Center for Computational VisualizationUniversity of Texas, Austin
Visualization and Graphics
Research GroupUniversity of California,
Davis
Molecular Graphics
LaboratoryThe Scripps
Research Institute (TSRI)
Engineering
Research CenterMississippi State
University
Motivation
• Enable existing resources
• Handle large data
• Support distributed environments
• Multi-discipline
Motivation: Large Data
• There will always be large data– Even though graphics hardware improves– Numerical simulation resources are increasing– Instrument fidelity is increasing
• Volumes and time series lead to large data• Recent Example:
– Orion nebula for AMNH ~2.5TB– Emission Nebula for AMNH ~6TB– ENZO 1024^3 Cosmology Simulation ~12TB
Application
Data Grid Toolkit
Data Management
File Format Handling
SRB, ADR, etc.
Mesh Toolkit
Expression Tree Toolkit
Layered Toolkit Architecture
Mesh
• Manage a paged mesh (array-like)– An N-dimensional grid of values– Spatial data & time-series– Arbitrary data content– Multiple file formats
• Layered atop local I/O and SRB
Managing Data Grids
• Manage a paged data grid (array-like)– An N-dimensional grid of cells
– Spatial data & time-series
– Arbitrary cell data content
• Handle larger-than-core data– Transparently pages data in/out
– Support from ADR & DataCutter
– Compressed data (disk & memory)
Application
Data Grid Toolkit
Data Management
File Format Handling
SRB, ADR, etc.
Mesh Toolkit
Expression Tree Toolkit Data Grid Toolkit
• Random access (slow)– Get/set cells in any order
• Structured access (faster)– Get/set cells in a pre-defined order
• Data-order access (fastest)– Get/set cells in the data’s storage order
Pre-fetching Intelligently5 13 2467
51 32 4 6 7 8 9
9 8
51 32 4 6 7 8 9
Application
Data Grid Toolkit
Data Management
File Format Handling
SRB, ADR, etc.
Mesh Toolkit
Expression Tree Toolkit Data Grid Toolkit
Paging Intelligently• Neighborhood-aware paging
– Page in nearby cells in N dimensions
– Support convolution filtering, rendering, marching-cubes, ...
0 1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14
15 16 17 18 19
20 21 22 23 24
Current center cellCurrent center cell
Keep neighboring Keep neighboring cells paged-in as wellcells paged-in as well
Application
Data Grid Toolkit
Data Management
File Format Handling
SRB, ADR, etc.
Mesh Toolkit
Expression Tree Toolkit Data Grid Toolkit
Filter windowFilter window
Using Coordinate Systems
• Bind a coordinate system to a data grid– Euclidean, cylindrical, spherical, time-series, ...
– Uniform, structured, unstructured
• Handle coordinate system-based operations– Resampling with interpolation
– Lazy-evaluation
• Multiple file format handlers
Application
Data Grid Toolkit
Data Management
File Format Handling
SRB,ADR, etc.
Mesh Toolkit
Expression Tree Toolkit Mesh Toolkit
VISTA Layer
• Volume rendering layer
• Modular feature set
• Specializing in large high resolution out of core rendering
VISTA Layer
• Builds on mesh layer– I/O transparent
– File formats transparent
– Paging
• Applications & Services layered on top– CORBA render server
– Batch renderer
– Interactive tools
Mesh
SRB & Local I/O
VISTA
Paged Array
Applications
VISTA: Features
• Perspective ray casting
• Multiple volume support
• Scalar data support using transfer functions
• Color data, with opacity, or opacity and emissivity
• Modular: other algorithms,renderers
VISTA Rendering Server
• Built on VISTA toolkit
• Multiple versions for interoperability: Sockets, CORBA, Grid
RemoteVISTA Server
InteractiveGraphicsClients
CORBA
Sockets
Renderer & Server
• Built on VISTA toolkit
• Command line arguments for batch rendering
• Uses CORBA for communication and interoperability
Mesh Viewer
• Interactive multi-mesh viewer– Built atop Mesh & VISTA Toolkits– Uses standard 3D graphics hardware– Single and multiple volume viewing
Interactive
Rendered
Mesh Viewer
• Point clouds– Built on mesh toolkit
• Local Renderer– Java ray caster from VISTA
toolkit
• Remote renderer– Render server from VISTA
toolkitInteractive Rendered
Visualization Services Grid
Workstation Alley
VGrid Gallery SRB Archive Grid Farm
VGrid Portal
SVT Grid Services
Archive, Jobs, Task
Back-end Systems
Future Plans
• Personalized Pages • Personalized Templates• Improved Job Submission Pages• Automated Web Gallery Generation• Improve Archive to SRB integration.• External SRB links in Archive• Remote file transfer• Support for DAKS Matrix• Support for APST users
Cancer Center Visualization
Visualization Expertise
Supercomputers
Software Development
Visualization Tools
Shared Staff
SDSC
UCSD Cancer Center
Cancer Expertise
Medical Expertise
Latest Microscopy Tools
Cancer Research Scientists
Computational ScientistsResearch Intern
1 Research Scientist
ImagesAnimationsMovies
Example Visualizations
Sample Visualizations
UCSD Cancer Center Universe Simulations
Astronomical VisualizationVisualization ofAn Emission Nebulae from 3 Terabytes of Simulation DataCredits:American Museum of Natural HistoryDave Nadeau SDSCErik Engquist SDSC
Alpha Project Partners
Center for Computational Visualization (CCV)University of Texas, Austin
Visualization and Interactive Systems (VIS) GroupUniversity of California, Irvine
Molecular Graphics LaboratoryThe Scripps Research Institute (TSRI)
Scientific Visualization GroupSan Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC)University of California, San Diego (UCSD)
Visualization and Graphics Research GroupUniversity of California, Davis
Web Sites
• http://visservices.npaci.edu
• http://vistools.npaci.edu
• http://vis.sdsc.edu
