| Re: Constructing Color Tables in IDL [message #8215] |
Tue, 18 February 1997 00:00 |
agraps
Messages: 35
Registered: September 1994
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Member |
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davidf@dfanning.com (David Fanning) writes:
> Jack Saba writes:
>> Thanks for the review. However, those of us who are not used to building
>> color tables should know that generating one that gives the best
>> representation of the data for a particular purpose is trickier than
>> might be expected. See, for example,
>>
>> Rogowitz, Bernice E., and Lloyd A. Treinish
>> "How Not to Lie with Visualization",
>> Computers In Physics 10(3):268, 1996
[...]
> I would recommend two additional books by Edward Tufte if
> people are interested in this topic: _The Visual Display of
> Quantitative Information_ and _Envisoning Information_.
> These books have really changed the way I write IDL programs.
(same for me)
Anyone here seen the movie: "The Glitzomatic", which is a very funny
sequence about vizualizing data (You start with data that is
practically nothing and you end with a full-color-shaded-surface
animation with a narrator, meanwhile the Glitz factor increases and
increases until an overload value is reached.) ? This movie was shown
at a SIGRAPH 4 or 5 years ago, and later, a nice article in Science
News was written about it.
If you are interested in this subject (vizualization), there is
another reference I can recommend. Al Globus (NASA Ames), who was
strongly influenced by Edward Tufte, wrote a classic (in my opinion)
satirical paper a few years ago:
"14 Ways to Say Nothing with Scientific Visualization," A. Globus,
E. Raible, IEEE Computer, July 1994.
Which you can get in postscript form from:
http://www.nas.nasa.gov/NAS/TechReports/RNRreports/aglobus/R NR-92-006/
RNR-92-006.html
The abstract follows.
"Scientific visualization can be used to produce very beautiful images.
Frequently users and others not properly initiated into the mysteries of
visualization research fail to appreciate the artistic qualities of
these images. Scientists will frequently use our work to needlessly
understand the data from which it is derived. This paper describes a
number of effective techniques to confound such pernicious activity."
Amara
--
************************************************************ *************
Amara Graps email: agraps@netcom.com
Computational Physics vita: finger agraps@best.com
Multiplex Answers URL: http://www.amara.com/
************************************************************ *************
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| Re: Constructing Color Tables in IDL [message #8218 is a reply to message #8215] |
Tue, 18 February 1997 00:00  |
davidf
Messages: 2866
Registered: September 1996
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Senior Member |
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Jack Saba writes:
> Thanks for the review. However, those of us who are not used to building
> color tables should know that generating one that gives the best
> representation of the data for a particular purpose is trickier than
> might be expected. See, for example,
>
> Rogowitz, Bernice E., and Lloyd A. Treinish
> "How Not to Lie with Visualization",
> Computers In Physics 10(3):268, 1996
Jack is absolutely right. People often talk about "seeing their data"
when they look at an image. I have been making a bigger and bigger
point in the IDL classes that I teach that you are seldom, if ever,
really "seeing" your data. You are seeing an *abstraction* of your
data, forced--for the most part--into viewing it with something
less than 256 colors or shades of gray. And, of course, the
colors you select effects what you "see".
I would recommend two additional books by Edward Tufte if
people are interested in this topic: _The Visual Display of
Quantitative Information_ and _Envisoning Information_.
These books have really changed the way I write IDL programs.
Cheers,
David
-----------------------------------------------------------
David Fanning, Ph.D.
Fanning Software Consulting
2642 Bradbury Court, Fort Collins, CO 80521
Phone: 970-221-0438 Fax: 970-221-4762
E-Mail: davidf@dfanning.com
Coyote's Guide to IDL Programming: http://www.dfanning.com
-----------------------------------------------------------
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| Re: Constructing Color Tables in IDL [message #8219 is a reply to message #8215] |
Tue, 18 February 1997 00:00 |
Jack Saba
Messages: 30
Registered: January 1996
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Member |
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David Fanning wrote:
>
> Folks,
>
> Several people have asked me this week how to construct a
> color table. I've taken this to mean (perhaps erroneously)
> that there is general interest in the subject. :-)
>
David:
Thanks for the review. However, those of us who are not used to building
color tables should know that generating one that gives the best
representation of the data for a particular purpose is trickier than
might be expected. See, for example,
Rogowitz, Bernice E., and Lloyd A. Treinish
"How Not to Lie with Visualization",
Computers In Physics 10(3):268, 1996
Jack Saba
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