The central focus of our research is to understand visual abstraction. Understanding means 1. to identify meaningful visual abstractions, 2. to assess their effectiveness for human perception and cognition and 3. to formalize them to be executable on a computational machinery. The outcome of the investigation is useful for designing visualizations for a given scenario or need, whose effectiveness can be quantified and thus the most understandable visualization design can be effortlessly determined. The science of visualization has already gained some understanding of structural visual abstraction. When for example illustrators, artists, and visualization designers convey certain structure, or visually express how things look, we can often provide a scientifically-founded argument whether and why is their expression effective for human cognitive processing. What has not been given sufficient scientific attention to, is advancing the understanding of procedural visual abstraction, in other words investigating visual means that convey what things do or how things work. This missing piece of knowledge would be very useful for visual depiction of processes and dynamics that are omnipresent in science, technology, but also in our everyday lives. The upcoming project will therefore investigate theoretical foundations for visualization of processes. Physiological processes that describe the complex machinery of biological life will be picked as a target scenario. The reason for this choice is two-fold. Firstly, these processes are immensely complex, are carried-out on various spatial and temporal levels simultaneously, and can be sufficiently understood only if all scales are considered. Secondly, physiological processes have been modeled as a result of intensive research in biology, systems biology, and biochemistry and are available in a form of digital data. The goal will be to visually communicate how physiological processes participate on life by considering the limitations of human perceptual and cognitive capabilities. By solving individual visualization problems of this challenging target scenario, the research will provide first pieces of understanding of procedural visual abstractions that are generally applicable, beyond the chosen target domain. Prototype implementation of the developed technology is available at the GitHub repository: https://github.com/illvisation/
Prototype implementation of the developed technology is available at the GitHub repository:
https://github.com/illvisation/
cellVIEW
cellVIEW is a new tool that provides fast rendering of very large biological macromolecular scenes and is inspired by state-of-the-art computer graphics techniques. Click here for additional information.
Invited Talks
18.11.2016: Arthur J. Olson, Envisioning the Visible Molecular Cell
17.10.2016: Kwan-Liu Ma, Emerging Topics for Visualization Research: Part1, Part2
07.10.2016: Marc Streit, From Visual Exploration to Storytelling and Back Again
04.12.2015: Jan Palacek, Visual Analysis of Protein Complexes: From Protein Interaction to Cellular Processes
19.04.2013: Jan Koenderink, Shape in Visual Awareness
Funding
- EU 7th Framework Program PCIG13-GA-2013-618680
- WWTF Wiener Wissenschafts-, Forschungs- und Technologiefonds VRG11-010
Research Areas
- In this research area, we develop rendering methods that are inspired by scientific illustrations, in order to make complex biological information more intuitive to understand and more pleasant to read.
- In this research area, we develop new visualization techniques to support biologists in data analysis and create visualizations to disseminate scientific discoveries in biology.
Publications
Image | Bib Reference | Publication Type |
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2019 | ||
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Maximillian Sbardellati, Haichao Miao, Hsiang-Yun Wu, Meister Eduard Gröller, Ivan Barisic, Ivan Viola Interactive Exploded Views for Molecular Structures In Proceedings of the 9th Eurographics Workshop on Visual Computing for Biology and Medicine, pages 103-112. September 2019. [ ![]() |
Conference Paper |
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Peter Mindek, Tobias Klein, Ludovic Autin, Theresia Gschwandtner Microtubule Catastrophe VCBM 2019, Image Contest Jury's Award [ ![]() |
Miscellaneous Publication |
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Robert Horvath Image-Space Metaballs Using Deep Learning [ ![]() ![]() |
Master Thesis |
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Pascal Plank Effective Line Drawing Generation [ ![]() ![]() |
Master Thesis |
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Hsiang-Yun Wu, Martin Nöllenburg, Filipa L. Sousa, Ivan Viola Metabopolis: Scalable Network Layout for Biological Pathway Diagrams in Urban Map Style BMC Bioinformatics, 20(187):1-20, May 2019. [ ![]() |
Journal Paper (without talk) |
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Eric Mörth Interactive Reformation of Fetal Ultrasound Data to a T-Position [ ![]() ![]() |
Master Thesis |
2018 | ||
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Peter Mindek Molecular Visualization, 10. November 2018, FYI: Informationsdesign Konferenz Wien, Nordbahn-Halle, Vienna |
WorkshopTalk |
Thomas Koch Semantic Screen-Space Occlusion for Multiscale Molecular Visualization [ ![]() |
