Motion visualization in large particle simulations

Roland Fraedrich; Rüdiger Westermann

doi:10.1117/12.904668

24 January 2012 Motion visualization in large particle simulations

Roland Fraedrich, Rüdiger Westermann

Proceedings Volume 8294, Visualization and Data Analysis 2012; 82940Q (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.904668
Event: IS&T/SPIE Electronic Imaging, 2012, Burlingame, California, United States

Abstract

Interactive visualization of large particle sets is required to analyze the complicated structures and formation processes in astrophysical particle simulations. While some research has been done on the development of visualization techniques for steady particle fields, only very few approaches have been proposed to interactively visualize large time-varying fields and their dynamics. Particle trajectories are known to visualize dynamic processes over time, but due to occlusion and visual cluttering such techniques have only been reported for very small particle sets so far. In this paper we present a novel technique to solve these problems, and we demonstrate the potential of our approach for the visual exploration of large astrophysical particle sequences. We present a new hierarchical space-time data structure for particle sets which allows for a scale-space analysis of trajectories in the simulated fields. In combination with visualization techniques that adapt to the respective scales, clusters of particles with homogeneous motion as well as separation and merging regions can be identified effectively. The additional use of mapping functions to modulate the color and size of trajectories allows emphasizing various particle properties like direction, speed, or particle-specific attributes like temperature. Furthermore, tracking of interactively selected particle subsets permits the user to focus on structures of interest.

Citation Download Citation

Roland Fraedrich and Rüdiger Westermann "Motion visualization in large particle simulations", Proc. SPIE 8294, Visualization and Data Analysis 2012, 82940Q (24 January 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.904668

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available