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ECS 276 ADVANCED VOLUME VISUALIZATION (4) II

Lecture: 3 hours

Discussion: 1 hour

Prerequisite: Course 177

Grading: Letter; programming assignment (75%), final project (25%)

Catalog Description:
Applications, available tools and techniques, the challenges confronting the field of volume visualization, and some of the advanced topics in the field. Primary emphasis on advanced software and hardware techniques to achieve interactive visualization.

Goals:
Provide an introduction to the advanced concepts involved in the design and implementation of volume visualization algorithms and systems. Prepare students to conduct research in volume data visualization.

Expanded Course Description:

  1. Basic volume rendering algorithms
    1. Ray casting
    2. Splatting
    3. Multi-pass Transformation
    4. Iso-surface extraction
    5. Adaptive/Irregular meshes
  2. Interactive Techniques and hardware support
    1. Software optimization
    2. Application dependent optimization
    3. Graphics hardware assisted techniques
    4. Volume rendering hardware
    5. User interaction/User Interfaces
  3. Parallel volume rendering
    1. A. Basic algorithms
    2. Optimization
    3. Scalability
  4. IV. Realism, accuracy, and perception
    1. Shading and photorealistic rendering
    2. Non-photorealistic rendering
    3. Texture techniques
    4. High fidelity rendering
  5. Other topics
    1. Vector field
    2. Compression
    3. Volume modeling and Mix-mode rendering
Textbook:
A selection of research papers

Computer Usage:
The programming projects are designed to reinforce and complement the lecture material. Students will work individually or in small groups on the implementation of volume visualization algorithms, and on the integration of these algorithms into a volume visualization system. Workstations, multiprocessor computers, PC's, and clusters will be used.

Engineering Design Statement:
The individual student taking this class will design and document components of a data visualization system. The specific component of the system to be designed is developed from the current research literature in volume visualization. The student will learn how to enhance and optimize existing algorithms, and how to integrate them into a visualization system.

ABET Category Content:
Engineering Science: 2 units
Engineering Design: 2 units

Instructor: B. Hamann, K. Joy, K. Ma, N. Max

Prepared by: K. Ma (August 1999)

THIS COURSE DOES NOT DUPLICATE ANY EXISTING COURSE.

8/99

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