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Item Project in Visualization and Data Analysis: Experiences in Designing and Coordinating the Course(The Eurographics Association, 2021) Kucher, Kostiantyn; Martins, Rafael M.; Kerren, Andreas; Sousa Santos, Beatriz and Domik, GittaVisual analytics involves both visual and computational components for empowering human analysts who face the challenges of making sense and making use of large and heterogeneous data sets in various application domains. In order to facilitate the learning process for the students at higher education institutions with regard to both the theoretical knowledge and practical skills in visual analytics, the respective courses must cover a variety of topics and include multiple assessment methods and activities. In this paper, we report on the design and first instantiation of a full term project-based course in visualization and data analysis, which was recently offered to graduate and post-graduate students at our department and met with positive feedback from the course participants.Item A Survey of Control Mechanisms for Creative Pattern Generation(The Eurographics Association and John Wiley & Sons Ltd., 2021) Gieseke, Lena; Asente, Paul; Mech, Radomir; Benes, Bedrich; Fuchs, Martin; Bühler, Katja and Rushmeier, HollyWe review recent methods in 2D creative pattern generation and their control mechanisms, focusing on procedural methods. The review is motivated by an artist's perspective and investigates interactive pattern generation as a complex design problem. While the repetitive nature of patterns is well-suited to algorithmic creation and automation, an artist needs more flexible control mechanisms for adaptable and inventive designs. We organize the state of the art around pattern design features, such as repetition, frames, curves, directionality, and single visual accents. Within those areas, we summarize and discuss the techniques' control mechanisms for enabling artist intent. The discussion includes questions of how input is given by the artist, what type of content the artist inputs, where the input affects the canvas spatially, and when input can be given in the timeline of the creation process. We categorize the available control mechanisms on an algorithmic level and categorize their input modes based on exemplars, parameterization, handling, filling, guiding, and placing interactions. To better understand the potential of the current techniques for creative design and to make such an investigation more manageable, we motivate our discussion with how navigation, transparency, variation, and stimulation enable creativity. We conclude our review by identifying possible new directions that can inspire innovation for artist-centered creation processes and algorithms.Item Conveying Firsthand Experience: The Circuit Parcours Technique for Efficient and Engaging Teaching in Courses about Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality(The Eurographics Association, 2021) Dörner, Ralf; Horst, Robin; Sousa Santos, Beatriz and Domik, GittaProviding the opportunity for hands-on experience is crucial when teaching courses about Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR). However, the workload on the educator's side for providing these opportunities might be prohibitive. In addition, other organizational challenges can arise, for example, demonstrations of VR/AR application in a course might be too time-consuming, especially if the course is attended by many students. We present the Circuit Parcours Technique to meet these challenges. Here, in a well-organized event, stations with VR/AR demonstrations are provided in parallel, and students are enlisted to prepare and conduct the demonstrations. The event is embedded in a four-phase model. In this education paper, the technique is precisely described, examples for its flexible usage in different teaching situations are provided, advantages such as time efficiency are discussed, and lessons learned are shared from our experience with using this method for more than 10 years. Moreover, learning goals are identified that can be achieved with this technique besides gaining personal experience.Item Visual Analysis of Point Cloud Neighborhoods via Multi-Scale Geometric Measures(The Eurographics Association, 2021) Ritter, Marcel; Schiffner, Daniel; Harders, Matthias; Theisel, Holger and Wimmer, MichaelPoint sets are a widely used spatial data structure in computational and observational domains, e.g. in physics particle simulations, computer graphics or remote sensing. Algorithms typically operate in local neighborhoods of point sets, for computing physical states, surface reconstructions, etc. We present a visualization technique based on multi-scale geometric features of such point clouds. We explore properties of different choices on the underlying weighted co-variance neighborhood descriptor, illustrated on different point set geometries and for varying noise levels. The impact of different weighting functions and tensor centroids, as well as point set features and noise levels becomes visible in the rotation-invariant feature images. We compare to a curvature based scale space visualization method and, finally, show how features in real-world LiDAR data can be inspected by images created with our approach in an interactive tool. In contrast to the curvature based approach, with our method line structures are highlighted over growing scales, with clear border regions to planar or spherical geometric structures.