Introduction to Volume Synthesis

Abstract

A recently increasing trend in the use of discrete voxel representation for a variety of geometry-based applications is apparent. These applications include CAD, simulation, and animation, as well as those that intermix geometric objects with 3D sampled or computed datasets. In these applications, the inherently continuous 3D geometric scene is sampled employing voxelization (3D scan conversion) algorithms, which generate a 3D raster of voxels. The voxelized objects have to conform to some 3D discrete topological requirements such as connectivity and absence of tunnels. During the voxelization process, termed also the volume synthesis process, each voxel is assigned precomputed numeric values that represent some measurable viewing-independent properties of a tiny cube of the real object. These values are then readily accessible for speeding up the rendering process. The voxelization algorithms are the counterparts of the 2D scan conversion algorithms, and the 3D raster generated by them is the 3D counterpart of conventional 2D raster.