Voxel datacubes for 3D visualization in Blender

Abstract

The growth of computational astrophysics and complexity of multidimensional datasets evidences the need for new versatile visualization tools for both analysis and presentation of the data. In this work we show how to use the open source software Blender as a 3D visualization tool to study and visualize numerical simulation results, focusing on astrophysical hydrodynamic experiments. With a datacube as input, the software can generate a volume rendering of the 3D data, show the evolution of a simulation in time, and do a fly-around camera animation to highlight the points of interest. We explain the process to import simulation outputs into Blender using the Voxel Data format, and how to set up a visualization scene in the software interface. This method allows scientists to perform a complementary visual analysis of their data, and display their results in an appealing way, both for outreach and science presentations.