3D photorealistic scientific visualization of tsunami waves and sea level rise

A methodology is proposed for the photorealistic scientific visualization of a tsunami wave. The methodology is applied to the case of the tsunami occurring after the Mediterranean earthquake in 365 AD, provoking sea level rise in Heraklion port in Crete, Greece. The work presented in this paper puts forward a semi-automated workflow for parsing modeled data embedded in animation software of choice. By scripting the manual work needed for the import and processing of geo-referenced time arrays, a 4 minutes animation showcasing the automated workflow was created. The script implemented directs the automatic loading of geotif data and produces the required shapekeys needed for the final 3d animation. It minimized production costs for the sea level animation to a minimum and aided the quick visualization of large arrays of numerical models in geo-referenced 3D representing the impact zone. The 3D & animation data can then be handed out to the post processing team focusing on special effects and photorealistic rendering, maintaining scientific accuracy in the final animation.