Tech Report CS-03-26

Using CavePainting to Create Scientific Visualizations

David B. Karelitz, Daniel F. Keefe, and David H. Laidlaw

December 2003

Abstract:

We present an application of a virtual reality (VR) tool to the problem of creating scientific visualizations in VR. Our tool allows a designer to prototype a visualization prior to implementation. The system evolved from CavePainting, which allows artists to draw in VR. We introduce the concept of using an interactive legend to link a visualization design to the visualization data. As opposed to existing methods of visualization design, our method enables the researcher to quickly experiment with multiple visualization designs - without having to code each one. We applied this system to the visualization of coronary artery flow data.

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