Dynamic label placement for improved interactive exploration

Abstract

This work presents a novel approach for dynamically rendering annotations attached to a 3D scene. We formulate the problem as a general optimization under constraints, accounting for certain desirable properties. To approximately solve the NP-hard optimization problem in real-time, we present a particular heuristic that greedily places labels while maintaining constraints. Typical greedy label placement algorithms do not pay particular attention to the order of placement and, as a result, suffer from the fundamental limitation that successive labels get progressively more difficult to place. We use algorithmic and mathematical tools that compensate for the drawback of typical greedy approaches. In addition, they are well suited for GPU implementation, because they are completely image based. As a result, we can place tens of labels in real-time, as demonstrated in this paper.