows that for unambiguous choice of the sequence of the points of intersection of the isosurface with edges confining the face it is sufficient to sort them along one of the coordinates. It also presents the solution of this problem inside the cube. Graph theory methods are used to approximate the isosurface inside the cell.<<ETX>>
false
false
[ "Sergey V. Matveyev" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,994
Challenges and opportunities in visualization for NASA's EOS Mission to Planet Earth
10.1109/VISUAL.1994.346289
Visualization will be vital to the success of the NASA EOS Mission to Planet Earth (MTPE), which will gather, generate, and distribute an unprecedented volume of data for the purpose of global change research and environmental policy decisions. The paper focuses on the challenges and opportunities for visualization with regard to the Mission to Planet Earth. Directions presently being taken within NASA to fund and assist development of new tools are also discussed.<<ETX>>
false
false
[ "Mike E. Botts", "Jon D. Dykstra", "Lee S. Elson", "Steven J. Goodman", "Meemong Lee" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,994
Differential volume rendering: a fast volume visualization technique for flow animation
10.1109/VISUAL.1994.346321
We present a direct volume rendering algorithm to speed up volume animation for flow visualizations. Data coherency between consecutive simulation time steps is used to avoid casting rays from those pixels retaining color values assigned to the previous image. The algorithm calculates the differential information among a sequence of 3D volumetric simulation data. At each time step the differential information is used to compute the locations of pixels that need updating and a ray-casting method as utilized to produce the updated image. We illustrate the utility and speed of the differential volume rendering algorithm with simulation data from computational bioelectric and fluid dynamics applications. We can achieve considerable disk-space savings and nearly real-time rendering of 3D flows using low-cost, single processor workstations for models which contain hundreds of thousands of data points.<<ETX>>
false
false
[ "Han-Wei Shen", "Christopher R. Johnson 0001" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,994
Discretized Marching Cubes
10.1109/VISUAL.1994.346308
Since the introduction of standard techniques for isosurface extraction from volumetric datasets, one of the hardest problems has been to reduce the number of triangles (or polygons) generated. The paper presents an algorithm that considerably reduces the number of polygons generated by a Marching Cubes-like scheme (W. Lorensen and H. Cline, 1987) without excessively increasing the overall computational complexity. The algorithm assumes discretization of the dataset space and replaces cell edge interpolation by midpoint selection. Under these assumptions, the extracted surfaces are composed of polygons lying within a finite number of incidences, thus allowing simple merging of the output facets into large coplanar polygons. An experimental evaluation of the proposed approach on datasets related to biomedical imaging and chemical modelling is reported.<<ETX>>
false
false
[ "Claudio Montani", "Riccardo Scateni", "Roberto Scopigno" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,994
Fast surface rendering from raster data by voxel traversal using chessboard distance
10.1109/VISUAL.1994.346320
The increasing distinguishing capability of tomographic and other 3D scanners as well as the new voxelization algorithms place new demands on visualization techniques aimed at interactivity and rendition quality. Among others, triangulation on a subvoxel level based on the marching cube algorithm has gained popularity in recent years. However without graphics hardware support, rendering many small triangles could be awkward. We present a surface rendering approach based on ray tracing of segmented volumetric data. We show that if a proper interpolation scheme and voxel traversal algorithm are used, high quality images can be obtained within an acceptable time and without hardware support.<<ETX>>
false
false
[ "Milos Srámek" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,994
Feature detection from vector quantities in a numerically simulated hypersonic flow field in combination with experimental flow visualization
10.1109/VISUAL.1994.346329
In computational fluid dynamics visualization is a frequently used tool for data evaluation, understanding of flow characteristics, and qualitative comparison to flow visualizations originating from experiments. Building on an existing visualization software system, that allows for a careful selection of state-of-the-art visualization techniques and some extensions, it became possible to present various features of the data in a single image. The visualizations show vortex position and rotation as well as skin-friction lines, experimental oil-flow traces, and shock-wave positions. By adding experimental flow visualization a comparison between numerical simulation and wind-tunnel flow becomes possible up to a high level of detail. Since some of the underlying algorithms are not yet described in detail in the visualization literature, some experiences gained from the implementation are illustrated.<<ETX>>
false
false
