CS4730/6730 Scientific Visualization

Fall 2009

 

 

Instructor:                   Dr. Ying Zhu

Office:                        34 Peachtree Street (One Park Tower) #1441

Office hours:              Tuesdays and Thursdays 3pm – 4pm

Office phone:             (404) 413-5713

Email:                         yzhu (at) cs.gsu.edu

Course web page:      http://www.cs.gsu.edu/yzhu/csc4730-6730/home.htm 

 

Class hours:                Tuesdays & Thursdays 1:00 – 2:40pm

                                    General Classroom Building 315

 

Syllabus

 

Projects

Project 1  (updated on September 16)

Project 2 (updated on October 29):

·         Solutions in Mathematica Notebook file or PDF file.

Project 3 (Posted on November 6)

 

Homework

Homework 1

Homework 2

Homework 3 (student submissions)

Homework 4

 

Software Tools for Projects

Tableau Software

·         Students can download Tableau and receive a special educational key at http://www.tableausoftware.com/gsu

·         Tableau's data visualization software is provided courtesy of the Tableau for Teaching program.

 

Mathematica

·   You can get a Mathematica DVD for $1.5 at room G8 (IS&T printing/software) in the Library South building.

o   Go to Library South (floor-2), take the elevator #5 (outside of the library) and go to level G.

o   The instructions for generating the password for Mathematica are here.

·   Mathematica Learning Center
·   “Hands-on Start to Mathematica” (video, 19:25)
·   “Visualizing Anything in Mathematica” (video, 6:01)
·   Mathematica user’s guide on Visualization and Graphics
o   Data Visualization
o   Function Visualization
o   Charting
o   Dynamic Visualization

 

Tools for Online Meeting

·    vClass meeting.

·    You may request a vClass meeting with me. But please confirm the meeting time with me beforehand.

 

 

Course schedule

(The schedule may change as the course progresses.)

 

Lecture Number

Date

Topics

Homework

Project

Readings

1

August

18

Introduction

 

Lecture notes

 

 

 

2

20

Overview

 

Lecture notes

 

 

 

3

25

Visualization design principles (1)

 

Lecture notes

(password protected WinZip file or WinRAR file)

Homework 1 requirements posted

 

 

4

27

Visualization design principles (2)

 

Lecture notes

(Password protected Winzip file or WinRAR file)

 

 

 

5

September

1

Basic visualization techniques

 

Lecture notes

 

Lecture video

(AVI file, 790MB)

(If you have trouble playing the video file, try VLC.)

 

 

 

6

3

Creating visualization with MS Excel and Google Chart API

 

Lecture notes

Project 1 requirements

 

7

8

Data model and visualization tasks

 

Lecture notes

Homework 1 is due

 

Homework 2 is posted

 

 

8

10

Creating visualization with Tableau (1)

 

Tableau Training videos

(Particularly this introductory training video)

 

 

Polaris: A System for Query, Analysis and Visualization of Multi-dimensional Relational Databases (extended paper)
Chris Stolte, Diane Tang and Pat Hanrahan
IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, Vol. 8, No. 1, January 2002.
(paper)  

9

15

Homework #1 presentations.

 

 

 

10

17

Creating visualization with Tableau (2)

 

Guest lecture

by Elissa Fink (Tableau Software)

Presentation slides

 

 

Project 1 requirements updated on September 16.

 

11

22

Visual Variables

 

Lecture notes

 

 

 

12

24

Structure of information visualization

 

Lecture notes

 

 

 

13

29

Overview and navigation

 

Lecture notes

Homework 2 is due

 

 

14

October

1

Homework 2 presentations

Homework 3 is posted

 

15

6

Creating visualization with Mathematica (1)

 

Watch the following screencasts

·         Introducing Mathematica

·         A Student’s Introduction to Mathematica

·         Hands-on Start to Mathematica (Part 1 and Part 2)

·         Mathematica Basics

·         Elementary Programming in Mathematica

·         Utilizing Mathematica’s Integrated Data

·         Mathematica’s Manipulate Comand

·         Creating and Utilizing Graphics in Mathematica

 

 

 

16

8

Creating visualization with Mathematica (2)

 

Lecture notes (Mathemtaica Notebook file)

 

Read: Mathematica user’s guide on Visualization and Graphics
·         Data Visualization
·         Function Visualization
·         Charting
·         Dynamic Visualization

 

Project 1 is due

Wolfram demonstrations project

17

13

Creating visualization with Mathematica (3)

 

Lecture notes

(Mathematica Notebook file)

 

 

 

18

15

Creating visualization with Mathematica (4)

 

Read Methematica function specifications for Manipulate and Graphics

 

Stephen Few’s Perceptual Edge web site

(Read his analysis of poorly designed visualizations and his redesigns)

 

 

 

19

20

Online collaborative visualization design

 

Lecture notes

 

 

 

20

22

Text visualization

 

Lecture notes

Homework 3 is due

 

 

 

21

27

Project 1 presentations

Homework 4 is posted

 

 

22

29

Cognitive basis of visualization

 

Lecture notes

 

 

 

23

November

3

Theoretical basis of visualization

 

Lecture notes

 

 

 

24

5

Homework 3 review

 

Scientific visualization algorithm: marching cubes algorithm

 

Lecture notes

 

Project 2 is due

 

Project 3 is posted

 

25

10

Scientific visualization algorithm: volume rendering

 

Lecture notes

 

 

 

26

12

Visualization engine: toward automatic visualization design

 

Lecture notes

 

 

 

27

17

Evaluating visualization design (1)

 

Lecture notes

 

 

 

28

19

Evaluating visualization design (2)

 

Lecture notes

 

Project 2 review

(Project 2 solution in Mathematica Notebook and PDF file)

Homework 4 is due

 

 

 

24

Thanksgiving holiday (no class)

 

 

 

 

26

Thanksgiving holiday (no class)

 

 

 

29

December

1

Homework 4 review

 

Final exam review

 

 

 

30

3

Final exam for CSC4730 students

 

Project 3 is due;

CSC6730 term project is due