Scientific Visualization Group @ LiU

The group Scientific Visualization is a part of the division for Media and Information Technology (MIT) at Linköping University (LiU).

The group activities range from basic research questions to effective solution of visualization problems originating from diverse application areas. This is developing novel analysis, visualization and exploration techniques for a better understanding and communication of large data.

The applications include fluid-flow simulations, molecular dynamics, digital pathology, material sciences, astronomy, space missions and many medical topics. We develop methods for rendering, analysis and exploration of complex data including scalar, vector and tensor fields.

The research builds on ideas and methods from different areas of computer sciences and mathematics, such as computer graphics, computer vision, dynamical systems, computational geometry, and combinatorial topology.

Research areas

• Molecular visualization
• Visualization in medicine
• Interactive volume rendering
• Digital Pathology
• Astronomy visualization
• OpenSpace: Visualization of space missions
• Flow visualization in engineering and medicine
• Topological methods for data analysis
• Tensor field visualization
• Inviwo – an extensible, multi-purpose visualization framework

Staff

Publications

Multi-field Visualization: Trait design and trait-induced merge trees Danhua Lei, Jochen Jankowai, Petar Hristov, Hamish Carr, Leif Denby, Talha Bin Masood, Ingrid Hotz IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 2025

doi:10.1109/TVCG.2025.3525974

Paper (PDF)

Multi-scale Cycle Tracking in Dynamic Planar Graphs Farhan Rasheed, Abrar Naseer, Emma Nilsson, Talha Bin Masood, Ingrid Hotz Topological Data Analysis and Visualization (TopoInVis 2024), Florida, USA, pages 44-54, 2024

doi:10.1109/TopoInVis64104.2024.00009

Paper (PDF) BibTex

Keeping it sparse: Computing Persistent Homology revisited Ulrich Bauer, Talha Bin Masood, Barbara Giunti, Guillaume Houry, Michael Kerber, Abhishek Rathod Computing in Geometry and Topology, 3(1), pages 6:1-6:26, 2024

doi:10.57717/cgt.v3i1.50

Paper (PDF)

Continuous scatterplot operators for bivariate analysis and study of electronic transitions Mohit Sharma, Talha Bin Masood, Signe Sidwall Thygesen, Mathieu Linares, Ingrid Hotz, Vijay Natarajan IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 30(7), pages 3532-3544, 2024

doi:10.1109/TVCG.2023.3237768

Paper (PDF) BibTex

Exploring Electron Density Evolution using Merge Tree Mappings Florian Wetzels, Talha Bin Masood, Nanna Holmgaard List, Ingrid Hotz, Christoph Garth EuroVis (Short Papers) 2024, Odense, Denmark, 2024

doi:10.2312/evs.20241069

Paper (PDF)

Probabilistic Gradient-Based Extrema Tracking Emma Nilsson, Jonas Lukasczyk, Talha Bin Masood, Christoph Garth, Ingrid Hotz Topological Data Analysis and Visualization (TopoInVis 2023), Melbourne, Australia, pages 72-81, 2023

doi:10.1109/TopoInVis60193.2023.00014

Paper (PDF)

Multi-field Visualisation via Trait-induced Merge Trees Jochen Jankowai, Talha Bin Masood, Ingrid Hotz Topological Data Analysis and Visualization (TopoInVis 2023), Melbourne, Australia, pages 21-29, 2023

doi:10.1109/TopoInVis60193.2023.00009

Paper (PDF)

Multi-scale visual analysis of cycle characteristics in spatially-embedded graphs Farhan Rasheed, Talha Bin Masood, Tejas G. Murthy, Vijay Natarajan, Ingrid Hotz Visual Informatics, 7(3), pages 49-58, 2023

doi:10.1016/J.VISINF.2023.06.005

Paper (PDF) BibTex

Geometry aware merge tree comparisons for time-varying data with interleaving distances Lin Yan, Talha Bin Masood, Farhan Rasheed, Ingrid Hotz, Bei Wang IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 29(8), pages 3489-3506, 2023, 2023

doi:10.1109/TVCG.2022.3163349

Paper (PDF) BibTex

Level of Detail Visual Analysis of Structures in Solid-State Materials Signe Sidwall Thygesen, Alexei I Abrikosov, Peter Steneteg, Talha Bin Masood, Ingrid Hotz EuroVis (Short Papers) 2023, Leipzig, Germany, 2023

