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Isosurface Extraction

Isosurface extraction is a powerful tool for investigating volumetric scalar fields. The position of an isosurface, as well as its relation to other neighboring isosurfaces, can provide clues to the underlying structure of the scalar field. SCI Institute research in isosurface extraction techniques has resulted in the "span-space representation" which accelerates the search for isosurfaces in large-scale fields. Additionally, SCI Institute researchers have developed methods for extracting view-dependent isosurfaces and isosurfaces from time-dependent fields.


This image is of NIMROD simulation data showing an isosurface of the n=0 part of the pressure field (yellow), which shows the 1/1 structure, and an isosurface of the n=2 part of the toroidal current field (green), which shows the developing 3/2 structure. Between the two isosufaces is a streamline using the sum of the n=0,1, and 2 modes of the magnetic field (red).

Two isosurfaces of a constant magnitude are shown embedded in a volume visualization of the data. A single trace and an SP-log curve at one of the wells are also shown.

View dependent isosurface extraction is based on extracting only the visible portion of the isosurface. This approach provides a fast and economical imaging of complex isosurfaces and is especially suited for applications such as remote visualization where many isosurfaces are generated and transmitted over a network.

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