Three-dimensional computation visualization for computer graphics rendering algorithms

Computation visualization or algorithm animation is becoming an increasingly popular and effective way of teaching, debugging, and analyzing algorithms. Over the past ten years, several algorithm animation systems have been produced. Proposed here is a new approach and framework for visualizing three-dimensional algorithms or computations. Implemented on a prototype algorithm animation system, this framework, termed the vector-guided view, produces insightful visualizations of three-dimensional computation by effectively solving the problems of 3D scene navigation. The creation of this framework was motivated by the desire to produce visualizations of an increasingly large and complex set of rendering algorithms now ubiquitous in the field of computer graphics. To show the potential of this framework, a dynamic visualization of a recursive ray-tracing program has been created. A brief summary of the algorithm animation system is presented.