.Steerable Texture Synthesisfor Vector Field VisualizationVom Fachbereich Informatikder Technischen Universität DarmstadtgenehmigteDissertationzur Erlangung des akademischen Grades einesDoktor-Ingenieurs (Dr.-Ing.)vonDipl.-Ing. Francesca Taponeccoaus SarzanaReferenten der Arbeit: . . . Prof. Dr.-Ing. Marc Alexa, Technische Universität Berlin. . . Hon. Prof. Hans-Christian Hege, ZUSE Institute Berlin. . . Prof. Dr. Bernt Schiele, Technische Universität DarmstadtTag der Einreichung: 29. August 2006Tag der mündlichen Prüfung: 11. Oktober 2006D17Darmstädter Dissertation 2006IAcknowledgmentsThis dissertation could become a reality thanks to the help of numerous people who contributed indifferent ways supporting me in these years of research.Foremost I want to express my special thanks to my advisor Marc Alexa. I would like tothank him for his guidance during my research at the Darmstadt University of Technology; heprovided useful suggestions and support, giving me the freedom and the encouragement to pursuethis research. Thanks to his experience and competence in every field of quest and thanks to hisfriendly way of leading the group, he represented an important reference point for me.