Implementierung einer asynchronen Volumenvisualisierung für simulierte Mantelkonvektionsdaten

Kurzfassung

The investigation of mantle convection can give information about the formation of a planet. To describe this, volumetric data is generated in simulations. When evaluating this data, an interactive visualization can lead to a better overview. In this thesis, a module for visualizing this data is implemented in the visualization software CosmoScout VR. An asynchronous architecture is developed, so that the processes for rendering and displaying volumes are decoupled from each other. The volume is displayed by using renderer images as textures on a coherent geometry. In order to create a three-dimensional impression even from new viewing perspectives, the geometry is deformed using collected depth data. Depth values for the volume are determined by means of different heuristics. The best results are achieved by selecting the voxel from which one of two opacity thresholds is exceeded. For the implemented system, the quality of the generated images was determined experimentally depending on the viewing angle. The similarity of the images to a correct image was determined using the Peak Signal to Noise Ratio and the Structural Similarity Index Measure. The representation of mostly opaque and transparent volumes was considered separately. For opaque volumes, images with SSIM values of 0.85 are generated even at viewing angles of 50°. For transparent volumes, however, similar values are only displayed up to angles of 20°. Under these conditions, investigations with maximum rotation speeds of 0.33 revolutions per second can still be performed on a test system.