Stefan Bruckner

Eric Zimmermann, Stefan Bruckner

The Sierpinski triangle and the Sierpinski arrowhead curve are both defined in dimension 2 and can be used to model the same fractal. While a natural extension of the triangular construction to arbitrary dimensions exists, an analogous extension of the curve representation does not. In this article, we analyze the properties of the two-dimensional Sierpinski arrowhead curve to formulate an extension to arbitrary dimensions based on reproduction rules. Building on this formulation, we demonstrate a way to visualize such curves in a comparative manner across levels. Finally, as geometric patterns have a long history in the arts, and especially in fashion, we exemplify this visualization approach in knitwear, specifically in the yoke of a sweater.

Yngve S. Kristiansen, Laura Garrison, Stefan Bruckner

Visual information displays are typically composed of multiple visualizations that are used to facilitate an understanding of the underlying data. A common example are dashboards, which are frequently used in domains such as finance, process monitoring and business intelligence. However, users may not be aware of existing guidelines and lack expert design knowledge when composing such multi-view visualizations. In this paper, we present semantic snapping, an approach to help non-expert users design effective multi-view visualizations from sets of pre-existing views. When a particular view is placed on a canvas, it is "aligned" with the remaining views -- not with respect to its geometric layout, but based on aspects of the visual encoding itself, such as how data dimensions are mapped to channels. Our method uses an on-the-fly procedure to detect and suggest resolutions for conflicting, misleading, or ambiguous designs, as well as to provide suggestions for alternative presentations. With this approach, users can be guided to avoid common pitfalls encountered when composing visualizations. Our provided examples and case studies demonstrate the usefulness and validity of our approach.

Monique Meuschke, Laura Garrison, Noeska Smit et al.

Narrative visualization aims to communicate scientific results to a general audience and garners significant attention in various applications. Merging exploratory and explanatory visualization could effectively support a non-expert understanding of scientific processes. Medical research results, e.g., mechanisms of the healthy human body, explanations of pathological processes, or avoidable risk factors for diseases, are also interesting to a general audience that includes patients and their relatives. This paper discusses how narrative techniques can be applied to medical visualization to tell data-driven stories about diseases. We address the general public comprising people interested in medicine without specific medical background knowledge. We derived a general template for the narrative medical visualization of diseases. Applying this template to three diseases selected to span bone, vascular, and organ systems, we discuss how narrative techniques can support visual communication and facilitate understanding of medical data. Other scientists can adapt our proposed template to inform an audience on other diseases. With our work, we show the potential of narrative medical visualization and conclude with a comprehensive research agenda.

Fabian Bolte, Stefan Bruckner

Developing an algorithm for a visualization prototype often involves the direct comparison of different development stages and design decisions, and even minor modifications may dramatically affect the results. While existing development tools provide visualizations for gaining general insight into performance and structural aspects of the source code, they neglect the central importance of result images unique to graphical algorithms. In this paper, we present a novel approach that enables visualization programmers to simultaneously explore the evolution of their algorithm during the development phase together with its corresponding visual outcomes by providing an automatically updating meta visualization. Our interactive system allows for the direct comparison of all development states on both the visual and the source code level, by providing easy to use navigation and comparison tools. The on-the-fly construction of difference images, source code differences, and a visual representation of the source code structure further enhance the user's insight into the states' interconnected changes over time. Our solution is accessible via a web-based interface that provides GPU-accelerated live execution of C++ and GLSL code, as well as supporting a domain-specific programming language for scientific visualization.

Ivan Kolesar, Julius Parulek, Ivan Viola et al.

Research in cell biology is steadily contributing new knowledge about many different aspects of physiological processes like polymerization, both with respect to the involved molecular structures as well as their related function. Illustrations of the spatio-temporal development of such processes are not only used in biomedical education, but also can serve scientists as an additional platform for in-silico experiments. In this paper, we contribute a new, three-level modeling approach to illustrate physiological processes from the class of polymerization at different time scales. We integrate physical and empirical modeling, according to which approach suits the different involved levels of detail best, and we additionally enable a simple form of interactive steering while the process is illustrated. We demonstrate the suitability of our approach in the context of several polymerization processes and report from a first evaluation with domain experts.