GlyphSea

GlyphSea is a 4D animation capability developed by Amit Chourasia, Emmett Mcquinn, Bernard Minster and Jurgen Schulze.

Abstract: Vector visualization is an important area to investigate scientific data in many domains. Prior visualization strategies have primarily focused on maps and volumetric rendering of scalar fields, which do not permit a full characterization of underlying phenomena. We have developed an interactive glyph visualization application that allows scientists to explore vector fields. We implement novel technique of procedural dipole and cross mark texturing to encode and display vector data. We employ a novel lattice method to show neighborhood, which also enables to distinguish glyphs. We further enhance visualization by using screen space ambient occlusion, jitter, outline halos and displacement. By combining contextual information with glyphs, such as geographic maps and representations of crustal structure with three-dimensional isosurfaces, scientists are able examine vector fields in a rich and interactive multivariate environment. We demonstrate the results for time-dependent vector data from a three different simulations including the "Big One" earthquake simulation affecting the Los Angeles region. These new visualizations clearly depict the obvious features as well those missed in previous investigations.