ECE
595E: Visualization Techniques
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Purdue University
David S. Ebert
Fall 2008
Visualization Project
A major component of this course will be the execution of a term project. Potential project types include the design and demonstration of a new visualization, a case study involving the visualization of actual data for a specific purpose, or the construction of an interactive tool for a novel type of data exploration. In some cases, projects will have a client who influences project goals and requirements. In other cases, one of the course instructors will serve as the project client. Students may choose a project from a list of suggested projects or propose one of their own ideas.
Projects will generally be done by teams of 1 to 2 students. Projects will naturally be expected to require an effort proportional to the number of team members. All members of a project team will receive the same grade on the project, except in extraordinary circumstances.
We have a variety of visualization packages and tools available for use on your projects. In general, packages have different strengths and weaknesses, as well as special purpose functionality in some. Selection of a package (or the decision to use none) is at the discretion of the team, though the course instructors are available for consultation on package selection. Packages and tools available include:
- VTK -- general purpose visualization toolkit with interface bindings to Tcl, java, and c++; all source code is available and new modules can be added
- Volvis -- volume renderer; source code is available and new algorithms can be added
- SFA -- package to render volume data using glyphs; stereo and --> -- interaction supported
- IBM OpenDX
- OpenGL
- Tableau - an information visualization package
- Simian
- Google Visualization tools
- Improvise
- Jigsaw - Georgia Tech's Visual Analytics Tool
Other packages are available on the WWW, often for free. Teams are encouraged to investigate these options if they are not satisfied with the currently available packages.
Phases
Projects will be structured as a sequence of phases. Completion of one phase is not required for initiation of the next. In many cases, it will benefit you to be working on multiple phases at the same time. For instance, you might be working on the implementation of an initial prototype concurrently with searching and reviewing the relevant literature.
Proposal
Describe your plans to meet these requirements in a proposal of approximately 3-4 pages. Give a five to ten minute summary of your proposal to the class. Your proposal should describe:
- the application, in order to motivate your project (a paragraph or so)
- your approach to the problem. Include as much information about specific representations, user interface design, and code design as you can.
- exactly what you will produce (ie, your deliverables). Describe the capabilities of your project at each code release (alpha, beta, and final) and at whatever intermediate points you choose.
- planned extensions if time permits. Mark these clearly as extensions and prioritize them.
Literature Review
Review the literature describing other approaches to problems similar to yours. Include a description of the problem that your project addresses. Describe how the approach taken in related work is similar to and different from yours. Include complete references for all papers cited. Your literature review will become part of your final paper. Your literature review should be approximately 1000 words. Correct spelling and grammar count, so check them before you hand anything in.
Alpha Release
Your initial implementation goal is to produce any visualization of your data. Your representation and interaction techniques will not be nearly as refined as you plan to make them, but you should be able to read in a data set and produce an image showing some representation of the quantities of interest. Submit an image electronically (URL is fine) and short description (about a page) of what the image shows and how it was produced.
Beta Release
By beta release, your project should be a complete prototype with all of the functionality that you have proposed. Your beta release should be accompanied by a short description of bugs you plan to fix and enhancements you plan to make. The third phase of the development effort will center on refinements of your prototype. Schedule a demo and meeting with your client and a course instructor in order to present your beta release and discuss a revision plan.
Presentation
Prepare and present a 15 minute presentation of your project. Your presentation should be professional enough to give at a technical conference (e.g. organized approach, prepared slides, a short demo or video if appropriate). Invite your client to your presentation and/or schedule a private demo.
Final Release
Refine and enhance your prototype into a final release. You should attempt to respond to all requests of your client and the course instructors. Your final release should include:
- all code produced
- description of how the completed project corresponds to the proposal
- a user's guide describing how to use your project
Paper
Write a 5000 word technical paper describing your project in the style of an IEEE Visualization Technical Papers or Case Studies (other formats may be acceptable with pre-approval). Sections you should plan to include are: abstract, introduction, related work (adapt your literature review for this), implementation, results, future directions, and references. Your paper should include figures and images as appropriate. A complete draft of your paper, including figures and images, must be submitted in advance of the final paper deadline. Your draft should be a complete paper that is as strong and polished as you can make it. Aim for something that you believe is ready for submission to a conference or journal. The course instructors will serve as reviewers for these papers and make suggestions as to how they might be improved. You may submit earlier, not necessarily complete, drafts of your paper if you would like feedback earlier in the writing process. Correct spelling and grammar count in all submitted work, so check them before you hand anything in.
Deadlines
Each phase of the project has a due date. In this way, as in others, this project mimics work in the real world. Phases may be turned in up to one week after the due date with a 25% grade penalty. Phases will not be accepted more than a week late.
|
Phase |
Due Date |
Samples |
|
Proposal |
Sep. 10 |
|
|
Literature Review |
Sep. 19 |
|
|
Alpha Release |
Oct. 14 |
|
|
Beta Release |
Nov. 14 |
|
|
Paper Draft |
Nov. 21 |
|
|
Final Release |
Dec. 8 |
|
|
Paper |
Dec. 8 |
|
|
Presentation |
Nov. 30 |
|
Use blackboard to submit each phase
Contributions to Grade
Each phase of the project will make an individual contribution to your grade. If a phase is missed, that portion of the grade will be a zero. You should consider this a compelling reason to start your project early and work steadily throughout the semester, rather than making a grand push at the end of the semester.
|
Phase |
Percent of Final
Grade |
|
Proposal |
5 |
|
Literature Review |
8 |
|
Alpha Release |
4 |
|
Beta Release |
5 |
|
Presentation |
9 |
|
Final Release |
7 |
|
Paper |
7 |
|
Total for Project |
45 |
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Contact David Ebert, ebertd at purdue dot edu