Volume rendering

ABSTRACT

A technique for rendering images of volumes containing mixtures of materials is presented. The shading model allows both the interior of a material and the boundary between materials to be colored. Image projection is performed by simulating the absorption of light along the ray path to the eye. The algorithms used are designed to avoid artifacts caused by aliasing and quantization and can be efficiently implemented on an image computer. Images from a variety of applications are shown.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  I. Computing Methodologies
  I.3 COMPUTER GRAPHICS
      I.3.5 Computational Geometry and Object Modeling
          Subjects: Curve, surface, solid, and object representations

Additional Classification:
  I. Computing Methodologies
  I.3 COMPUTER GRAPHICS
      I.3.7 Three-Dimensional Graphics and Realism
          Subjects: Visible line/surface algorithms; Color, shading, shadowing, and texture
  I.4 IMAGE PROCESSING AND COMPUTER VISION

General Terms:
Design, Performance, Theory

Keywords:
computer tomography, image processing, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), medical imaging, non-destructive evaluation (NDE), scientific visualization