Topology-based Exploration of Volume Data
Gunther H. Weber, Gerik Scheuermann, Bernd Hamann, and Hans Hagen
Abstract
When examining a scalar field using isosurfaces, it is often difficult to
identify isovalues where relevant isosurface behavior occurs. Using Morse
theory, it is possible to identify critical points. These critical points
indicate isosurface topology changes: the creation of new surface components,
merging of surface components or the formation of holes in a surface component.
Therefore, they highlight "interesting" isosurface behavior and are helpful
in exploration of large trivariate data sets. We present a method that detects
critical points in a scalar field defined by piecewise trilinear
interpolation over a rectilinear grid. The resulting list of critical points is
then used to aid users in examining a data set with isosurfaces. We further use
critical isovalues to automatically generate transfer functions for direct
volume rendering. We also extend the concept of critical points to critical
regions. This allows us to classify regions of constant value and use our
method for a wider variety of data sets.
Publications
- Gunther H. Weber,
Gerik Scheuermann,
Automating Transfer Function Design Based on Topology Analysis,
in: Geometric Modeling for Scientific Visualization, 2004.
- Bernd Hamann,
Gunther H. Weber,
Gerik Scheuermann,
Detecting Critical Regions in Scalar Fields,
in: Data Visualization 2003 (Proceedings of VisSym), pp. 85--94, 2003.
- Gunther H. Weber,
Gerik Scheuermann,
Bernd Hamann,
Hans Hagen,
Exploring Scalar Fields Using Critical Isovalues,
in: IEEE Visualization 2002, pp. 171--178, 2002.
- Gunther H. Weber,
Gerik Scheuermann,
Topology-Based Transfer Function Design,
in: Proceedings of the Second IASTED International (VIIP 2002) Conference on Visualization, Imaging, and Image Processing 2002, pp. 527--532, 2002.
Contact
Gunther H. Weber
