Combinatorial data structures for volume rendering unstructured grids

@techreport{caumon:hal-04066439,
 abstract = {We propose a hierarchy of algorithms and data structures for visualizing grids with various topologies. Our generic slicing-based rendering algorithm has a smaller complexity than previous approaches. The use of combinatorial information indeed confers an optimal complexity on the algorithm, which is linear with the size of the slices. The rendering method is able to process arbitrary meshes and does not require the preliminary tetrahedralization of the grid. Using the combinatorial information of the grid makes it possible to update quickly the data structure when the scalar field is modified. This generic method is applied to different types of grids. A first specialization for strongly unstructured grids, as used in recent partial differential equation schemes for Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), comes as an optimized version of our previous work on circular incident edges lists. Another instantiation of the method, that we call Cellular graphs, is applied to weakly heterogeneous grids. A structured version of cellular graphs is also declined to deal with curvilinear grids. For each of these applications, the data structure, the construction algorithm, and customizations to the generic rendering algorithm are thoroughly described.},
 author = {Caumon, Guillaume and L{\'e}vy, Bruno and Paul, Jean-Claude},
 hal_id = {hal-04066439},
 hal_version = {v1},
 institution = {{INRIA}},
 keywords = {Volume rendering ; isosurfaces ; unstructured grids ; combinatorial topology},
 title = {{Combinatorial data structures for volume rendering unstructured grids}},
 url = {https://hal.univ-lorraine.fr/hal-04066439},
 year = {2003}
}