20 Jul 2022

Leveraging Production Visualization Tools In Situ

Abstract: The visualization community has invested decades of research and development into producing large-scale production visualization tools. Although in situ is a paradigm shift for large-scale visualization, much of the same algorithms and operations apply regardless of whether the visualization is run post hoc or in situ. Thus, there is a great benefit to taking the large-scale code originally designed for post hoc use and leveraging it for use in situ. This chapter describes two in situ libraries, Libsim and Catalyst, that are based on mature visualization tools, VisIt and ParaView, respectively. Because they are based on fully featured visualization packages, they each provide a wealth of features. For each of these systems we outline how the simulation and visualization software are coupled, what the runtime behavior and communication between these components are, and how the underlying implementation works. We also provide use cases demonstrating the systems in action. Both of these in situ libraries, as well as the underlying products they are based on, are made freely available as open-source products. The overviews in this chapter provide a toehold to the practical application of in situ visualization.

28 May 2021

Challenges in evaluating efficacy of scientific visualization for usability and aesthetics

Abstract: This paper presents the results of a study to evaluate the efficacy of scientific visualization for multiple categories of users, including both domain experts as well as users from the general public. Efficacy was evaluated for understanding, usability, and aesthetic value. Results indicate that aesthetics play a critical, but complex role in enhancing both user understanding and usability.