doi:10.2312/evs.20231043

Paper (PDF) BibTex

Aromatic hexazine [N₆]⁴⁻ anion featured in the complex structure of the high-pressure potassium nitrogen compound K₉N₅₆ Dominique Laniel, Florian Trybel, Yuqing Yin, Timofey Fedotenko, Saiana Khandarkhaeva, Andrey Aslandukov, Georgios Aprilis, Alexei I Abrikosov, Talha Bin Masood, Carlotta Giacobbe, Eleanor Lawrence Bright, Konstantin Glazyrin, Michael Hanfland, Jonathan Wright, Ingrid Hotz, Igor A Abrikosov, Leonid Dubrovinsky, and Natalia Dubrovinskaia Nature Chemistry, 15(5), pages 641-646, 2023

doi:10.1038/s41557-023-01148-7

Paper (PDF) BibTex

Subject-specific brain activity analysis in fMRI data using merge trees Farhan Rasheed, Daniel Jönsson, Emma Nilsson, Talha Bin Masood, Ingrid Hotz Topological Data Analysis and Visualization (TopoInVis 2022), Oklahoma City, USA, pages 113-123, 2022

doi:10.1109/TopoInVis57755.2022.00018

Paper (PDF)

Honorable mention award

Towards benchmark data generation for feature tracking in scalar fields Emma Nilsson, Jonas Lukasczyk, Talha Bin Masood, Christoph Garth, Ingrid Hotz Topological Data Analysis and Visualization (TopoInVis 2022), Oklahoma City, USA, pages 103-112, 2022

doi:10.1109/TopoInVis57755.2022.00017

Paper (PDF)

Exploring cyclone evolution with hierarchical features Emma Nilsson, Jonas Lukasczyk, Wito Engelke, Talha Bin Masood, Gunilla Svensson, Rodrigo Caballero, Christoph Garth, Ingrid Hotz Topological Data Analysis and Visualization (TopoInVis 2022), Oklahoma City, USA, pages 92-102, 2022

doi:10.1109/TopoInVis57755.2022.00016

Paper (PDF)

A topology-based approach towards subject-specific brain activity analysis in fMRI data Farhan Rasheed, Daniel Jönsson, Emma Nilsson, Talha Bin Masood, Ingrid Hotz Poster, Eurographics Workshop on Visual Computing for Biology and Medicine (VCBM), 2022

Paper (PDF)

Level of detail exploration of electronic transition ensembles using hierarchical clustering Signe Sidwall Thygesen, Talha Bin Masood, Mathieu Linares, Vijay Natarajan, Ingrid Hotz EuroVis 2022, Computer Graphics Forum, 41(3), pages 333-344, 2022

doi:10.1111/cgf.14544

Paper (PDF) BibTex

Morse theory-based segmentation and fabric quantification of granular materials Karran Pandey, Talha Bin Masood, Saurabh Singh, Ingrid Hotz, Vijay Natarajan, Tejas G. Murthy Granular Matter, 24(1), 27, 2022

doi:10.1007/s10035-021-01182-7

Paper (PDF) BibTex

Segmentation Driven Peeling for Visual Analysis of Electronic Transitions Mohit Sharma, Talha Bin Masood, Signe Sidwall Thygesen, Mathieu Linares, Ingrid Hotz, Vijay Natarajan IEEE Visualization Conference (VIS), New Orleans, USA, pages 96-100, 2021

doi:10.1109/VIS49827.2021.9623300

Paper (PDF) BibTex

An Overview of the Topology ToolKit Talha Bin Masood, Joseph Budin, Martin Falk, Guillaume Favelier, Christoph Garth, Charles Gueunet, Pierre Guillou, Lutz Hofmann, Petar Hristov, Adhitya Kamakshidasan, Christopher Kappe, Pavol Klacansky, Patrick Laurin, Joshua A. Levine, Jonas Lukasczyk, Daisuke Sakurai, Maxime Soler, Peter Steneteg, Julien Tierny, Will Usher, Jules Vidal, Michal Wozniak In Topological Methods in Data Analysis and Visualization VI. Ingrid Hotz, Talha Bin Masood, Filip Sadlo, Julien Tierny (Eds.), Springer Nature, Mathematics and Visualization Series, pages 327–342, 2021

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-83500-2_16

Paper (PDF) BibTex

Report of the TopoInVis TTK Hackathon: Experiences, Lessons Learned, and Perspectives Jonas Lukasczyk, Jakob Beran, Wito Engelke, Martin Falk, Anke Friederici, Christoph Garth, Lutz Hofmann, Ingrid Hotz, Petar Hristov, Wiebke Köpp, Talha Bin Masood, Małgorzata Olejniczak, Paul Rosen, Jan-Tobias Sohns, Tino Weinkauf, Kilian Werner, Julien Tierny In Topological Methods in Data Analysis and Visualization VI. Ingrid Hotz, Talha Bin Masood, Filip Sadlo, Julien Tierny (Eds.), Springer Nature, Mathematics and Visualization Series, pages 359–373, 2021

