@phdthesis{kouril-2021-phdthesis, title = "Interactive Visualization of Dense and Multi-Scale Data for Science Outreach", author = "David Kou\v{r}il", year = "2021", abstract = "This thesis focuses on the problem of navigating complex 3D models composed of large numbers of molecular instances packed densely in the three-dimensional space. Due to the large environment encompassing several magnitudes of scale, the traditional navigational paradigms applied in real-time computer graphics are becoming insufficient when applied to biological environments. In the first part of the thesis, I analyze navigation challenges presented by such a use case and recognize several modes of navigation that can be employed when interfacing a complex 3D visualization system with the end-user. We discuss three such modes of navigation: augmentive, declarative, and automative. First, in augmentive navigation, the user is given fully manual control over all aspects of navigation, such as controlling the camera's position and rotation, or the visibility of the individual model's parts. Their manual exploration is, however, augmented by automatically deployed annotation to help make sense of the environment. In declarative navigation, the user interaction is simplified to declaring their target. The visualization system then takes over the low-level controls of the visualization, e.g., camera path animation and scene visibility transition, which are computed to navigate the user directly to their declared target. The third stage, automative navigation, relieves the user from even this responsibility and places the choice of what gets shown to an algorithmic solution. In this case, such automated fly-through can then be guided by a specific storyline. In the second part of the thesis, I present specific methods addressing technical gaps and contributing to realizing the navigational stages presented in the first part. I start by introducing an approach for textual labeling of multi-scale molecular models inspired by the level-of-detail concept. That way, a scenario of augmentive navigation is provided. Second, I propose a navigational method for traversing a dense molecular model with a hierarchical organization, implementing the declarative navigation concept. The presented method uses textual labels for browsing the three-dimensional model, essentially providing a way of traversing the hierarchical organization and exploring the spatial characteristics of the model. Finally, I propose a pipeline for producing automated tours of molecular models, demonstrating the automative navigation mode.", month = apr, pages = "123", address = "Favoritenstrasse 9-11/E193-02, A-1040 Vienna, Austria", school = "Research Unit of Computer Graphics, Institute of Visual Computing and Human-Centered Technology, Faculty of Informatics, TU Wien ", keywords = "biological, visualization, multi-scale, dense, navigation", URL = "https://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2021/kouril-2021-phdthesis/", } @article{wu-2021-vi, title = "Visualization working group at TU Wien: Visibile Facimus Quod Ceteri Non Possunt", author = "Hsiang-Yun Wu and Aleksandr Amirkhanov and Nicolas Grossmann and Tobias Klein and David Kou\v{r}il and Haichao Miao and Laura R. Luidolt and Peter Mindek and Renata Raidou and Ivan Viola and Manuela Waldner and Eduard Gr\"{o}ller", year = "2021", abstract = "Building-up and running a university-based research group is a multi-faceted undertaking. The visualization working group at TU Wien (vis-group) has been internationally active over more than 25 years. The group has been acting in a competitive scientific setting where sometimes contradicting multiple objectives require trade-offs and optimizations. Research-wise the group has been performing basic and applied research in visualization and visual computing. Teaching-wise the group has been involved in undergraduate and graduate lecturing in (medical) visualization and computer graphics. To be scientifically competitive requires to constantly expose the group and its members to a strong international competition at the highest level. This necessitates to shield the members against the ensuing pressures and demands and provide (emotional) support and encouragement. Internally, the vis-group has developed a unique professional and social interaction culture: work and celebrate, hard and together. This has crystallized into a nested, recursive, and triangular organization model, which concretizes what it takes to make a research group successful. The key elements are the creative and competent vis-group members who collaboratively strive for (scientific) excellence in a socially enjoyable environment.", month = mar, doi = "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.visinf.2021.02.003", journal = "Visual Informatics", volume = "5", pages = "76--84", URL = "https://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2021/wu-2021-vi/", } @article{kouril-2020-hyperlabels, title = "HyperLabels: Browsing of Dense and Hierarchical Molecular 3D Models", author = "David Kou\v{r}il and Tobias Isenberg and Barbora Kozlikova and Miriah Meyer and Eduard Gr\"{o}ller and Ivan Viola", year = "2020", month = feb, journal = "IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics", volume = "1", note = "to appear", doi = "10.1109/TVCG.2020.2975583", pages = "1--12", URL = "https://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2020/kouril-2020-hyperlabels/", } @article{Halladjian_2020, title = "ScaleTrotter: Illustrative Visual Travels Across Negative Scales", author = "Sarkis Halladjian and Haichao Miao and David Kou\v{r}il and Eduard Gr\"{o}ller and Ivan Viola and Tobias Isenberg", year = "2020", month = jan, journal = "IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics", volume = "26", number = "1", URL = "https://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2020/Halladjian_2020/", } @article{Miao_2019, title = "Multiscale Molecular Visualization", author = "Haichao Miao and Tobias Klein and David Kou\v{r}il and Peter Mindek and Karsten Schatz and Eduard Gr\"{o}ller and Barbora Kozlikova and Tobias Isenberg and Ivan Viola", year = "2019", abstract = "We provide a high-level survey of multiscale molecular visualization techniques, with a focus on application-domain questions, challenges, and tasks. We provide a general introduction to molecular visualization basicsand describe a number of domain-specific tasks that drive this work. These tasks, in turn, serve as the generalstructure of the following survey. First, we discuss methods that support the visual analysis of moleculardynamics simulations. We discuss, in particular, visual abstraction and temporal aggregation. In the secondpart, we survey multiscale approaches that support the design, analysis, and manipulation of DNAnanostructures and related concepts for abstraction, scale transition, scale-dependent modeling, andnavigation of the resulting abstraction spaces. In the third part of the survey, we showcase approaches thatsupport interactive exploration within large structural biology assemblies up to the size of bacterial cells.We describe fundamental rendering techniques as well as approaches for element instantiation, visibilitymanagement, visual guidance, camera control, and support of depth perception. We close the survey with abrief listing of important tools that implement many of the discussed approaches and a conclusion thatprovides some research challenges in the field.", month = jan, doi = "10.1016/j.jmb.2018.09.004.", journal = "Journal of Molecular Biology", number = "31", volume = "6", pages = "1049--1070", keywords = "molecular visualization, molecular dynamics, modelitics, DNA nanotechnology, visual abstraction", URL = "https://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2019/Miao_2019/", } @article{kouril-2018-LoL, title = "Labels on Levels: Labeling of Multi-Scale Multi-Instance and Crowded 3D Biological Environments", author = "David Kou\v{r}il and Ladislav \v{C}mol\'{i}k and Barbora Kozlikova and Hsiang-Yun Wu and Graham Johnson and David Goodsell and Arthur Olson and Eduard Gr\"{o}ller and Ivan Viola", year = "2019", abstract = "Labeling is intrinsically important for exploring and understanding complex environments and models in a variety of domains. We present a method for interactive labeling of crowded 3D scenes containing very many instances of objects spanning multiple scales in size. In contrast to previous labeling methods, we target cases where many instances of dozens of types are present and where the hierarchical structure of the objects in the scene presents an opportunity to choose the most suitable level for each placed label. Our solution builds on and goes beyond labeling techniques in medical 3D visualization, cartography, and biological illustrations from books and prints. In contrast to these techniques, the main characteristics of our new technique are: 1) a novel way of labeling objects as part of a bigger structure when appropriate, 2) visual clutter reduction by labeling only representative instances for each type of an object, and a strategy of selecting those. The appropriate level of label is chosen by analyzing the scene's depth buffer and the scene objects' hierarchy tree. We address the topic of communicating the parent-children relationship between labels by employing visual hierarchy concepts adapted from graphic design. Selecting representative instances considers several criteria tailored to the character of the data and is combined with a greedy optimization approach. We demonstrate the usage of our method with models from mesoscale biology where these two characteristics-multi-scale and multi-instance-are abundant, along with the fact that these scenes are extraordinarily dense.", month = jan, journal = "IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics", volume = "25", note = "SciVis Best Paper Honorable Mention", doi = "10.1109/TVCG.2018.2864491", pages = "977--986", keywords = "labeling, multi-scale data, multi-instance data", URL = "https://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2019/kouril-2018-LoL/", } @xmascard{dvdkouril_xmas_card_2018, title = "X-Mas Card 2018", author = "David Kou\v{r}il and Gabriela Podoln\'{i}kov\'{a}", year = "2018", abstract = "In this Christmas card we introduce a new way of research physicalization. We turned our recent papers into gingerbread cookies! Our cookies