Authors:
Gaurav Khanduja
and
Bijaya B. Karki
Affiliation:
Louisiana State University, United States
Keyword(s):
Multiple datasets visualization, Visualization application, Scalar data visualization, Isosurface, 3D textures, Clipping.
Related
Ontology
Subjects/Areas/Topics:
Computer Vision, Visualization and Computer Graphics
;
Rendering
;
Rendering Algorithms
;
Systems and Software Architectures for Rendering
;
Volume Rendering
Abstract:
Many applications require simultaneous display of multiple datasets, representing multiple samples, or multiple conditions, or multiple simulation times, in the same visualization. Such multiple dataset visualization (MDV) has to handle and render massive amounts of data concurrently. We analyze the performance of two widely used techniques, namely, isosurface extraction and texture-based rendering for visualization of multiple sets of the scalar volume data. Preliminary tests performed using up to 25 sets of moderate-size (2563) data show that the calculated times for the generation and rendering of polygons representing isosurface, and for the mapping of a series of textured slices increase non-uniformly with increasing the number of individual datasets. Both techniques are found to no longer be interactive with the frame-rates dropping below one for six or more datasets. To improve the MDV frame-rate, we propose a scheme based on the combination of hardware-assisted texture mappin
g and general clipping. In essence, it exploits the 3D surface texture mapping by rendering only the externally visible surfaces of all volume datasets at a given instant, with dynamic clipping enabled to explore the interior of the data. The calculated frame-rates remain above one and are substantially higher than those with the other two techniques.
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