Extending the scene graph with a dataflow visualization system

ABSTRACT

Data ow graphs are a very successful paradigm in scientific visualization, while scene graphs are a leading approach in interactive graphics and virtual reality. Both approaches have their distinct advantages, and both build on a common set of basic techniques based on graph data structures. However, despite these similarities, no unified implementation of the two paradigms exists. This paper presents an in-depth analysis of the architectural components of dataflow visualization and scene graphs, and derives a design that integrates both these approaches.The implementation of this design builds on a common software infrastructure based on a scene graph, and extends it with virtualized dataflow, which allows the use of the scene graph structure and traversal mechanism for dynamically building and evaluating dataflow.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  I. Computing Methodologies
  I.3 COMPUTER GRAPHICS
      I.3.5 Computational Geometry and Object Modeling
          Subjects: Object hierarchies

Additional Classification:
  I. Computing Methodologies
  I.3 COMPUTER GRAPHICS
      I.3.4 Graphics Utilities
          Subjects: Application packages

General Terms:
Algorithms, Theory

Keywords:
dataflow visualization system, object hierarchies, scene graph, visualization