feature motifs from visualization of multiscale DNA nanostructures, Euler diagrams of expanded queries, levels of expanded bladders due to Gl\"{u}hwein consumption, beautiful smiles thanks to augmented reality, and finally several new technologies for biology communication. Auf dieser Weihnachtskarte zeigen wir neuartige Forschung im Bereich Physikalisierung. Wir verwandelten unsere aktuellen Publikationen in Lebkuchen. Unsere Kekse repr\"{a}sentieren die multiskalare Visualisierung von DNA Nanostrukturen, Euler Diagramme von erweiterten Such-Abfragen, Pegel von expandierten Harnblasen nach Gl\"{u}hwein-Konsum, durch Augmented Reality verursachtes L\"{a}cheln und letztlich mehrere neue Technologien f\"{u}r die Kommunikation von Biologiewissen.", month = dec, URL = "https://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2018/dvdkouril_xmas_card_2018/", } @article{koch_bernhard_2018-1, title = "Semantic Screen-Space Occlusion for Multiscale Molecular Visualization", author = "Thomas Bernhard Koch and David Kou\v{r}il and Tobias Klein and Peter Mindek and Ivan Viola", year = "2018", abstract = "Visual clutter is a major problem in large biological data visualization. It is often addressed through the means of level of detail schemes coupled with an appropriate coloring of the visualized structures. Ambient occlusion and shadows are often used to improve the depth perception. However, when used excessively, these techniques are sources of visual clutter themselves. In this paper we present a new approach to screen-space illumination algorithms suitable for use in illustrative visualization. The illumination effect can be controlled so that desired levels of semantic scene organization cast shadows while other remain flat. This way the illumination design can be parameterized to keep visual clutter, originating from illumination, to a minimum, while also guiding the user in a multiscale model exploration. We achieve this by selectively applying occlusion shading based on the inherent semantics of the visualized hierarchically-organized data. The technique is in principle generally applicable to any hierarchically organized 3D scene and has been demonstrated on an exemplary scene from integrative structural biology. ", month = sep, journal = "Eurographics Workshop on Visual Computing for Biology and Medicine", URL = "https://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2018/koch_bernhard_2018-1/", } @talk{Kouril_2017_11, title = "Challenges and advances in multi-scale biology data visualization", author = "David Kou\v{r}il", year = "2017", month = nov, event = "S&T Cooperation Austria-Czech Republic", location = "Czech Technical University", URL = "https://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2017/Kouril_2017_11/", } @misc{kouril-2017-sccgposter, title = "Maya2cellVIEW: Integrated Tool for Creating Large and Complex Molecular Scenes", author = "David Kou\v{r}il and Mathieu Le Muzic and Barbora Kozlikova and Ivan Viola", year = "2017", month = may, event = "Spring Conference on Computer Graphics 2017", Conference date = "Poster presented at Spring Conference on Computer Graphics 2017 (2017-05)", URL = "https://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2017/kouril-2017-sccgposter/", } @misc{mindek-2017-virtualcell, title = "The Birth of a Virtual Cell", author = "Peter Mindek and Johannes Sorger and David Kou\v{r}il and Tobias Klein and Graham Johnson and Ivan Viola", year = "2017", abstract = "In our current research project, we are working on the interactive visualization of cellular data at multiple scales. The visual story telling contest motivated us to describe the process of bringing this complex volumetric data "to life". We scripted the visual story directly within the current build of our multi-scale visualization. The entire video is therefore rendered in real time. This enabled us to directly show the steps involved in the rendering of our final visualization based on the actual data and the actual algorithms that are applied. The various effects in the video are therefore parameter variables for existing multi-scale visualization functions that change over time. The final result of our visualization was inspired by a rendering of the reference 3D model that was created by a scientific illustrator. The challenge that we overcome in our visualization was to create a rendering of the original data at stable 30 frames per second that matches the offline rendered illustration in visual quality, which helps to clarify the complex 3D arrangements of the inner components of the cell.", month = apr, note = "submitted to the Pacific Vis 2017 Storytelling Contest", URL = "https://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2017/mindek-2017-virtualcell/", } @mastersthesis{kouril-2015-maya2cellview, title = "Maya2CellVIEW: 3D Package Integrated Tool for Creating Large and Complex Molecular Scenes", author = "David Kou\v{r}il", year = "2017", abstract = "Scientific illustrators communicate the cutting edge of research through their illustrations. There are numerous software tools that assist them with this job. Often they use professional modeling and animation 3D programs which are primarily used in games