Realtime Volume Visualization of Time Evolving Nebulae for Immersive Environments

This paper presents the result of our master thesis work in media technology, which is an implementation of a realtime volume rendering engine capable of visualizing reflection nebulae. The engine is using scattering and emission properties of time evolving volumetric data, created by astrophysicists at the Hayden Planetarium, New York. The visualization is designed towards full dome planetarium displays. Using the latest GPU based techniques for volume rendering and impostor techniques we are able to interactively fly around as well as animate several nebulae embedded in their true astronomical content. This paper is aimed towards fellow media technology students and people interested in the area of realtime volume renderings. It is written with the presumption that the reader has the same knowledge as we did when starting our thesis work, which implies good confidence in modern 3D computer graphics, some experience in object-oriented programming and basic knowledge of algebra and calculus. It is our hope that this report can be enjoyed even if skipping some of the more technical parts