[ "Hans-Georg Pagendarm", "Birgit Walter" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,994
GASP-a system for visualizing geometric algorithms
10.1109/VISUAL.1994.346325
This paper describes a system, GASP, that facilitates the visualization of geometric algorithms. The user need not have any knowledge of computer graphics in order to quickly generate a visualization. The system is also intended to facilitate the task of implementing and debugging geometric algorithms. The viewer is provided with a comfortable user interface enhancing the exploration of an algorithm's functionality. We describe the underlying concepts of the system as well as a variety of examples which illustrate its use.<<ETX>>
false
false
[ "Ayellet Tal", "David P. Dobkin" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,994
Implicit modeling of swept surfaces and volumes
10.1109/VISUAL.1994.346339
Swept surfaces and volumes are generated by moving a geometric model through space. Swept surfaces and volumes are important in many computer-aided design applications including geometric modeling, numerical cutter path generation, and spatial path planning. In this paper we describe a numerical algorithm to generate swept surfaces and volumes using implicit modeling techniques. The algorithm is applicable to any geometric representation for which a distance function can be computed. The algorithm also treats degenerate trajectories such as self-intersection and surface singularity. We show applications of this algorithm to maintainability design and robot path planning.<<ETX>>
false
false
[ "William J. Schroeder", "William E. Lorensen", "Steve Linthicum" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,994
Integrated control of distributed volume visualization through the World-Wide-Web
10.1109/VISUAL.1994.346342
The World-Wide-Web (WWW) has created a new paradigm for online information retrieval by providing immediate and ubiquitous access to digital information of any type from data repositories located throughout the world. The web's development enables not only effective access for the generic user but also more efficient and timely information exchange among scientists and researchers. We have extended the capabilities of the web to include access to three-dimensional volume data sets with integrated control of a distributed client-server volume visualization system. This paper provides a brief background on the World-Wide-Web, an overview of the extensions necessary to support these new data types and a description of an implementation of this approach in a WWW-compliant distributed visualization system.<<ETX>>
false
false
[ "Cheong S. Ang", "David C. Martin", "Michael D. Doyle" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,994
Integrating spatial data display with virtual reconstruction
10.1109/VISUAL.1994.346296
In the process of archaeological excavation, a vast amount of data, much of it three-dimensional in nature, is recorded. In recent years, computer graphics techniques have been applied to the task of visualizing such data. In particular, data visualization has been used to accomplish the virtual reconstruction of site architecture and to enable the display of spatial data distributions using three-dimensional models of site terrain. In the case we present here, these two approaches are integrated in the modeling of a prehistoric pithouse. In order to better visualize artifact distributions in the context of site architecture, surface data is displayed as a layer in a virtual reconstruction viewable at interactive rates. This integration of data display with the architectural model has proven valuable in identifying correlations between distributions of different artifact categories and their spatial proximity to significant architectural features.<<ETX>>
false
false
[ "Philip Peterson", "Brian Hayden", "F. David Fracchia" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,994
Introducing alpha shapes for the analysis of path integral Monte Carlo results
10.1109/VISUAL.1994.346337
We present a new technique for the visualization and analysis of the results from Monte Carlo simulations based on /spl alpha/-complexes and /spl alpha/-shapes. The specific application presented is the analysis of the quantum-mechanical behavior of hydrogen molecules and helium atoms on a surface at very low temperatures. The technique is an improvement over existing techniques in two respects. First, the approach allows one to visualize the points on a random walk at varying levels of detail and interactively select the level of detail that is most appropriate. Second, using /spl alpha/-shapes one can obtain quantitative measures of spatial properties of the system, such as the boundary length and interior area of clusters, that would be difficult to obtain otherwise.<<ETX>>
false
false
[ "Patrick J. Moran", "Marcus Wagner" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,994
Isosurface generation by using extrema graphs
10.1109/VISUAL.1994.346334
