“Uniform looking vector plot with streamline fragmentation” by Kawai

Vector plot is a frequently used method for illustrating vector fields used in applications such as scientific visualization. Although the method is easy to implement and the resulting image captures the original vector field well, the streamlines are often positioned too closely or too sparsely to one another due to sources and sinks of the original vector field. This results in unevenness of visual density over the entire region, and some previous researches have treated the problem. Mebarki et al [1] proposed the improved strategy that the maximum vacant region should be given priority for a new streamline, but the results still lack uniformity. Other related works [2][3] suggested that both tapering streamlines and controlling intensity improve the visual uniformity of streamlines. We propose another approach for making streamlines look uniform with dotted and broken lines instead of tapering or intensity control. The results are binary images and consist of fixed width streamlines which preserve uniformity.

1. Mebarki A., Alliez, P. and Devillers, O., Farthest Point Seeding for Efficient Placement of Streamlines, Proceedings of IEEE Visualization 2005, pp. 479–486, 2005
2. Saito, T. and Takahashi, T., Comprehensive Rendering of 3-D Shaped, Proceedings of Siggraph 1990, pp. 197–206, 1990
3. Turk, G. and Banks, D., Image-Guided Streamline Placement, Proceedings of Siggraph 1996, pp. 453–460, 1996