What do you think the x and y parameters are?.We will start by plotting the following function: Plotting a function in 2D Ī basic scientific visualisation task is to make a graph of a function or some data points. In the following tutorial, we will assume you have already read up to tutorial 06. Before the advent of the programmable shaders, scientific visualisation was lot harder to do on graphics cards. Also, raw data might need a lot of transformation before it can be rendered, and these transformations cannot always be implemented as matrix multiplications. It may sound like only simple OpenGL features are used, but in return a scientist wants the data rendered with a high accuracy, without any artifacts, and without arbitrary clipping of geometry or lighting. Instead of specular highlights, reflections and shadow, scientific data is usually presented with primary colors and just a bit of smooth shading. Instead of a perspective view of our data, the scientist usually wants an orthographic view. Technically, there is not a great difference between drawing datasets and drawing game graphics, but the emphasis is different. One of these is the visualization of scientific data. Although OpenGL is widely known for its use in games, it has also many other applications.