Parallel Direct Volume Rendering Of Intersecting Curvilinear And Unstructured Grids Using A Scan Line Algorithm And K D Trees

Abstract: "Visualizing three-dimensional unstructured data from aerodynamics calculations is challenging because the associated meshes are typically large in size and irregular in both shape and resolution. The goal of this research is to develop a fast, efficient parallel volume rendering algorithm for massively parallel distributed-memory supercomputers consisting of a large number of very powerful processors. We use cell-projection instead of ray-casting to provide maximum flexibility in the data distribution and rendering steps. Effective static load balancing is achieved with a round robin distribution of data cells among the processors. A spatial partitioning tree is used to guide the rendering, optimize the image compositing step, and reduce memory consumption. Communication cost is reduced by buffering messages and by overlapping communication with rendering calculations as much as possible. Tests on the IBM SP2 demonstrate that these strategies provide high rendering rates and good scalability. For a dataset containing half a million tetrahedral cells, we achieve two frames per second for a 400x400-pixel image using 128 processors."

This book represents results in the field of Scientific Visualization which is nowadays an indispensable discipline to get insight in the huge amounts of data produced by large scale simulations or advanced measurement devices. The readers will find a selection of state-of-the-art results and techniques in Scientific Visualization research, which they can use to find solutions for their visualization problems.

Mathematical Visualization is a young new discipline. It offers efficient visualization tools to the classical subjects of mathematics, and applies mathematical techniques to problems in computer graphics and scientific visualization. Originally, it started in the interdisciplinary area of differential geometry, numerical mathematics, and computer graphics. In recent years, the methods developed have found important applications. The current volume is the quintessence of an international workshop in September 1997 in Berlin, focusing on recent developments in this emerging area. Experts present selected research work on new algorithms for visualization problems, describe the application and experiments in geometry, and develop new numerical or computer graphical techniques.

This book contains 33 papers presented at the Third Joint Visualization Symposium of the Eurographics Association and the Technical Committee on Visualization and Graphics of the IEEE Computer Society. The main topics treated are: visualization of geoscience data; multi-resolution and adaptive techniques; unstructured data, multi-scale and visibility; flow visualization; biomedical applications; information visualization; object representation; volume rendering; information visualization applications; and automotive applications.

ParCo2007 marks a quarter of a century of the international conferences on parallel computing that started in Berlin in 1983. The aim of the conference is to give an overview of the developments, applications and future trends in high-performance computing for various platforms.