Direct Isosurface Visualization of Hex-Based High-Order Geometry and Attribute Representations

—In this paper, we present a novel isosurface visualization technique that guarantees the accurate visualization of isosurfaces with complex attribute data defined on (un)structured (curvi)linear hexahedral grids. Isosurfaces of high-order hexahedralbased finite element solutions on both uniform grids (including MRI and CT scans) and more complex geometry representing a domain of interest that can be rendered using our algorithm. Additionally, our technique can be used to directly visualize solutions and attributes in isogeometric analysis, an area based on trivariate high-order NURBS (Non-Uniform Rational B-splines) geometry and attribute representations for the analysis. Furthermore, our technique can be used to visualize isosurfaces of algebraic functions. Our approach combines subdivision and numerical root finding to form a robust and efficient isosurface visualization algorithm that does not miss surface features, while finding all intersections between a view frustum and desir...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2012
• Where: TVCG
• Authors: Tobias Martin, Elaine Cohen, Mike Kirby
• Keywords: Accurate Visualization, Finite Element Solutions, Hardware, Medical Data Sets, TVCG 2012