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-83500-2_18

Paper (PDF) BibTex

Topological Methods in Data Analysis and Visualization VI Ingrid Hotz, Talha Bin Masood, Filip Sadlo, Julien Tierny Mathematics and Visualization Series, Springer, 2021

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-83500-2

Topology-Based Feature Design and Tracking for Multi-center Cyclones Wito Engelke, Talha Bin Masood, Jakob Beran, Rodrigo Caballero, Ingrid Hotz In Topological Methods in Data Analysis and Visualization VI. Ingrid Hotz, Talha Bin Masood, Filip Sadlo, Julien Tierny (Eds.), Springer Nature, Mathematics and Visualization Series, pages 71–85, 2021

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-83500-2_5

Paper (PDF) BibTex

Scalar field comparison with topological descriptors: Properties and applications for scientific visualization Lin Yan, Talha Bin Masood, Raghavendra Sridharamurthy, Farhan Rasheed, Vijay Natarajan, Ingrid Hotz, Bei Wang EuroVis 2021, Computer Graphics Forum, 40(3), pages 599-633, 2021

doi:10.1111/cgf.14331

Paper (PDF) BibTex

Visual analysis of electronic densities and transitions in molecules Talha Bin Masood, Signe Sidwall Thygesen, Mathieu Linares, Alexei I. Abrikosov, Vijay Natarajan, Ingrid Hotz EuroVis 2021, Computer Graphics Forum, 40(3), pages 287-298, 2021

doi:10.1111/cgf.14307

Paper (PDF) BibTex

Visualization in Astrophysics: Developing New Methods, Discovering Our Universe, and Educating the Earth F. Lan, M. Young, L. Anderson, A. Ynnerman, A. Bock, M. Borkin, A. Forbes, J. Kollmeier, B. Wang Computer Graphics Forum, 2021

doi:10.1111/cgf.14332

Paper (PDF) BibTex

OpenSpace Sonification: Complementing Visualization of the Solar System with Sound E. Elmquist, M. Ejdbo, A. Bock, N. Rönnberg International Community for Auditory Displays, 2021

doi:10.21785/icad2021.018

Topological analysis of density fields: An evaluation of segmentation methods Alexei I. Abrikosov, Talha Bin Masood, Martin Falk, Ingrid Hotz MolVA 2021, Computers & Graphics, 98, pages 231-241, 2021

doi:10.1016/j.cag.2021.05.015

Paper (PDF)

High-pressure synthesis of Dirac materials: Layered van der Waals bonded BeN₄ polymorph Maxim Bykov, Timofey Fedotenko, Stella Chariton, Dominique Laniel, Konstantin Glazyrin, Michael Hanfland, Jesse S. Smith, Vitali B. Prakapenka, Mohammad F. Mahmood, Alexander F. Goncharov, Alena V. Ponomareva, Ferenc Tasnádi, Alexei I. Abrikosov, Talha Bin Masood, Ingrid Hotz, Alexander N. Rudenko, Mikhail I. Katsnelson, Natalia Dubrovinskaia, Leonid Dubrovinsky, and Igor A. Abrikosov Physical Review Letters, 126(17), 175501, 2021

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.175501

Paper (PDF) BibTex

Visualization of Tensor Fields in Mechanics C. Hergl, C. Blecha, V. Kretzschmar, F. Raith, F. Günther, M. Stommel, J.Jankowai, I. Hotz, T. Nagel, G. Scheuermann Computer Graphics Forum, 2021

doi:10.1111/cgf.14209

Paper (PDF) BibTex Wiley Online Library

Continuous histograms for anisotropy of 2D symmetric piece-wise linear tensor fields Talha Bin Masood, Ingrid Hotz In Anisotropy Across Fields and Scales. Evren Özarslan, Andrea Fuster, Thomas Schultz, Eugene Zhang (Eds.) Springer-Verlag, Mathematics and Visualization Series. pages 39-70, 2021

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-56215-1_3

Paper (PDF) BibTex

Cover Image

Tensor volume exploration using attribute space representatives J.Jankowai, R. Skånberg, D. Jönsson, A. Ynnerman, I. Hotz Levia 2020, 2020

doi:10.31219/osf.io/qu8rz

Paper (PDF) BibTex OSF project

Reaching Broad Audiences from a Science Center or Museum Setting A. Ynnerman, P. Ljung, A. Bock Foundations of Data Visualization, 2020

