Streamline Visualization Optimization Considering Information Theory, Textures and Semi-Transparency
Oleg Mishchenko · OhioLink ETD Center (Ohio Library and Information Network) · 2013
Visualization of three dimensional flow datasets is a necessity in many areas of science and engineering.Despite a variety of algorithms that were introduced over many years of research and tremendous growth in computing power, several problems, such as occlusion and difficulty with perception of three dimensional flow, still make effective 3D flow visualization difficult.In addition, considerable human interaction is often necessary to produce a satisfactory visualization.The work presented in this dissertation addresses the issues of occlusion and difficulty with perception of 3D flow as well as provides a technique that minimizes user interaction in the search of a good visualization.Optimal viewpoint selection algorithms have been developed for a variety of science applications, such as visualization of volumetric and polygonal data, but not much has been done for view selection for flow datasets.The viewpoint selection algorithm presented in this thesis minimizes the occlusion to reveal the maximum amount of information to the user.Problems of perception of 3D flow, caused by occlusion, were investigated, and the user study that covered the perception of dense animated semi-transparent streamlines was performed.The visualization guidelines for dense animated semi-transparent flow were introduced based on those results.