A Framework for Rendering Large Time-Varying Data Using Wavelet-Based Time-Space Partitioning (WTSP) Tree

We present a new framework for managing and rendering large scale time-varying data using the wavelet-based time-space partitioning (WTSP) tree. We utilize the hierarchical TSP tree data structure to capture both spatial and temporal locality and coherence of the underlying time-varying data and exploit the wavelet transform to convert the data into a multiresolution spatio-temporal representation. Coupled with the construction of TSP tree, a twostage wavelet transform process (3D+1D) is applied to the data in the spatial and temporal domains respectively at the preprocessing step. During rendering, the wavelet-compressed data stream is decompressed on-the-fly and rendered using 3D hardware texture mapping. WTSP tree allows random access of data at arbitrary spatial and temporal resolutions at run time. The user is provided with flexible error control of image quality and rendering speed tradeoff. We demonstrate the effectiveness and utility of our framework by rendering gigabytes of time-varying data sets on a single off-theshelf PC. CR Categories: E.4 [Coding and Information Theory]: Data compaction and compression; I.3.3 [Computer Graphics]: Picture and Image Generation—Viewing algorithms; I.3.6 [Computer Graphics]: Methodology and Techniques—Graphics data structures and data types; I.3.6 [Computer Graphics]: Methodology and Techniques—Interaction techniques