Tutorials:

TUTORIAL 1

Multiresolution Techniques for Surfaces and Volumes

Markus Gross, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH)
Kenneth Joy, University of California at Davis
Richard Hammersley, Schlumberger Austin Technology Center
Andreas Hubeli, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH)
Hong-Qian (Karen) Lu, Schlumberger Austin Technology Center
Hanspeter Pfister, MERL - A Mitsubishi Electric Research Lab

Level: Intermediate

Course Description:

Multiresolution methods and hierarchical data organization have become powerful tools for the representation of surfaces and volumes within visualization. Their power lies in the fact that they combine a lot of useful properties, such as level of detail, local support, smoothness, error bounds and fast computations. This allows one to design efficient methods for data approximation, analysis and compression often resulting in computationally less expensive algorithms. Therefore, multiresolution and hierarchical methods have been used widely and successfully in the visualization community and have developed to a core methodology. Prominent examples comprise adaptive surface and mesh simplification, multiresolution visualization, volume compression and rendering.

The goal of this tutorial is twofold: we will describe the most important state-of-the-art surface and volume representations and we will elucidate their usefulness as modeling tools for visualization. The discussed representations include wavelets, hierarchical splines, subdivision surfaces, mesh reduction methods for surfaces and volumes, discrete surface and volume representations, schemes based on signal processing tools and classical representations. In addition we will show the power of the described methods in various applications with a special emphasis on geosciences. In each of them hierarchy is used in a different setting allowing us to demonstrate the versatility of design patterns and strategies for multiresolution methods.

Who Should Attend:

An Introduction to Information Visualization Techniques for Exploring Large Databases

Level: Beginning - Intermediate

Course Description:

The tutorial provides an overview of information visualization techniques which can be used for exploring large databases. The tutorial presents the state-of-the-art in information visualization, classifying the existing visual data exploration techniques into five groups: Geometric, Icon-based, Pixel-oriented, Graph-based, and Hierarchical Techniques. In addition to the visualization techniques, we also discuss a number of distortion and interaction techniques which have to be combined with the visualization techniques to allow an effective data exploration. Besides describing the techniques, the tutorial focuses on new developments in information visualization. In particular, we describe a wide range of recently developed techniques for visualizing large amounts of arbitrary multi-attribute data which does not have any two- or three-dimensional semantics and therefore does not lend itself to an easy display. A detailed comparison shows the strength and weaknesses of the existing techniques and reveals potentials for further improvements. Several examples demonstrate the benefits of visual data exploration techniques in real applications. The tutorial concludes with an overview of existing visual data exploration systems, including research prototypes, as well as commercial products.

Who Should Attend:

The Convergence of Scientific Visualization Methods with the World Wide Web

Theresa Marie Rhyne, Lockheed Martin/ U.S. EPA Visualization Center
Mike Bailey, San Diego Supercomputer Center & UCSD
Mike Botts, University of Alabama in Huntsville
Bill Hibbard, University of Wisconsin at Madison

Level: Intermediate

Course Description:

This tutorial will examine the convergence of visualization methods with the World Wide Web as well as the relationship between real- time interactivity and scientific information exploration. The application of visualization tools and interactive techniques to the examination and interpretation of scientific data and information will be reviewed. We will discuss how visualization tool development is expanding with the evolution of Java Servlets/Java3D, real time streaming, 3D Web tools (e.g. VRML and X3D), the Extensible Markup Language (XML), and other emerging internet technologies.

The process of developing effective visualization paradigms for supporting high speed networking, multi-platform computer architectures, database management, data mining, user interface design, remote collaborative exploration, science education and real time interactive animation will be addressed. Open source visualization tools are highlighted. Highly illustrative atmospheric, oceanographic and geographic examples will be demonstrated in real time. We will also step beyond traditional 3-D graphics displays and present solid freeform fabrication (SFF) as a visualization tool that yields actual physical 3D models from computer graphics data.

