Scalable and portable visualization of large atomistic datasets

A scalable and portable code named Atomsviewer has been developed to interactively visualize a large atomistic dataset consisting of up to a billion atoms. The code uses a hierarchical view frustum-culling algorithm based on the octree data structure to efficiently remove atoms outside of the user's field-of-view. Probabilistic and depth-based occlusion-culling algorithms then select atoms, which have a high probability of being visible. Finally a multiresolution algorithm is used to render the selected subset of visible atoms at varying levels of detail. Atomsviewer is written in C++ and OpenGL, and it has been tested on a number of architectures including Windows, Macintosh, and SGI. Atomsviewer has been used to visualize tens of millions of atoms on a standard desktop computer and, in its parallel version, up to a billion atoms.

Program summary

Title of program: AtomsviewerCatalogue identifier: ADUMProgram summary URL:http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/ADUMProgram obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University of Belfast, N. IrelandComputer for which the program is designed and others on which it has been tested: 2.4 GHz Pentium 4/Xeon processor, professional graphics card; Apple G4 (867 MHz)/G5, professional graphics cardOperating systems under which the program has been tested: Windows 2000/XP, Mac OS 10.2/10.3, SGI IRIX 6.5Programming languages used: C++, C and OpenGLMemory required to execute with typical data: 1 gigabyte of RAMHigh speed storage required: 60 gigabytesNo. of lines in the distributed program including test data, etc.: 550 241No. of bytes in the distributed program including test data, etc.: 6 258 245Number of bits in a word: ArbitraryNumber of processors used: 1Has the code been vectorized or parallelized: NoDistribution format: tar gzip fileNature of physical problem: Scientific visualization of atomic systemsMethod of solution: Rendering of atoms using computer graphic techniques, culling algorithms for data minimization, and levels-of-detail for minimal renderingRestrictions on the complexity of the problem: NoneTypical running time: The program is interactive in its executionUnusual features of the program: NoneReferences: The conceptual foundation and subsequent implementation of the algorithms are found in [A. Sharma, A. Nakano, R.K. Kalia, P. Vashishta, S. Kodiyalam, P. Miller, W. Zhao, X.L. Liu, T.J. Campbell, A. Haas, Presence—Teleoperators and Virtual Environments 12 (1) (2003)].