Two-handed interactive stereoscopic visualization

This paper describes a minimally immersive interactive system for visualization of multivariate volumetric data. The system, SFA, uses glyph-based volume rendering which does not suffer the initial costs of isosurface rendering or voxel-based volume rendering, while offering the capability of viewing the entire volume. Glyph rendering also allows the simultaneous display of multiple data values per volume location. Two-handed interaction using three-space magnetic trackers and stereoscopic viewing are combined to produce a minimally immersive volumetric visualization system that enhances the user's three-dimensional perception of the data. We describe the usefulness of this system for visualizing volumetric scalar and vector data. SFA allows the three-dimensional volumetric visualization, manipulation, navigation, and analysis of multivariate, time-varying volumetric data, increasing the quantity and clarity of the information conveyed from the visualization system.