SciVL: A Descriptive Language for 2D Multivariate Scientific Visualization Synthesis presented by Jason Sobel advisor: Prof. David Laidlaw

Road Map Motivation and Introduction Implementation Language Specification Conclusions and Future Work

Motivations Good visualizations take time 1. Decide on “visual elements” 2. Code and debug 3. Evaluate and iterate

Motivations (cont.) “Optimize” visualizations Find best combinations of visual properties

Our Question Can we provide a fast and easy way to prototype visualizations that also allows optimization?

Proposed Solution Define a language that can be used to represent a visualization Create an instance in a text file Apply an instance to a dataset to generate an image

Goals The language should be: 1. Simple 2. Expressive 3. Flexible 4. Hierarchical 5. Easily broken in to “genes”

Contributions Understanding of “key” visual properties Rapid prototyping system Foundation for future work

Road Map Motivation and Introduction Implementation Language Specification Conclusions and Future Work

Layer System Three types of layers:  Icon  Colorplane  Streamline Each layer defines some number of visual elements

Rendering A SciVL file specifies an arbitrary number of layers They are combined to produce the final image

Values: Specifying “Numbers” Visual properties are not given number values in the SciVL file They are given abstract Values, one of:  Constant  Random  Data-driven

Realization When rendering a layer, we realize a Value to get a number  Use location to map to data

Values Example

Icon Layer Let’s look at all the properties of an icon layer The following images were made using a gradient dataset  0 on the left to 1 on the right

All Forms

Circle Form

Rectangle Form

Triangle Form

Multi-Offset Forms

Compound Forms

Color

Color (Partial Range)

Alpha

Borders

Border Color

Border Alpha & Width

Spacing

Orientation

Texture

Failures

Jitter

Example Icons

Colorplane Layer Used for “regions” or “washes” of color

Colorplanes

Colorplanes in Use

Streamline Layer Useful for visualizing vector data like velocity or vorticity

Streamlines Color & Alpha

Streamlines Width & Texture

Streamline Density

Road Map Motivation and Introduction Implementation Language Specification Conclusions and Future Work

Layer System The language specifies visual elements layer by layer The syntax is a simple interface to all the properties described above  Allows specifying a Value for each one

VisEl Layer BEGIN_LAYER VISEL NVISELS 1 BEGIN_VISEL POISSON POINT Constant.5 Constant.5 Constant 0 NFAILS 0 NFORMS 1 BEGIN_FORMSTAGE SHAPE Constant square NOFFSETS 2 OFFSET POINT Constant 0 Constant 0 Constant 0 OFFSET POINT Constant 5 Constant 0 Constant 0 BEGIN_STYLE NCOLORS 1 POINT Variable gradient_x.4.6 Constant.8 Constant.8 NALPHAS 1 Constant.8 NTEXTURES 0 NORIENTATIONS 1 Random 0.1 NBORDERS 1 COLOR POINT Variable gradient_y 0.3 Constant.7 Constant.8 ALPHA Random.8 1 WIDTH Constant 2 NSCALES 0 NDIMENSIONS 1 POINT Variable gradient_y 3 6 Constant 0 Constant 0 END_STYLE END_FORMSTAGE END_VISEL END_LAYER

Demo

Colorplane Layers Similar syntax Can control, per vertex:  Failures  Color  Alpha

Streamline Layers Similar syntax Can control:  Failures  Vector to follow  Survival  Density  Color/Transparency  Size  Texture

Road Map Motivation and Introduction Implementation Language Specification Conclusions and Future Work

More Pictures

Success? Goals were: 1. Simple 2. Expressive 3. Flexible 4. Hierarchical 5. Easily broken in to “genes” Did we accomplish these goals?

Anecdotal Feedback A “design-expert” professor from RISD A scientist with radar polarimetry data

Challenges Allowing every possible combination Interfacing with any kind of data Finding “correct” visual elements & properties

Future Work Genetic Algorithms  Can we create the perfect visualization?  Was man meant to play God? Visualization “Rules”  Can we find “The Do’s and Don’ts” of Scientific Visualization?

Thanks Prof. David Laidlaw Daniel Acevedo Cullen Jackson Eileen Vote David Karelitz Daniel Keefe Prof. Fritz Drury Dean Turner Prof. Andy van Dam Morriah Horani Sci Vis Family and Friends