Hierarchical opacity optimization for sets of 3D line fields

The selection of meaningful lines for 3D line data visualization has been intensively researched in recent years. Most approaches focus on single line fields where one line passes through each domain point. This paper presents a selection approach for sets of line fields which is based on a global optimization of the opacity of candidate lines. For this, existing approaches for single line fields are modified such that significantly larger amounts of line representatives are handled. Furthermore, time coherence is addressed for animations, making this the first approach that solves the line selection problem for 3D time‐dependent flow. We apply our technique to visualize dense sets of pathlines, sets of magnetic field lines, and animated sets of pathlines, streaklines and masslines.