Rendering the first star in the Universe - A case study

Fig. 1. Using traditional physical artistic media as input to the digital visualization pipeline provides a richer visual vocabulary and opens the door for artists to participate in creating more expressive and engaging 3D scientific visualizations. This example helps scientists understand commercially viable macroalgae growth in the Gulf of Mexico by encoding temperature and salinity from remote sensing together with eddy direction and curvature and three nitrate concentrations from computational simulation.Abstract-We introduce Artifact-Based Rendering (ABR), a framework of tools, algorithms, and processes that makes it possible to produce real, data-driven 3D scientific visualizations with a visual language derived entirely from colors, lines, textures, and forms created using traditional physical media or found in nature. A theory and process for ABR is presented to address three current needs: (i) designing better visualizations by making it possible for non-programmers to rapidly design and critique many alternative data-to-visual mappings; (ii) expanding the visual vocabulary used in scientific visualizations to depict increasingly complex multivariate data; (iii) bringing a more engaging, natural, and human-relatable handcrafted aesthetic to data visualization. New tools and algorithms to support ABR include front-end applets for constructing artifact-based colormaps, optimizing 3D scanned meshes for use in data visualization, and synthesizing textures from artifacts. These are complemented by an interactive rendering engine with custom algorithms and interfaces that demonstrate multiple new visual styles for depicting point, line, surface, and volume data. A within-the-research-team design study provides early evidence of the shift in visualization design processes that ABR is believed to enable when compared to traditional scientific visualization systems. Qualitative user feedback on applications to climate science and brain imaging support the utility of ABR for scientific discovery and public communication.

Section: Artists and Designers In Visualizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Artifact-Based Rendering: Harnessing Natural and Traditional Visual Media for More Expressive and Engaging 3D Visualizations

Johnson

Samsel

Abram

et al. 2019

“…Among relevant recent astronomical visualization work we note that of Ostriker and Norman [39], who proposed a framework for simulating cosmology and reviewed the related requirements in high performance computing environments, Nadeau et al [14,37], who simulated a fly-through of a volumetric model of the Orion Nebula [11], Kahler et al [26], who used a supercomputer and adaptive mesh rendering to simulate the life-span of a star, Jensen et al [22], who devised a physically-based model to render the night sky as seen from Earth, Baranoski et al [3], who proposed a rendering method for simulating the Aurora Borealis (the Northern Lights), Hopf et al [20], who developed a PCA-based splatting technique for rendering point-based data in dynamic galaxy models, Magnor et al [34,35], who developed an inverse volume rendering method for constructing and rendering planetary nebulae and reflection nebulae, and Miller et al [36], who derived a visualization tool to reveal structures such as filaments and voids in the Horologium-Reticulum supercluster.…”

Section: Astronomical Visualizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Visualizing Large-Scale Uncertainty in Astrophysical Data

et al. 2007

Abstract-Visualization of uncertainty or error in astrophysical data is seldom available in simulations of astronomical phenomena, and yet almost all rendered attributes possess some degree of uncertainty due to observational error. Uncertainties associated with spatial location typically vary significantly with scale and thus introduce further complexity in the interpretation of a given visualization. This paper introduces effective techniques for visualizing uncertainty in large-scale virtual astrophysical environments. Building upon our previous transparently scalable visualization architecture, we develop tools that enhance the perception and comprehension of uncertainty across wide scale ranges. Our methods include a unified color-coding scheme for representing log-scale distances and percentage errors, an ellipsoid model to represent positional uncertainty, an ellipsoid envelope model to expose trajectory uncertainty, and a magic-glass design supporting the selection of ranges of log-scale distance and uncertainty parameters, as well as an overview mode and a scalable WIM tool for exposing the magnitudes of spatial context and uncertainty.

“…This material was incorporated in both the Hayden Planetarium show "Passport to the Universe" and the animation "Volume Visualization of the Orion Nebula [17]." Kahler et al [27] at NCSA used a supercomputer and AMR (adaptive mesh rendering) methods to simulate the life-span of a star, while Turnage [43] presented a physical simulation of a supernova explosion and its shock wave. Among other interesting contributions to the field are those of Hopf et al [25], who developed a PCA-based splatting technique for rendering dynamic point-based data, Baranoski et al [4], who proposed a rendering method for simulating the Aurora Borealis (the Northern Lights), Jensen et al [26], who devised a physically-based model to render the night sky as seen from Earth, and Magnor et al [30], who developed an interactive visualization tool for rendering arbitrary dust distributions around a central illuminating star.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Transparently Scalable Visualization Architecture for Exploring the Universe

Hanson

2007

Modern astronomical instruments produce enormous amounts of three-dimensional data describing the physical Universe. The currently available data sets range from the solar system to nearby stars and portions of the Milky Way Galaxy, including the interstellar medium and some extrasolar planets, and extend out to include galaxies billions of light years away. Because of its gigantic scale and the fact that it is dominated by empty space, modeling and rendering the Universe is very different from modeling and rendering ordinary three-dimensional virtual worlds at human scales. Our purpose is to introduce a comprehensive approach to an architecture solving this visualization problem that encompasses the entire Universe while seeking to be as scale-neutral as possible. One key element is the representation of model-rendering procedures using power scaled coordinates (PSC), along with various PSC-based techniques that we have devised to generalize and optimize the conventional graphics framework to the scale domains of astronomical visualization. Employing this architecture, we have developed an assortment of scale-independent modeling and rendering methods for a large variety of astronomical models, and have demonstrated scale-insensitive interactive visualizations of the physical Universe covering scales ranging from human scale to the Earth, to the solar system, to the Milky Way Galaxy, and to the entire observable Universe.