| Ground Penetrating Radar devices send pulses from a transmitter into the earth and reflected pulses are collected by a receiver. The data collected is used by geologists to obtain a view of terrain underground. This data is typically viewed using a desktop interface where the user usually interacts using a keyboard and mouse. Visualizing the data in a slice by slice 2D format can be difficult to interpret. Instead of performing the visualization and interaction this way, I designed a program for an immersive visualization environment that uses tracked input devices. The visualization is done using real-time, stereoscopic, perspective-corrected, slice-based volume rendering. To aid with the visualization the user can modify the display of the volume using integrated tools, such as transfer functions, lighting, and color maps. Users are also given data analysis tools that provide natural interactions. These tools allow users to take application-specific measurements such as dip, strike, other angles, and distances in 3D. Compared to typical desktop interface interactions, the 6-degree of freedom user interface provided by the immersive visualization environment makes it notably easier to perform the application-specific measurements. |