and movies industry. Because of that however these tools are not suitable for scientific illustration out of the box. There have been attempts to address this issue which brought tremendous results. This work focuses on visualization of structures and processes in biology, focusing mostly on the scales of nano- to micrometers. At this scale we often do not gain much by using hyper-realistic rendering style that the professional software aims for. Instead we want to employ more simplified style which helps to communicate the important story without losing much detail or scientific precision. The aim of this thesis is to push abilities of illustrators working on large scale molecular scenes. This is done by connecting two software packages—Maya and cellVIEW—combining the real-time rendering possibilities of cellVIEW and modeling and animation tools of Maya which results in more effective and efficient workflow.", month = jan, address = "Favoritenstrasse 9-11/E193-02, A-1040 Vienna, Austria", school = "Institute of Computer Graphics and Algorithms, Vienna University of Technology ", URL = "https://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2017/kouril-2015-maya2cellview/", } @article{mindek-2017-marion, title = "Visualization Multi-Pipeline for Communicating Biology", author = "Peter Mindek and David Kou\v{r}il and Johannes Sorger and David Toloudis and Blair Lyons and Graham Johnson and Eduard Gr\"{o}ller and Ivan Viola", year = "2017", abstract = "We propose a system to facilitate biology communication by developing a pipeline to support the instructional visualization of heterogeneous biological data on heterogeneous user-devices. Discoveries and concepts in biology are typically summarized with illustrations assembled manually from the interpretation and application of heterogenous data. The creation of such illustrations is time consuming, which makes it incompatible with frequent updates to the measured data as new discoveries are made. Illustrations are typically non-interactive, and when an illustration is updated, it still has to reach the user. Our system is designed to overcome these three obstacles. It supports the integration of heterogeneous datasets, reflecting the knowledge that is gained from different data sources in biology. After pre-processing the datasets, the system transforms them into visual representations as inspired by scientific illustrations. As opposed to traditional scientific illustration these representations are generated in real-time - they are interactive. The code generating the visualizations can be embedded in various software environments. To demonstrate this, we implemented both a desktop application and a remote-rendering server in which the pipeline is embedded. The remote-rendering server supports multi-threaded rendering and it is able to handle multiple users simultaneously. This scalability to different hardware environments, including multi-GPU setups, makes our system useful for efficient public dissemination of biological discoveries. ", journal = "IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics", volume = "24", number = "1", keywords = "Biological visualization, remote rendering, public dissemination", URL = "https://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2017/mindek-2017-marion/", } @article{wu-2021, title = "Visualization working group at TU Wien: Visible Facimus Quod Ceteri Non Possunt", author = "Hsiang-Yun Wu and Aleksandr Amirkhanov and Nicolas Grossmann and Tobias Klein and David Kou\v{r}il and Haichao Miao and Laura R. Luidolt and Peter Mindek and Renata Raidou and Ivan Viola and Manuela Waldner and Eduard Gr\"{o}ller", abstract = "Building-up and running a university-based research group is a multi-faceted undertaking. The visualization working group at TU Wien (vis-group) has been internationally active over more than 25 years. The group has been acting in a competitive scientific setting where sometimes contradicting multiple objectives require trade-offs and optimizations. Research-wise the group has been performing basic and applied research in visualization and visual computing. Teaching-wise the group has been involved in undergraduate and graduate lecturing in (medical) visualization and computer graphics. To be scientifically competitive requires to constantly expose the group and its members to a strong international competition at the highest level. This necessitates to shield the members against the ensuing pressures and demands and provide (emotional) support and encouragement. Internally, the vis-group has developed a unique professional and social interaction culture: work and celebrate, hard and together. This has crystallized into a nested, recursive, and triangular organization model, which concretizes what it takes to make a research group successful. The key elements are the creative and competent vis-group members who collaboratively strive for (scientific) excellence in a socially enjoyable environment.", doi = "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.visinf.2021.02.003", journal = "Visual Informatics", volume = "5", pages = "76--84", URL = "https://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/ongoing/wu-2021/", }