View point evaluation and streamline filtering for flow visualization

Visualization of flow fields with geometric primitives is often challenging due to occlusion that is inevitably introduced by 3D streamlines. In this paper, we present a novel view-dependent algorithm that can minimize occlusion and reveal important flow features for three dimensional flow fields. To analyze regions of higher importance, we utilize Shannon’s entropy as a measure of vector complexity. An entropy field in the form of a three dimensional volume is extracted from the input vector field. To utilize this viewindependent complexity measure for view-dependent calculations, we introduce the notion of a maximal entropy projection (MEP) framebuffer, which stores maximal entropy values as well as the corresponding depth values for a given viewpoint. With this information, we develop a view-dependent streamline selection algorithm that can evaluate and choose streamlines that will cause minimum occlusion to regions of higher importance. Based on a similar concept, we also...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2011
• Where: APVIS
• Authors: Teng-Yok Lee, Oleg Mishchenko, Han-Wei Shen, Roger Crawfis
• Keywords: APVIS 2011, Entropy Values, Geometric Primitives, Information Technology, Maximal Entropy