Image-guided streamline placement

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Abstract
Accurate control of streamline density is key to producing several effective forms of visualization of two-dimensional vector fields. We introduce a technique that uses an energy function to guide the placement of streamlines at a specified density. This energy func- tion uses a low-pass filtered version of the image to measure the difference between the current image and the desired visual den- sity. We reduce the energy (and thereby improve the placement of streamlines) by (1) changing the positions and lengths of stream- lines, (2) joining streamlines that nearly abut, and (3) creating new streamlines to fill sufficiently large gaps. The entire process is iter- ated to produce streamlines that are neither too crowded nor too sparse. The resulting streamlines manifest a more hand-placed ap- pearance than do regularly- or randomly-placed streamlines. Ar- rows can be added to the streamlines to disambiguate flow direc- tion, and flow magnitude can be represented by the thickness, den- sity, or intensity of the lines.

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