Texture-Based Flow Visualization on Isosurfaces from Computational Fluid Dynamics

Abstract

Isosurfacing, by itself, is a common visualization technique for investigating 3D vector fields. Applying texturebased flow visualization techniques to isosurfaces provides engineers with even more insight into the characteristics of 3D vector fields. We apply a method for producing dense, texture-based representations of flow on isosurfaces. It combines two well know scientific visualization techniques, namely iso-surfacing and texture-based flow visualization, into a useful hybrid approach. The method is fast and can generate dense representations of flow on isosurfaces with high spatio-temporal correlation at 60 frames per second. The method is applied in the context of CFD simulation data, namely, the investigation of a common swirl flow pattern and the visualization of blood flow.