On the Optimization of Visualizations of Complex Phenomena

The problem of perceptually optimizing complex visualizations is a difficult one, involving perceptual as well as aesthetic issues. In our experience, controlled experiments are quite limited in their ability to uncover interrelationships among visualization parameters, and thus may not be the most useful way to develop rules-of-thumb or theory to guide the production of high-quality visualizations. In this paper, we propose a new experimental approach to optimizing visualization quality that integrates some of the strong points of controlled experiments with methods more suited to investigating complex highly-coupled phenomena. We use human-in-the-loop experiments to search through visualization parameter space, generating large databases of rated visualization solutions. This is followed by data mining to extract results such as exemplar visualizations, guidelines for producing visualizations, and hypotheses about strategies leading to strong visualizations. The approach can easily address both perceptual and aesthetic concerns, and can handle complex parameter interactions. We suggest a genetic algorithm as a valuable way of guiding the human-in-the-loop search through visualization parameter space. We describe our methods for using clustering, histogramming, principal component analysis, and neural networks for data mining. The experimental approach is illustrated with a study of the problem of optimal texturing for viewing layered surfaces so that both surfaces are maximally observable

Visualization of toner ink adsorption at bubble surfaces

Flotation deinking involves interactions between inks particles and bubbles surfaces. These interactions are very difficult to observe directly or to quantify in bench-scale experiments or mill operations, making it difficult to evaluate effects of process conditions such as bubble size and solution chemistry on deinking efficiency. This paper presents images and measurements of toner ink interactions with bubble surfaces in laboratory-scale flotation processes. Stable adsorption of toner ink was observed at surfaces of stationary and suspended bubbles for several system chemistries. Interactions of toner particles and bubbles were quantified by high magnification and high temporal resolution digital videos obtained in bubble flow facilities creating both stationary and flowing bubbles. Large (>200 micron), flat toner particles adsorbed to bubble surfaces by single contact points. Smaller toner particles formed very stable complexes in fatty acid chemistries. Desorption of toner ink from bubble surfaces was not observed, even for vigorous flows. Bubbles were observed to be fully covered with toner after 4 minutes of residence time in the suspending bubble flow facility. Initial estimates indicate that bubbles with diameters of approximately 1 mm carry more than 1 mg of ink per bubble

A Visual Tool to Improve Layered Manufacturing Part Quality

A software tool is described that will aid the user in. choosing the optimum build orientation to obtain the ..best composite set of surface finishes on a part built .on a Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) rapid prototyping machine.• Experiments were conducted to obtain statistical .surface roughness values as a function of orientation and layer thickness.Three types of surfaces (features}.have been. considered planar (both upward facing and downward facing (over hang surfaces)),.quadratic and free form Surfaces..Data analysis of surface roughness of planar surfaces at various orientations·and their mapping. to. quadratic and freeform surfaces are presented. decision support software tool allows dynamic .. color-coded visualization of the surface quality simultaneous with build parameters including orientation and layer thickness.Mechanical Engineerin

Integrating 2D Mouse Emulation with 3D Manipulation for Visualizations on a Multi-Touch Table

We present the Rizzo, a multi-touch virtual mouse that has been designed to provide the fine grained interaction for information visualization on a multi-touch table. Our solution enables touch interaction for existing mouse-based visualizations. Previously, this transition to a multi-touch environment was difficult because the mouse emulation of touch surfaces is often insufficient to provide full information visualization functionality. We present a unified design, combining many Rizzos that have been designed not only to provide mouse capabilities but also to act as zoomable lenses that make precise information access feasible. The Rizzos and the information visualizations all exist within a touch-enabled 3D window management system. Our approach permits touch interaction with both the 3D windowing environment as well as with the contents of the individual windows contained therein. We describe an implementation of our technique that augments the VisLink 3D visualization environment to demonstrate how to enable multi-touch capabilities on all visualizations written with the popular prefuse visualization toolkit.

Feature based volumes for implicit intersections.

The automatic generation of volumes bounding the intersection of two implicit surfaces (isosurfaces of real functions of 3D point coordinates) or feature based volumes (FBV) is presented. Such FBVs are defined by constructive operations, function normalization and offsetting. By applying various offset operations to the intersection of two surfaces, we can obtain variations in the shape of an FBV. The resulting volume can be used as a boundary for blending operations applied to two corresponding volumes, and also for visualization of feature curves and modeling of surface based structures including microstructures