Book Image

OpenGL Data Visualization Cookbook

Book Image

OpenGL Data Visualization Cookbook

Overview of this book

OpenGL is a great multi-platform, cross-language, and hardware-accelerated graphics interface for visualizing large 2D and 3D datasets. Data visualization has become increasingly challenging using conventional approaches as datasets become larger and larger, especially with the Big Data evolution. From a mobile device to a sophisticated high-performance computing cluster, OpenGL libraries provide developers with an easy-to-use interface to create stunning visuals in 3D in real time for a wide range of interactive applications. This book provides a series of easy-to-follow, hands-on tutorials to create appealing OpenGL-based visualization tools with minimal development time. We will first illustrate how to quickly set up the development environment in Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. Next, we will demonstrate how to visualize data for a wide range of applications using OpenGL, starting from simple 2D datasets to increasingly complex 3D datasets with more advanced techniques. Each chapter addresses different visualization problems encountered in real life and introduces the relevant OpenGL features and libraries in a modular fashion. By the end of this book, you will be equipped with the essential skills to develop a wide range of impressive OpenGL-based applications for your unique data visualization needs, on platforms ranging from conventional computers to the latest mobile/wearable devices.
Table of Contents (16 chapters)
OpenGL Data Visualization Cookbook
Credits
About the Authors
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Getting started with the Microsoft Kinect (PrimeSense) 3D range-sensing camera


The Microsoft Kinect 3D range-sensing camera based on the PrimeSense technology is an interesting piece of equipment that enables the estimation of the 3D geometry of a scene through depth-sensing using light patterns. The 3D sensor has an active infrared laser projector, which emits encoded speckle light patterns. The sensors allow users to capture color images and provide a 3D depth map at a resolution of 640 x 480. Since the Kinect sensor is an active sensor, it is invariant to indoor lighting condition (that is, it even works in the dark) and enables many applications, such as gesture and pose tracking as well as 3D scanning and reconstruction.

In this section, we will demonstrate how to set up this type of range-sensing camera, as an example. While we do not require readers to purchase a 3D range-sensing camera for this chapter (since we will provide the raw data captured on this device for the purpose of...