Using Numerical Grid Generation to Facilitate 3D Visualization of Complicated Mathematical Functions

Published

November 1, 1999

Author(s)

Bonita V. Saunders, Quandou (. Wang

Abstract

Although virtually unchanged since its initial publication in 1964, the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) Handbook of Mathematical Functions continues to be widely used by the mathematical and scientific community. As a result, the National Institute of Standards and Technology(NIST), the successor organization to NBS, is engaged in a large scale project to update and expand the handbook and disseminate it on the World Wide Web as the NIST Digital Library of Mathematical Functions (DLMF). A key feature of the DLMF will be 3D graphics and visualization capabilities that allow a user to interactively examine the unique features of complicated mathematical functions. The authors have discovered that many commercial packages produce adequate surface plots of functions, but improperly clip the surface when the plot must be rescaled to emphasize interesting features. This paper discusses some initial results in using a contour fitted mesh to generate an appropriately clipped surface plot and examines some of the issues involved in extending the technique to more complicated surfaces.

Citation

- 6413

Report Number

6413

Pub Type

NIST Pubs

Download Paper

Local Download

Keywords

3D clipping, grid generation, scientific visualization, special functions, virtual reality modeling language

Citation

Saunders, B. and Wang, Q. (1999), Using Numerical Grid Generation to Facilitate 3D Visualization of Complicated Mathematical Functions, - 6413, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=150773 (Accessed October 4, 2024)