Visualizing the Inner Structure of N-Body Data Using Skeletonization

N-body simulations solve the n-body problem numerically and determine the trajectories of the n point masses. The result of these calculations is a huge amount of data detailing the positions and other properties of each body such as mass and velocity. To effectively draw conclusions from these data, one must employ scientific visualization to create images and movies that illustrate the structure of the data. We show that the computer animation technique of skeletonization can be applied to the volume data produced by n-body simulations in order to visualize the inner structure of the data. This novel application is compared to traditional rendering methods in terms of its ability to show this structure.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2007
• Where: MSV
• Authors: Edward Dale, Hans-Peter Bischof
• Keywords: Modeling And Simulation, MSV 2007, N-body Problem, N-body Simulations, Volume Data