Visualizing fuzzy sets using opacity-varying freeform diagrams. (April 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zhu, Lifeng; Xia, Weiwei; Liu, Jia; Song, Aiguo
• Is Part Of: Information visualization. Volume 17:Number 2(2018)
• Page Start: 146
• Page End: 160
• Publication Date: 2018-04
• Subjects: Fuzzy set -- set visualization -- uncertainty visualization -- mass–spring system -- bi-harmonic equation; Information visualization -- Periodicals; 006.605
• DOI: 10.1177/1473871617698517
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1473-8716

Abstract

As an extension of classical sets, fuzzy sets allow their containing elements to have continuous membership, which broadens its applications in various domains. In order to visualize the uncertain owner–member relationship, we design an intuitive diagram to visualize fuzzy sets. The diagram has a freeform boundary, which allows a clear layout of the data. In addition, the opacity of the diagram reveals the uncertainty of the membership. Physical simulation and bi-harmonic interpolation are introduced to generate the proposed diagram. We test our method with different fuzzy sets. The results show that our method is efficient to generate intuitive visualization of fuzzy sets.