TIME & LOCATION

MWF 10:30am - 11:20am

HAAS G066

DESCRIPTION

Scientific Visualization transforms numerical data sets obtained through measurements or computations into insightful graphical representations. Interactive visualization systems allow scientists, engineers, and biomedical researchers to explore and analyze a variety of phenomena in an intuitive and effective way.

This course offers an introduction to the principles and techniques of Scientific Visualization. It covers methods corresponding to the visualization of the most common data types, as well as higher-dimensional, so-called multi-field problems. It combines a description of visualization algorithms with a presentation of their practical application. Basic notions of human vision and color perception are introduced for completeness. Simple but very instructive programming assignments provide a hands-on exposure to the most widely used visualization techniques.

SOFTWARE

The implementation assignments are based on the Visualization Toolkit (VTK). This open source software library can be easily installed on Windows, Linux, and Mac. VTK can be interfaced with using C++, Python, Java, and Tcl/Tk.

PROJECTS AND EXAMS

There will be 6 projects involving programming assignments and critical analysis of the results achieved. Each project will focus on datasets taken from a particular application field. The programming part will consist in creating a good visualization of the data based on the information provided about its interesting features and the analysis part will assess the effectiveness of the visualization as well as its limitations. The projects will be submitted through turnin.

The midterm exam will take place (tentatively) in week 9 of the semester. It will be an evening exam of 90 minutes. Two regular lectures will be cancelled that week to accommodate it.

BLACKBOARD

The grades will be posted on Blackboard Learn. Discussion threads for each project will be created there as well. Please do NOT post answers to the assignments on the discussion group, though posting general clarifications is fine. Complaints about the assignments or the class should NOT be posted to the group-- instead, they should be e-mailed to the joint TA/instructor email list cs530-ta@cs.purdue.edu If you think a grading error was made on a project or exam, or if you do not receive feedback on a project, you must talk to the TA or the instructor within a week of when it was returned.

ACADEMIC HONESTY

Please read the departmental academic integrity policy. This will be followed unless written documentation of exceptions is provided. The projects are to be completed individually. Discussing solutions, implementation decisions, or discussing analysis aspects is not allowed. The solution you submit to each project must reflect your own work and efforts and nobody else’s. In any case, if you choose to make use of material created by others (e.g., code or text found online), you must explicitly acknowledge the source of this material.