Who Should Attend:

Visualization Toolkits: Applications and Techniques

Kenneth (Ken) M. Martin, Kitware Inc.
Lisa Sobierajski Avila, Kitware Inc.
William (Bill) E. Lorensen, GE Corporate Research & Development
James (Jim) V. Miller, GE Corporate Research & Development
William (Will) J. Schroeder, Kitware Inc.

Level: Intermediate

Course Description:

In this tutorial we will discuss fundamental issues regarding the design, implementation and application of 3D graphics and visualization systems with a focus on the implementation used within the open source Visualization Toolkit. This will be used to illustrate important design issues such as graphics portability, interpreted versus compiled languages, multiple versus single inheritance, data flow models, and user interaction methods. In the remainder of this tutorial we will focus on applying visualization techniques and toolkits to solve problems from a selection of application domains.

Who Should Attend:

An Interactive Introduction to OpenGL Programming

Ed Angel, University of New Mexico
Dave Shreiner, Silicon Graphics Incorporated
Level: Beginning

Course Description: This course will present an overview of creating interactive three-dimensional graphics applications using the OpenGL programming interface. Using tutorials and simple programming exercises, as well as source code examples, and generated images, students will investigate topics ranging from specifying three-dimensional geometric models, and transformations to lighting, shading, and texture mapping interactively, immediately seeing the effects of inputs on rendered scenes. By the conclusion of the course, students should be able to write simple OpenGL applications utilizing the techniques described during the day.

Who Should Attend:

Image Processing for Volume Graphics and Analysis

Terry S. Yoo, National Library of Medicine
Raghu Machiraju, The Ohio State University
Ioannis A. Kakadiaris, University of Houston
Ross T. Whitaker, The University of Utah

Level: Intermediate

Course Description: This course is designed around the presentation of an idealized volume visualization pipeline. Like a graphics pipeline, there are steps throughout the procedure that are familiar; however, the beginning is the reconstruction of a continuous model or function from sampled data rather than generative geometry/modeling. The later half of the pipeline will cover transfer functions for classification, shading, texturing, and finally the resampling and projection of the resulting models into image space. Each of these areas will be treated from the viewpoint of the mathematical tools that we use to study and manipulate the data.

The afternoon will be dedicated to exploring emerging techniques relevant to both 3D image processing and volume graphics. Topics for discussion include multiscale methods, segmentation techniques, and level set theory. The advantages of these techniques will be illustrated for analysis through suitable examples. Wavelet techniques will be described. Less emphasis will be paid to the actual design issues of such filters. Rather, the emphasis will be on the utility of these techniques. Similarly, the topics of segmentation and level sets are used as a semantic, rather than a syntactic description of image structure.

Who Should Attend:

Rendering and Visualization in Parallel Environments

Dirk Bartz, University of Tübingen
Bengt-Olaf Schneider, nVidia
Claudio Silva, AT&T Labs - Research

Level: Intermediate

Course Description:

The continuing commoditization of the computer market has precipitated a qualitative change. Increasingly powerful processors, large memories, big hard disks, high-speed networks, and fast 3D rendering hardware are now affordable without a large capital outlay. A new class of computers, dubbed Personal Workstations, has joined the traditional technical workstation as a platform for 3D modeling and rendering. In this tutorial, attendees will learn how to understand and leverage both technical and personal workstations as components of parallel rendering systems.

We will first discuss the fundamentals of parallel programming and parallel machine architectures. Topics include message passing vs. shared memory, thread programming, a review of different SMP architectures, clustering techniques, PC architectures for personal workstations, and graphics hardware architectures. The second section builds on this foundation to describe key concepts and particular algorithms for parallel polygon rendering and parallel volume rendering. Finally, in section three we put these techniques into the context of concrete parallel rendering implementations.

Who Should Attend:

The tutorial is intended for attendees with an understanding of the basics of 3D graphics and computer architecture. The goal is to provide an overview of existing technology and an introduction of important concepts in parallel rendering and visualization. Furthermore, the tutorial is not targeted at experts in the field. Hence, it will concentrate more on concepts and less on the details of particular techniques.