Visualizing 3D flow through cutting planes

Studies have found conflicting results regarding the effectiveness of tube-like structures for representing 3D flow data. This paper presents the findings of a small-scale pilot study contrasting static monoscopic depth cues to ascertain their importance in perceiving the orientation of a three-dimensional glyph with respect to a cutting plane. A simple striped texture and shading were found to reduce judgement errors when used with a 3D tube glyph as compared to plain or shaded line glyphs. A discussion of considerations for a full-scale study and possible future work follows.