Streaming QSplat: a viewer for networked visualization of large, dense models

Abstract

Steady growth in the speeds of network links and graphics accelerator cards has brought increasing interest in streaming transmission of three-dimensional data sets. We demonstrate how streaming visualization can be made practical for data sets containing hundreds of millions of samples. Our system is based on QSplat, a multiresolution rendering system for dense polygon meshes that employs a bounding sphere hierarchy data structure and splat rendering. We show how to incorporate view-dependent progressive transmission into QSplat, by having the client request visible portions of the model in order from coarse to fine resolution. In addition, we investigate interaction techniques for improving the eectiveness of streaming data visualization. In particular, we explore color-coding streamed data by resolution, examine the order in which data should be transmitted in order to minimize visual distraction, and propose tools for giving the user fine control over download order.