Realism, expressionism, and abstraction: applying art techniques to visualization

The visualization and computer graphics communities have recently become fascinated with the application of artistic techniques to three dimensional computer generated imagery. These are sometimes called non-photo realistic rendering techniques. This raises the key issue of when is it appropriate to apply realism, expressionism, and abstraction points of views to scientific and information visualization? What additional insights are gained from overlapping these approaches? The eye, the emotions, and the intellect all share in the process of creating and exploring visual art forms, including computer generated imagery. This panel examines a few non-photo realistic rendering approaches and highlights the impact these methods have on gaining insight from the resulting scientific and information visualizations.