02560 Web Graphics and Scientific Visualization

Week 6 - the visualization pipeline (project proposals)

The visualization pipeline is best understood by applying it to some specific example. The lecture provides one example, which is also an example of hsv to rgb colour mapping for false-colour visualization of scalar attributes (see DV: Section 3.6). This example also makes more extensive use of the OpenGL ES Shading Language (GLSL ES) which is part of WebGL (see GL: Chapter 6 and Appendix B). To try a similar example, pick two images and load them as textures. One of them should preferably be a degraded version of the other. Make a WebGL program which can switch between the two images and their difference (by pressing space on the keyboard, for example). Use hsv to rgb colour mapping to generate a nice false-colour image when visualizing the difference between the two images. Describe the visualization pipeline of this example.

The time where a project should be chosen is drawing nearer. To help you choose your project, I provide a couple of project proposals in the following. A useful exercise is to write down what the visualization pipeline could be for these projects.

Choosing a project is all about choosing the data and the insight that we would like to obtain from the visualization. In essence, the project should come from curiosity: a question that we would like to answer.

Project initiator 1: What would it look like if we modify the surface of "this object"? [replace "this object" by some real object; a coffee mug, for example]
How to do it:

Relevance: Many product design processes are about modifying the surface of a product to improve it.

Project initiator 2: What is inside a head and what can we learn from it?
How to do it:

Relevance: Medical applications such as inspection of skull fractures and damage to soft brain tissues after suffering from a head trauma.

Reading Material

DV Section 3.6 and Chapter 4. Attributes and the visualization pipeline.
GL Chapter 6 and Appendix B. The OpenGL ES Shading Language (GLSL ES) and built-in functions of GLSL ES 1.0.