The goal of this talk is to give some idea of how many difficulties there are in visualizing and/or understanding vector fields. I will discuss some of the general techniques used to visualize and understand vector fields. This will be followed by a description of the limitations of these techniques using examples of 1D, 2D, and 3D vector fields (steady state and time varying) and 3D props (hopefully). Finally, some ideas for future work/research will be offered.

I will be freely drawing on material presented by David Bank of Florida State University as part of an IEEE Vis. 1999 tutorial. His portion of the tutorial was entitled "Flows: What to Show and How to Show It".

Snacks will be provided.

See Conundrum Talks for more information about this series.