Bachelor Thesis | |
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Haichao Miao, Elisa De Llano, Johannes Sorger, Yasaman Ahmadi, Tadija Kekic, Tobias Isenberg, Meister Eduard Gröller, Ivan Barisic, Ivan Viola Multiscale Visualization and Scale-adaptive Modification of DNA Nanostructures IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 24(1), January 2018. [ ![]() |
Journal Paper with Conference Talk |
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Lukas Lipp Visualization of Fiber Orientation in Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymers [ ![]() ![]() |
Bachelor Thesis |
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Stefan Dietrich Smart Visibility Technique for Linear and Planar Molecular Assemblies |
Bachelor Thesis |
2017 | ||
Nicholas Waldin Using and Adapting to Limits of Human Perception in Visualization Supervisor: Ivan Viola Duration: 3 years [ ![]() |
PhD-Thesis | |
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Peter Mindek, Gabriel Mistelbauer, Meister Eduard Gröller, Stefan Bruckner Data-Sensitive Visual Navigation Computers & Graphics, 67(C):77-85, October 2017. [ ![]() |
Journal Paper with Conference Talk |
Nicholas Waldin, Manuela Waldner, Ivan Viola Flicker Observer Effect: Guiding Attention Through High Frequency Flicker in Images Computer Graphics Forum, 36(2):467-476, May 2017. [ ![]() |
Journal Paper with Conference Talk | |
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Daniel Gehrer, Ivan Viola Visualization of molecular machinery using agent-based animation In Proceedings of SCCG 2017. May 2017. [ ![]() |
Conference Paper |
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Ivan Viola, Martin Seyfert Dynamic word clouds In Proceedings of SCCG 2017. May 2017. [ ![]() ![]() |
Conference Paper |
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David Kouřil Maya2CellVIEW: 3D Package Integrated Tool for Creating Large and Complex Molecular Scenes |
Master Thesis |
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Haichao Miao, Gabriel Mistelbauer, Alexey Karimov, Amir Alansary, Alice Davidson, David F.A. Lloyd, Mellisa Damodaram, Lisa Story, Jana Hutter, Joseph V. Hajnal, Mary Rutherford, Bernhard Preim, Bernhard Kainz, Meister Eduard Gröller Placenta Maps: In Utero Placental Health Assessment of the Human Fetus IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 23(6):1612-1623, 2017. |
Journal Paper with Conference Talk |
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Peter Mindek, David Kouřil, Johannes Sorger, David Toloudis, Blair Lyons, Graham Johnson, Meister Eduard Gröller, Ivan Viola Visualization Multi-Pipeline for Communicating Biology IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 24(1), 2017. [ ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Journal Paper with Conference Talk |
2016 | ||
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Lucas Dworschak Semantically Zoomable Choropleth Map |
Bachelor Thesis |
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Johannes Sorger, Peter Mindek, Tobias Klein, Graham Johnson, Ivan Viola Illustrative Transitions in Molecular Visualization via Forward and Inverse Abstraction Transform In Eurographics Workshop on Visual Computing for Biology and Medicine (VCBM), pages 21-30. September 2016. [ ![]() ![]() |
Conference Paper |
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Matthias Bernhard, Manuela Waldner, Pascal Plank, Veronika Šoltészová, Ivan Viola The Accuracy of Gauge-Figure Tasks in Monoscopic and Stereo Displays IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, 36(4):56-66, July 2016. |
Journal Paper (without talk) |
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Hani Gadllah Comparative Visualization of the Circle of Willis [ ![]() |
Bachelor Thesis |
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Peter Mindek Multi-Scale Molecular Data Visualization, 3. May 2016, QCB Workshop on Visualizing & Modeling Cell Biology, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA [ ![]() |
WorkshopTalk |
Maximilian Langer Dynamic Multiscale Vector Volumes [ ![]() |
Bachelor Thesis | |
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Jan Byska, Mathieu Le Muzic, Meister Eduard Gröller, Ivan Viola, Barbora Kozlikova AnimoAminoMiner: Exploration of Protein Tunnels and their Properties in Molecular Dynamics IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 22(1):747-756, January 2016. [ ![]() |
Journal Paper with Conference Talk |
Viktor Vad, Douglas Cedrim, Wolfgang Busch, Peter Filzmoser, Ivan Viola Generalized box-plot for root growth ensembles BMC Bioinformatics, 2016. |
Journal Paper with Conference Talk | |
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Matthias Glinzner Texturing of 3D Objects using Simple Physics and Equilateral Triangle Patches [ ![]() |
Bachelor Thesis |
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Matthias Reisacher, Mathieu Le Muzic, Ivan Viola CellPathway: A Simulation Tool for Illustrative Visualization of Biochemical Networks In Proceedings of WSCG. 2016. [ ![]() |
Conference Paper |
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Michael Krone, Barbora Kozlikova, Norbert Lindow, Marc Baaden, Daniel Baum, Julius Parulek, Hans-Christian Hege, Ivan Viola Visual Analysis of Biomolecular Cavities: State of the Art Computer Graphics Forum, 35(3):527-551, 2016. [ ![]() |
