Fusing ICPVR and ILMIP in Volume Rendering

Abstract

Visualization Toolkit (VTK) is one of several visualization systems available today. In its code, as the general volume rendering method, direct volume rendering (DVR) algorithms and maximum intensity projection (MIP) algorithms could be fulfilled easily. In this paper, based on the analysis of characteristics of DVR and MIP, illustrative context-preserving volume rendering (ICPVR) and improved local maximum intensity projection (ILMIP)as extensions to mend DVR and MIP respectively are introduced under VTK platform. Due to its ability to communicate 3d shape, object interrelations, and depth information, DVR could be used to show the inner structures, while MIP could be used to show the parts with higher values, for its convenience to be realized. To make use of the benefits of DVR and MIP effectively, fusing DVR and MIP is necessary. In the paper, to better use the features of DVR and MIP further, an improved volume rendering approach for fusing ICPVR and ILMIP is proposed. With the experiments, it is clearly to see the improved approach could visualize interior and exterior structures of objects simultaneously while preserving clear shape cues.KeywordsDVRMIPICPVRILMIP