Interactive Occlusion-Free System for Volume Exploration (Master Thesis and Project)
Abstract The occlusion problem is possible that there are potentially critical hidden features in the volumetric data that cannot be discovered. This is the primary problem when rendering volumes to 2D screens. Numerous techniques, such as tuning the transfer function (TF), isosurface extraction, etc., have been proposed in the past to address the occlusion problem and assist experts in exploring volumetric data. However, it is difficult for non-expert users with little prior knowledge to spend hours learning related information, such as how to tune the TF or the relation between opacity and volumetric data. Existing systems for non-expert users still need users to comprehend the opacity function. Therefore, we propose a progressive digging interaction to allow non-expert users’ exploration approach, which is intuitive and closer to daily life behavior. We also provide a navigation view of the feature structure and enable non-expert users to begin using the volume exploration system with minimum prior knowledge. In addition, we collect user feedback in several fields through case studies to illustrate our system’s usability, practicality, and applicability.