Data visualization is currently a very active and vital area of research, teaching and development. The term unites the established field of scientific visualization and the more recent field of information visualization. The success of data visualization is due to the soundness of the basic idea behind it: the use of computer-generated images to gain insight and knowledge from data and its inherent patterns and relationships. A second premise is the utilization of the broad bandwidth of the human sensory system in steering and interpreting complex processes, and simulations involving data sets from diverse scientific disciplines and large collections of abstract data from many sources.

Multiresolution methods in geometric modelling are concerned with the generation, representation, and manipulation of geometric objects at several levels of detail. Applications include fast visualization and rendering as well as coding, compression and digital transmission of 3D geometric objects.

The first edition of this book has been very well received by the community. The new version 4 of Maple V contains so many new mathematical features and improvements in the user interface that Waterloo Maple Inc. markets it as "the Power Edition. " These two facts have made it necessary to write a second edition within a short period of the first. I corrected typographical errors, rephrased text, updated and improved many examples, and added much new material. Hardly any chapter has been left untouched. Substan­ tially changed or added sections and chapters address the assume facility, I/O, approximation theory, integration, composite data types, simplifica­ tion, graphics, differential equations, and matrix algebra. Tables summa­ rize features, command options, etc. , and constitute a quick reference. The enlarged index of the book has been carefully compiled to make locating search items quick and easy. Many new examples have been included show­ ing how to use Maple as a problem solver, how to assist the system during computations, and how to extend its built-in facilities. About the Maple Version Used The second edition of this book is fully revised and updated to Maple V Release 4. More precisely, the second edition of this book was produced with Maple V Release 4, beta 3 on a SUN SPARCstation 20, Model 71. There should be hardly any difference between this beta version and the final release; only minor differences in the user interface are not excluded.

Images or discrete objects, to be analyzed based on digital image data, need to be represented, analyzed, transformed, recovered etc. These problems have stimulated many interesting developments in theoretical foundations of image processing.

Immersive Analytics is a new research initiative that aims to remove barriers between people, their data and the tools they use for analysis and decision making. Here the aims of immersive analytics research are clarified, its opportunities and historical context, as well as providing a broad research agenda for the field. In addition, it is reviewed how the term immersion has been used to refer to both technological and psychological immersion, both of which are central to immersive analytics research.

Computer graphics comprises the creation and representation of simple graphical elements and images as well as modern techniques for virtual reality. In order to apply computer graphics techniques correctly, a basic understanding of the fundamental concepts is required.

Software Visualization: From Theory to Practice was initially selected as a special volume for "The Annals of Software Engineering (ANSE) Journal", which has been discontinued. This special edited volume, is the first to discuss software visualization in the perspective of software engineering. It is a collection of 14 chapters on software visualization, covering the topics from theory to practical systems. The chapters are divided into four Parts: Visual Formalisms, Human Factors, Architectural Visualization, and Visualization in Practice. They cover a comprehensive range of software visualization topics, including

Reliable Knowledge Discovery focuses on theory, methods, and techniques for RKDD, a new sub-field of KDD. It studies the theory and methods to assure the reliability and trustworthiness of discovered knowledge and to maintain the stability and consistency of knowledge discovery processes. RKDD has a broad spectrum of applications, especially in critical domains like medicine, finance, and military.

This is the second book in a three-part series that traces the development of the GPU, which is defined as a single chip with an integrated transform and lighting (T&L) capability. This feature previously was found in workstations as a stand-alone chip that only performed geometry functions. Enabled by Moore’s law, the first era of GPUs began in the late 1990s.

Computational geometry as an area of research in its own right emerged in the early seventies of this century. Right from the beginning, it was obvious that strong connections of various kinds exist to questions studied in the considerably older field of combinatorial geometry. For example, the combinatorial structure of a geometric problem usually decides which algorithmic method solves the problem most efficiently. Furthermore, the analysis of an algorithm often requires a great deal of combinatorial knowledge. As it turns out, however, the connection between the two research areas commonly referred to as computa­ tional geometry and combinatorial geometry is not as lop-sided as it appears. Indeed, the interest in computational issues in geometry gives a new and con­ structive direction to the combinatorial study of geometry. It is the intention of this book to demonstrate that computational and com­ binatorial investigations in geometry are doomed to profit from each other. To reach this goal, I designed this book to consist of three parts, acorn binatorial part, a computational part, and one that presents applications of the results of the first two parts. The choice of the topics covered in this book was guided by my attempt to describe the most fundamental algorithms in computational geometry that have an interesting combinatorial structure. In this early stage geometric transforms played an important role as they reveal connections between seemingly unrelated problems and thus help to structure the field.

In this, the companion volume to Computer Graphics for Artists: an Introduction, specific problems related to the creation of Computer Graphic environments and characters are explored. For the Computer Graphic artist, knowledge of tools is important, but what is even more important, and the subject of this book, is understanding problems and solutions encountered by artists who create environments and characters.
This book is application-independent, but builds on information published in the previous volume by focusing instead on subject-specific methods for improving the quality of observation, craftsmanship, optimization, and application. In the character section, extensive anatomical data is provided as a generic basis for character building.