Drilling into complex 3D models with gimlenses

Abstract

Complex 3D virtual scenes such as CAD models of airplanes and representations of the human body are notoriously hard to visualize. Those models are made of many parts, pieces and layers of varying size, that partially occlude or even fully surround one another. We introduce Gimlenses, a multi-view, detail-in-context visualization technique that enables users to navigate complex 3D models by interactively drilling holes into their outer layers to reveal objects that are buried, possibly deep, into the scene. Those holes get constantly adjusted so as to guarantee the visibility of objects of interest from the parent view. Gimlenses can be cascaded and constrained with respect to one another, providing synchronized, complementary viewpoints on the scene. Gimlenses enable users to quickly identify elements of interest, get detailed views of those elements, relate them, and put them in a broader spatial context.