Visualizing second-order tensor fields with hyperstreamlines

A method developed to help scientists visualize 3D tensor data is presented. The method is based on the concept of a hyperstreamline, the simplest continuous tensor structure that can be extracted from a tensor field. Hyperstreamlines for a particular case of symmetric tensor fields are introduced, and a structural depiction of symmetric tensor fields is derived from the representation of many hyperstreamlines. A method for visualizing unsymmetric tensor data by encoding an additional vector field along the trajectory of the hyperstreamlines is discussed.<>