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Dynamic Visibility‐Driven Molecular Surfaces
Author(s) -
Bruckner Stefan
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
computer graphics forum
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.578
H-Index - 120
eISSN - 1467-8659
pISSN - 0167-7055
DOI - 10.1111/cgf.13640
Subject(s) - visibility , computer science , visualization , exploit , preprocessor , computation , function (biology) , quality (philosophy) , computer graphics (images) , interactive visualization , computer vision , artificial intelligence , algorithm , optics , physics , computer security , quantum mechanics , evolutionary biology , biology
Molecular surface representations are an important tool for the visual analysis of molecular structure and function. In this paper, we present a novel method for the visualization of dynamic molecular surfaces based on the Gaussian model. In contrast to previous approaches, our technique does not rely on the construction of intermediate representations such as grids or triangulated surfaces. Instead, it operates entirely in image space, which enables us to exploit visibility information to efficiently skip unnecessary computations. With this visibility‐driven approach, we can visualize dynamic high‐quality surfaces for molecules consisting of millions of atoms. Our approach requires no preprocessing, allows for the interactive adjustment of all properties and parameters, and is significantly faster than previous approaches, while providing superior quality.