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A new method for the visualization of two-dimensional fluid flow is presented. The method is based on the advection and decay of dye. These processes are simulated by defining each frame of a flow animation as a blend between a warped version of the previous image and a number of background images. For the latter a sequence of filtered white noise images is used: filtered in time and space to remove high frequency components. Because all steps are done using images, the method is named Image Based Flow Visualization (IBFV). With IBFV a wide variety of visualization techniques can be emulated. Flow can be visualized as moving textures with line integral convolution and spot noise. Arrow plots, streamlines, particles, and topological images can be generated by adding extra dye to the image. Unsteady flows, defined on arbitrary meshes, can be handled. IBFV achieves a high performance by using standard features of graphics hardware. Typically fifty frames per second are generated using standard graphics cards on PCs. Finally, IBFV is easy to understand, analyse, and implement.
Jarke J. van Wijk (Mon,) studied this question.