Volume & Grid Visualisation
3D visualisation is invaluable when you are trying to understand data that comes from a three-dimensional source.
Quite often, industrial applications involve a grid of sensors, each of which is at a particular height, length and depth. Trying to represent this on a table, graph or single image very difficult, if not impossible.
But using 3D technology, you can see the real values inside a grid (or any large volume of space). Below are two examples of how we can show this sort of data.
Sample Data
The samples below show the following information based on a 6x6x6 grid (6 high, 6 wide, 6 deep).
To give the example some context, imagine two cold water pipes underground - the surface is warm, while the ground gets steadily cooler as it gets deeper. At the same time, the earth around these cold water pipes is also cooled by the water. Our pipes cross in the middle of our space.
To show just how difficult this data can be to understand without 3D, you can click here to see the source information that these visualisations are based on.
Sliced Volume
This type of visualisation shows your area as a solid block and allows you to 'cut' either vertically or horizontally to see the values inside.
This is very well suited to situations where you are interested in the entire volume, not just specific features inside that volume.
Point Cloud
This type of visualisation shows only the areas inside your volume that meet a specific condition, with varying colours and intensities to show values.
This is very well suited to situations where you are interested only in specific features inside your volume (for example, channels or veins of unusual values), rather than needing to know everything about the space.
Note that this sample shows only discrepancies - places where the value is significantly different from the value(s) around them.