A high-performance algorithm for generating isosurfaces is presented. In this algorithm, extrema points in a scalar field are first extracted. A graph is then generated in which the extrema points are taken as nodes. Each arc of the graph has a list of IDs of the cells that are intersected by the arc. A boundary cell list ordered according to cells' values is also generated. The graph and the list generated in this pre-process are used as a guide in searching for seed cells. Isosurfaces are generated from seed cells that are found in arcs of the graph. In this process, isosurfaces appear to propagate themselves. The algorithm visits only cells that are intersected by an isosurface and cells whose IDs an included in cell lists. It is especially efficient when many isosurfaces are interactively generated in a huge volume. Some benchmark tests described show the efficiency of the algorithm.<<ETX>>
false
false
[ "Takayuki Itoh", "Koji Koyamada" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,994
Mix&Match: a construction kit for visualization
10.1109/VISUAL.1994.346305
We present an environment in which users can interactively create different visualization methods. This modular and extensible environment encapsulates most of the existing visualization algorithms. Users can easily construct new visualization methods by combining simple, fine grain building blocks. These components operate on a local subset of the data and generally either look for target features or produce visual objects. Intermediate compositions may also be used to build more complex visualizations. This environment provides a foundation for building and exploring novel visualization methods.<<ETX>>
false
false
[ "Alex T. Pang", "Naim Alper" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,994
New techniques in the design of healthcare facilities
10.1109/VISUAL.1994.346293
The recent advent of computer graphics techniques has helped to bridge the gap between architectural concepts and actual buildings. Closing this gap is especially critical in healthcare facilities. We present new techniques to support the design decision process and apply them to the design of a neonatal intensive care unit. Two issues are addressed: ergonometric accessibility and visual supervision of spaces. These two issues can be investigated utilizing new technologies that demonstrate that computers are more then a medium of communication in the field of architecture; the computer can make a significant contribution as a proactive design tool.<<ETX>>
false
false
[ "Tarek K. Alameldin", "Mardelle Shepley" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,994
Nonpolygonal isosurface rendering for large volume datasets
10.1109/VISUAL.1994.346306
Surface-based rendering techniques, particularly those that extract a polygonal approximation of an isosurface, are widely used in volume visualization. As dataset size increases though, the computational demands of these methods can overwhelm typically available computing resources. Recent work on accelerating such techniques has focused on preprocessing the volume data or postprocessing the extracted polygonization. The algorithm presented, concentrates instead on streamlining the surface extraction process itself so as to accelerate the rendering of large volumes. The technique shortens the conventional isosurface visualization pipeline by eliminating the intermediate polygonization. We compute the contribution of the isosurface within a volume cell to the resulting image directly from a simplified numerical description of the cell/surface intersection. The approach also reduces the work in the remaining stages of the visualization process. By quantizing the volume data, we exploit precomputed and cached data at key processing steps to improve rendering efficiency. The resulting implementation provides comparatively fast renderings with reasonable image quality.<<ETX>>
false
false
[ "James W. Durkin", "John F. Hughes" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,994
Observing a volume rendered fetus within a pregnant patient
10.1109/VISUAL.1994.346295
Augmented reality systems with see-through headmounted displays have been used primarily for applications that are possible with today's computational capabilities. We explore possibilities for a particular application-in-place, real-time 3D ultrasound visualization-without concern for such limitations. The question is not "How well could we currently visualize the fetus in real time," but "How well could we see the fetus if we had sufficient compute power?" Our video sequence shows a 3D fetus within a pregnant woman's abdomen-the way this would look to a HMD user. Technical problems in making the sequence are discussed. This experience exposed limitations of current augmented reality systems; it may help define the capabilities of future systems needed for applications as demanding as real-time medical visualization.<<ETX>>
false
false
[ "Andrei State", "David T. Chen", "Chris Tector", "Andrew Brandt", "Hong Chen", "Ryutarou Ohbuchi", "Michael Bajura", "Henry Fuchs" ]
[]
[]
[]
Vis
1,994
Parallel performance measures for volume ray casting
10.1109/VISUAL.1994.346319
Describes a technique for achieving fast volume ray-casting on parallel machines, using a load-balancing scheme and an efficient pipelined approach to compositing. We propose a new model for measuring the amount of work one needs to perform in order to render a given volume, and we use this model to obtain a better load-balancing scheme for distributed memory machines. We also discuss in detail the design trade-offs of our technique. In order to validate our model, we have implemented it on the Intel iPSC/860 and the Intel Paragon, and conducted a detailed performance analysis.<<ETX>>
false
false
[ "Cláudio T. Silva", "Arie E. Kaufman" ]
[]
[]
[]