Journal Paper with Conference Talk |
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Ivan Viola Effective Visual Representations Supervisor: Duration: [ ![]() |
Habilitation Thesis |
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Veronika Solteszova, Åsmund Birkeland, Sergej Stoppel, Ivan Viola, Stefan Bruckner Output-Sensitive Filtering of Streaming Volume Data Computer Graphics Forum, 35, 2016. [ ![]() |
Journal Paper (without talk) |
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Daniel Cornel, Artem Konev, Berhard Sadransky, Zsolt Horvath, Andrea Brambilla, Ivan Viola, Jürgen Waser Composite Flow Maps Computer Graphics Forum, 35(3):461-470, 2016. [ ![]() |
Journal Paper with Conference Talk |
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Mathieu Le Muzic, Peter Mindek, Johannes Sorger, Ludovic Autin, David Goodsell, Ivan Viola Visibility Equalizer: Cutaway Visualization of Mesoscopic Biological Models Computer Graphics Forum, 35(3), 2016. [ ![]() ![]() |
Journal Paper with Conference Talk |
Matthias Reisacher CellPathway a Simulation Tool for Illustrative Visualization of Biochemical Networks [ ![]() |
Bachelor Thesis | |
2015 | ||
Alexandra Diehl, L. Pelorosso, Kresimir Matkovic, Claudio Delrieux, Marc Ruiz, Meister Eduard Gröller, Stefan Bruckner Albero: A Visual Analytics Tool for Probabilistic Weather Forecasting. Poster shown at Poster at Workshop Big Data & Environment (November 2015) |
Poster | |
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Mathieu Le Muzic, Ludovic Autin, Julius Parulek, Ivan Viola cellVIEW: a Tool for Illustrative and Multi-Scale Rendering of Large Biomolecular Datasets In Eurographics Workshop on Visual Computing for Biology and Medicine, pages 61-70. September 2015. [ ![]() ![]() |
Conference Paper |
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Pascal Plank Human Visual Perception of 3D Surfaces |
Bachelor Thesis |
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Jan Byska, Adam Jurcik, Meister Eduard Gröller, Ivan Viola, Barbora Kozlikova MoleCollar and Tunnel Heat Map Visualizations for Conveying Spatio-Temporo-Chemical Properties Across and Along Protein Voids Computer Graphics Forum, 3(34):1-10, May 2015. [ ![]() |
Journal Paper with Conference Talk |
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Barbora Kozlikova, Michael Krone, Norbert Lindow, Martin Falk, Marc Baaden, Daniel Baum, Ivan Viola, Julius Parulek, Hans-Christian Hege Visualization of Biomolecular Structures: State of the Art In Eurographics Conference on Visualization (EuroVis) - STARs, pages 061-081. May 2015. [ ![]() |
Conference Paper |
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Peter Mindek, Ladislav Čmolík, Ivan Viola, Meister Eduard Gröller, Stefan Bruckner Automatized Summarization of Multiplayer Games In Proceedings of Spring Conference on Computer Graphics 2015, pages 93-100. April 2015. [ ![]() ![]() |
Conference Paper |
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Mathieu Le Muzic, Manuela Waldner, Julius Parulek, Ivan Viola Illustrative Timelapse: A Technique for Illustrative Visualization of Particle Simulations on the Mesoscale Level In Visualization Symposium (PacificVis), 2015 IEEE Pacific, pages 247-254. April 2015. [ ![]() ![]() |
Conference Paper |
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Simon Brenner Projector-Based Textures for 3D-Printed Models - Tangible Molecular Visualization |
Master Thesis |
2014 | ||
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Manuela Waldner, Mathieu Le Muzic, Matthias Bernhard, Werner Purgathofer, Ivan Viola Attractive Flicker: Guiding Attention in Dynamic Narrative Visualizations IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 20(12):2456-2465, December 2014. [ ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Journal Paper with Conference Talk |
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Åsmund Birkeland, Cagatay Turkay, Ivan Viola Perceptually Uniform Motion Space IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 20(11):1542-1554, November 2014. |
Journal Paper with Conference Talk |
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Roman Püngüntzky2 HistoryTime: A Chrome history visualization using WebGL [ ![]() |
Bachelor Thesis |
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Manuela Waldner, Stefan Bruckner, Ivan Viola Graphical Histories of Information Foraging In Proceedings of the 8th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction: Fun, Fast, Foundational , pages 295-304. October 2014. [ ![]() |
Conference Paper |
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Ivan Kolesár, Julius Parulek, Ivan Viola, Stefan Bruckner, Anne-Kristin Stavrum, Helwig Hauser Interactively illustrating polymerization using three-level model fusion BMC Bioinformatics 2014, 15(345):1-16, October 2014. |
Journal Paper (without talk) |
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Åsmund Birkeland, Veronika Šoltészová, Dieter Hönigmann, Odd Helge Gilja, Svein Brekke, Timo Ropinski, Ivan Viola The Ultrasound Visualization Pipeline In Scientific Visualization, pages 283-303, September 2014 [ ![]() |
Article in a Book |
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Daniel Gehrer CellUnity an Interactive Tool for Illustrative Visualization of Molecular Reactions [ ![]() |
Bachelor Thesis |