Toward perceptual enhancement of multiple intersecting surfaces

Visualizations of 2D scalar fields are often based on the rendering of 3D surfaces. Combinations of standard 3D rendering techniques using color, transparency, texturing, and lighting can be employed to create visualizations for multiple surfaces. However, the transition from foreground to background due to surface intersections can confound accurate surface perception, even for techniques that work well for overlapping non-intersecting surfaces. Our research proposes a generalized method of decomposing and stratifying these surfaces into layered components, allowing complete rendering control of each surface component. We explore different rendering schemes based on stratification values and report initial results from experimentation.