Scientific Visualization (SS 2020)

Registration

lecture: JExam (now open!) and for CMS Selma
exercise (and lecture password): Opal-Course

Corona Special

Carefully read Information in Virtual Teaching.

Lecture

Course Overview

The course Scientific Visualization covers five topics from the broad area of Scientific Visualization. The topics are aligned with the research areas of the Chair of Computer Graphics and Visualization. Narrowing down the topics allows to study each topic in medium detail with two or three lectures for each topic. In the course schedule you find links to trailer videos for each topic. Exercises are organized such that you can train the theoretical concepts and get practical programming experience in the topics.

The course focuses on real-time rendering techniques and data processing and analysis techniques as detailed in the description of the five topics:

• Stereo: SciVis techniques often map data to 3D scenes, which can be perceived much better with stereoscopic rendering. In the Stereo topic we cover depth perception of the human visual system, discuss stereoscopic display technology and study stereoscopic rendering in detail. The stereo rendering part builds on perspective transformations and the OpenGL rendering pipeline introduced in CG1 and DataVis.
• Particles: particles are the atomic entity onto which a lot of simulation approaches build. Furthermore, a lot natural phenomena can be explained by splitting them into particles. This topic covers rendering approaches for large particle datasets in form of individual glyphs, trajectories or particle clusters. GPU-based glyph raycasting is introduced which on the one hand is a very efficient rendering technique and on the other hand gives you deep insides into shader programming and efficient of the rendering pipeline
• Terrain: digital elevation models are today available on planet scale for earth, moon and mars. Compared to most other rendering problems, terrain models have a huge extent and can be seen at the same time close to the viewer as well as far away. We will study the problem of view-dependent adaptation of terrain models for real-time rendering of huge terrain models.
• Volume: volumetric data can be measured for example by MRT, CT and light sheet microscopy; but is also the result of a simulation approaches in physics, material and engineering sciences. We will study cubic interpolation techniques, the volume rendering integral and different rendering algorithms for regular grids and tetrahedral mesh. Finally, we discuss advanced transfer function design and surface extraction techniques.
• Topology: in this topic we study mathematical structures of datasets that are based on information of connectedness. Examples are contour and Reeb trees or the Morse Smale complex. This structures can be used for a plausible simplification or segmentation of data. This fosters faster comprehension especially in case of complex or noisy data.

Video Streams and Video Conferences

Now integrated below. For password see Opal Course.

Schedule & Slides

Stereo (trailer, slides^{updated 19.04.2020}, forum)
06.04.20 ... videos: 1, 2, 3
13.04.20 ... Easter Monday
20.04.20 ... videos: 4, 5, 6
Particles (trailer, slides^{updated 10.05.20}, forum , ad)
27.04.20 ... videos: 1, 2
04.05.20 ... videos: 3, 4, 5
11.05.20 ... videos: 6, 7
Terrain (trailer, slides^{updated 23.05.20})
11.05.20 ... videos: 1, 2
18.05.20 ... videos: 3, 4, 5
25.05.20 ... videos: 6, geometry clipmap: project page, video
Volume (slides^{updated 22.06.2020})
25.05.20 ... video: 1
01.06.20 ... Pentecost
08.06.20 ... videos: 2, 3, 4, 5
15.06.20 ... videos: 6, 7
22.06.20 ... videos: 8, 9, 10
Topology (trailer, slides^{updated 06.07.2020})
29.06.20 ... videos: 1, 2, 3
06.07.20 ... videos: 4, 5, 6, 7
13.07.20 ... 14:50pm closing session video conference (BBB-TUD, BBB-external) with exam preparation

Exam

duration: reduced to 60min
time: 30.07.2020 14:50
place: HSZ/02/E
registration: CMS students through Selma, all others by email
special regulation: no oral examinations offered this semester. This semester courses of modules (INF-BAS7, INF-VERT7, ...) with complex examinations can have individual exams the results of which are averaged. As this rule does not hold next semester, please ensure to complete the modules this semester.
questionnaire: version SS20
consultation: in lecture slot on 13th of July starting at 14:50pm via BBB. Please check questionnaire before and if possible communicate to be discussed questions in the from "Stereo 5. 6. 12. Particles 18. ..." to Prof. Gumhold.

Excercises

Supervisors:    Franziska Kahlert, Marzan Tasnim Oyshi
Time & Place:  Monday, 6. DS (Briefing) in APB E008
                            Friday, 2. - 5. DS (individual appointments for evaluation)

There are four practical exercises and an introduction exercise to the used framework. Enroll in the  Opal-Course to participate. Form teams of two or three students to solve the assignments. Each partner will be scored equally based on your solution. Passing Criteria: At least 50 % of the achievable score AND at least 2 points per assignment (for exercises 1-4). The exercises do not factor into your final grade - only the examination is being graded! However, you have to pass the exercise in order to receive the full credits that the course SciVis can contribute to your module upon passing the exam - otherwise, you will only receive half.

On the release date, exercises will be presented in the exercise slot after the lecture. The supervisors will explain the assignment and give hints to solve it.

The release of the exercises is scheduled in such a way that an evaluated exercise has at least 2 weeks to be completed. Students have to make sure that their solution is handed in at the submission date (each Thursday before evaluation). You must upload your solution via Opal by 23:59. To get points for your practical assignment, you must present your work to a tutor on the evaluation date. For this evaluation, each student or team gets an individual appointment with their tutor (Friday, 2. - 5. DS shown in Opal).

Schedule

* released one week in advance due to pentecost

Release: Assignments will be made available via Opal.
Briefing: Supervisors present the assignments after the lecture.
Submission: Hand in your solutions by this date - upload via Opal until 23:59
Evaluation: Students present their practical solutions to the tutors and receive a score based on this presentation.