VEX: a volume exploratorium

Abstract

We describe an integrated set of tools for interacting with volumetric data. These tools consist of a unified set of filters, which operate on volumetric data; mappers, which reduce volume data to lower dimensional geometric primitives; and renderers, which create pictures based on images, three-dimensional geometries, and volumes. These tools are designed as applications within the framework of Stellar@'s Application Visualization System (AVS). We present three examples from different scientific disciplines.