A Case Study: Visualizing Material Point Method Data

Abstract

The Material Point Method is used for complex simulation of solid materials represented using many individual particles. Visualizing such data using existing polygonal or volumetric methods does not accurately encapsulate both the particle and macroscopic properties of the data. In this case study we present various methods used to visualize the particle data as spheres and explain and evaluate two methods of augmenting the visualization using silhouette edges and advanced illumination such as ambient occlusion.We also present informal feedback received from the application scientists who use these methods in their workflow.