Scientific Visualization (SS 2021)

Registration

JExam and for CMS Selma; exercise and password: Opal-Course

Lecture

Schedule & Slides

For password see Opal Course.
Stereo (trailer, slides^{updated 14.4.21 on slide 87}, videos)
12.04.21 ... 2:50pm Q&A (BBB), videos 1-3
19.04.21 ... 9:20am Q&A (BBB), videos 4-6
Particles (trailer, slides^SS2020, videos)
26.04.21 ... 2:50pm Q&A (BBB), videos: 1,2
03.05.21 ... 2:50pm Q&A (BBB), videos: 3-5
10.05.21 ... videos: 6,7 (no Q&A session)
Terrain (trailer, slides^SS2020, videos)
17.05.21 ... 2:30pm Q&A (BBB), videos: (1-3)
24.05.21 ... Pentecost
31.05.21 ... 2:50pm Q&A (BBB), videos: (4-6), geometry clipmap: project page, video
Volume (slides^SS2020, videos)
07.06.21 ... 2:50pm Q&A (BBB), videos: (1-2)
14.06.21 ... no Q&A today, videos: (3, 4 and 20min of 5)
21.06.21 ... 3pm Q&A (BBB), videos: (rest of 5, 6)
28.06.21 ... no Q&A, videos: (7,8,9)
Topology (trailer, slides^SS2020, video)
05.07.21 ... 2:50pm Q&A (BBB), videos: (1-3) ... please ignore statements on SS20 exam
12.07.21 ... videos: (4-7)

19.07.21 ... closing session with exam preparation (BBB)

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.

Exam

mode: onsite written exam
time: 19.8.2021, 1:00 pm
place: POT/81/H (map)
duration: 60min
registration: MA CMS students through Selma, MA INF/MedINF master exam office (check "Complex Examinations" here), BA INF/MedINF students please use exam office forms (here)
questionnaire: version SS20

Excercises

Supervisors:   Marzan Tasnim Oyshi, David Groß 
Time & Place: We will start online. Check Opal-Course for updates.

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).

In case of passing the exercise you can earn bonus points for exams. The achieved exercise points are first converted to percent with respect to the maximum achievable exercise points not considering exercise bonus points. The exam bonus percentage is then computed by multiplying with 10%. Finally, the exam points are increased by this percentage. In case of oral exams the oral grade 4.0|3.7|3.3|..|1.3|1.0 is converted into points 52|57|62|..|92|97 on a 100-scale; bonus points are added and a final grade of 4.0|3.7|..|1.3|1.0 is given according to whether at least 50|55|..|90|95 points have been reached overall.

On the release date, exercises will be published in opal with a video description followed by a question and answer session. 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 in case the tutor demands it.

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.