Interactive Methods for Exploring Particle Simulation Data

Abstract

In this work, we visualize high-dimensional particle simulation data using a suite of scatterplot-based visualizations coupled with interactive selection tools. We use traditional 2D and 3D projection scatterplots as well as a novel oriented-disk rendering style to convey various information about the data. Interactive selection tools allow physicists to manually classify "interesting" sets of particles that are highlighted across multiple, linked views of the data. The power of our application is the ability to correspond new visual representations of the simulation data with traditional, well understood visualizations. This approach supports the interactive exploration of the high-dimensional space while promoting discovery of new particle behavior.