Selective refinement queries for volume visualization of unstructured tetrahedral meshes

Cignoni P., De Floriani L., Magillo P., Puppo E., Scopigno R.

Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition  Volume data visualization  Software  graphics  Computer Graphics and Computer-Aided Design  Selective refinement  Unstructured tetrahedral meshes  Multiresolution geometric modeling  Signal Processing 

In this paper, we address the problem of the efficient visualization of large irregular volume data sets by exploiting a multiresolution model based on tetrahedral meshes. Multiresolution models, also called Level-Of-Detail (LOD) models, allow encoding the whole data set at a virtually continuous range of di.erent resolutions. We have identi.ed a set of queries for extracting meshes at variable resolution from a multiresolution model, based on field values, domain location, or opacity of the transfer function. Such queries allow trading-off between resolution and speed in visualization. We de.ne a new compact data structure for encoding a multiresolution tetrahedral mesh built through edge collapses to support selective refinement efficiently, and show that such a structure has a storage cost from 3 to 5.5 times lower than standard data structures used for tetrahedral meshes. The data structures and variable resolution queries have been implemented together with state-of-the art visualization techniques in a system for the interactive visualization of three-dimensional scalar fields defined on tetrahedral meshes. Experimental results show that selective refinement queries can support interactive visualization of large datasets.

Source: IEEE transactions on visualization and computer graphics 10 (2004): 29–45. doi:10.1109/TVCG.2004.1260756

Publisher: IEEE Computer Society,, New York, NY , Stati Uniti d'America

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