Presentation of visualisation data: Adventures on the fringe

Written by Paul Bourke
OzViz, ANU, Canberra, December 2008.


Abstract: Scientific visualisation often employs specialist hardware for viewing, interacting, and exploring datasets. This hardware, while it may be readily available in research institutions, is often expensive, not suited to transportation, and may require time consuming installation. As such it is often unsuitable for presenting visualisation results in an engaging way to peers at remote conferences or for public outreach and education. There are many solutions one can imagine to address these limitations, here I will discuss three that are perhaps a bit unusual but have nevertheless proven to be popular. They are: rapid prototyping to form solid models of data that can additionally engage our sense of touch, 3D engraving into blocks of crystal, and synthetic holograms. A discussion of the underlying technologies will be given along with the respective merits and limitations of each, examples of applications of each technology will be available at the workshop.

ozviz2008.pdf