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-34444-3_19

BibTex

Parallel computation of alpha complexes for biomolecules Talha Bin Masood, Tathagata Ray, Vijay Natarajan Computational Geometry, 90, 101651, 2020

doi:10.1016/j.comgeo.2020.101651

Paper (PDF) BibTex

Unwind: Interactive Fish Straightening F. Williams, A. Bock, H. Doraiswamy, C. Donatelli, K. Hall, A. Summers, D. Panozzo, C. Silva CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2020

doi:10.1145/3313831.3376846

Paper (PDF) BibTex Code

Feature Level-Sets: Generalizing Iso-surfaces to Multi-variate Data J.Jankowai, I. Hotz IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 2020

doi:10.1109/TVCG.2018.2867488

Paper (PDF) BibTex OSF project

Interactive Visualization of Atmospheric Effects for Celestial Bodies J. Costa, A. Bock, C. Emmart, C. Hansen, A. Ynnerman, C. Silva IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 2020

doi:10.1109/TVCG.2020.3030333

Paper (PDF) BibTex Code

Parallel computation of alpha complexes for biomolecules Talha Bin Masood, Tathagata Ray, Vijay Natarajan 36th International Symposium on Computational Geometry, SoCG 2020, LIPIcs, 164, pages 17:1-17:16, 2020

doi:10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2020.17

Paper (PDF) BibTex

Visualizing a Billion Stars for Science and Education J. Faherty, B. Abbott, A. Alsegård, C. Emmart, A. Bock, E. Axelsson, A. Ynnerman, M. Acinapura American Astronomical Society meeting #235, 2020

OpenSpace: A System for Astrographics A. Bock, E. Axelsson, J. Costa, G. Payne, M. Acinapura, V. Trakinski, C. Emmart, C. Silva, C. Hansen, A. Ynnerman IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 2020

doi:10.1109/TVCG.2019.2934259

Paper (PDF) BibTex Code

This paper describes how OpenSpace meets these challenges in an open source effort thatis paving the path for the next generation of interactive astrographics.

Edit distance between merge trees Raghavendra Sridharamurthy, Talha Bin Masood, Adhitya Kamakshidasan, Vijay Natarajan IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 26(3), pages 1518-1531, 2020

doi:10.1109/TVCG.2018.2873612

Paper (PDF) BibTex

IDEAS: Immersive Dome Experiences for Accelerating Science J. Faherty, M. SubbaRao, R. Wyatt, A. Ynnerman, N. deGrasse Tyson, A. Geller, M. Weber, P. Rosenfield, W. Steffen, G. Stoeckle, D. Weiskopf, M. Magnor, P. Williams, B. Abbott, L. Marchetti, T. Jarrett, J. Fay, J. Peek, O. Graur, P. Durrell, D. Homeier, H. Preston, T. Müller, J. Vos, D. Brown, P. Giorla, E. Rice, D. Bardalez Gagliuffi, A. Bock, J. Hedberg, D. Rosen, C. Emmart ASTRO 2020 White Paper, 2019

Paper (PDF)

Robust Extraction and Simplification of 2D Symmetric Tensor Field Topology J.Jankowai, B.Wang, I. Hotz Computer Graphics Forum, 2019

doi:10.1111/cgf.13693

Paper (PDF) BibTex OSF project

Visual analysis of charge flow networks for complex morphologies Sathish Kottravel, Martin Falk, Talha Bin Masood, Mathieu Linares, Ingrid Hotz EuroVis 2019, Computer Graphics Forum, 38(3), pages 479-489, 2019

doi:10.1111/cgf.13704

Paper (PDF) BibTex

OpenSpace: Bringing NASA Missions to the Public A. Bock, C. Hansen, A. Ynnerman IEEE Computer Graphics & Applications, 2018

doi:10.1109/MCG.2018.053491735

Paper (PDF) BibTex Code

Tailoring visualization applications for tasks and users A. Bock PhD Thesis, 2018

doi:10.3384/diss.diva-147975

Paper (PDF)

OpenSpace: Changing the Narrative of Public Dissemination in Astronomical Visualization from What to How A. Bock, E. Axelsson, C. Emmart, M. Kuznetsova, C. Hansen, A. Ynnerman IEEE Computer Graphics & Applications, 2018

doi:10.1109/MCG.2018.032421653

Paper (PDF) BibTex Code

Globe Browsing in OpenSpace K. Bladin, A. Bock, A. Ynnerman Computer, 2018

doi:10.1109/MC.2018.2381132

Code