VolumeShop: An Interactive System for Direct Volume Illustration

Information

• Replaced by: bruckner-2005-VIS
• Publication Type: Technical Report
• Workgroup(s)/Project(s):
  • Visualization Group
• Date: April 2005
• Number: TR-186-2-05-04
• Keywords: focus+context techniques, illustrative visualization, volume rendering

Abstract

Illustrations play a major role in the education process. Whether used to teach a surgical or radiologic procedure, to illustrate normal or aberrant anatomy, or to explain the functioning of a technical device, illustration significantly impacts learning. Although many specimen are readily available as volumetric data sets, particularly in medicine, illustrations are commonly produced manually as static images in a time-consuming process. Our goal is to create a fully dynamic three-dimensional illustration environment which directly operates on volume data. Single images have the aesthetic appeal of traditional illustrations, but can be interactively altered and explored. In this paper we present methods to realize such a system which combines artistic visual styles and expressive visualization techniques. We introduce a novel concept for direct multi-object volume visualization which allows to control the appearance of inter-penetrating objects via two-dimensional transfer functions. Furthermore, a unifying approach to efficiently integrate many non-photorealistic rendering models is presented. We discuss several illustrative concepts which can be realized by combining cutaways, ghosting, and selective deformation. Finally, we also propose a simple interface to specify objects of interest through three-dimensional volumetric painting. All presented methods are integrated into VolumeShop, an interactive hardware-accelerated application for direct volume illustration.

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BibTeX

@techreport{TR-186-2-05-04,
  title =      "VolumeShop: An Interactive System for Direct Volume
               Illustration",
  author =     "Stefan Bruckner and Eduard Gr\"{o}ller",
  year =       "2005",
  abstract =   "Illustrations play a major role in the education process. 
               Whether used to teach a surgical or radiologic procedure, to
               illustrate normal or aberrant anatomy, or to explain the
               functioning of a technical device, illustration
               significantly impacts learning. Although many specimen are
               readily available as volumetric data sets, particularly in
               medicine, illustrations are commonly produced manually as
               static images in a time-consuming process. Our goal is to
               create a fully dynamic three-dimensional illustration
               environment which directly operates on volume data. Single
               images have the aesthetic appeal of traditional
               illustrations, but can be interactively altered and
               explored. In this paper we present methods to realize such a
               system which combines artistic visual styles and expressive
               visualization techniques. We introduce a novel concept for
               direct multi-object volume visualization which allows to
               control the appearance of inter-penetrating objects via
               two-dimensional transfer functions. Furthermore, a unifying
               approach to efficiently integrate many non-photorealistic
               rendering models is presented. We discuss several
               illustrative concepts which can be realized by combining
               cutaways, ghosting, and selective deformation. Finally, we
               also propose a simple interface to specify objects of
               interest through three-dimensional volumetric painting. All
               presented methods are integrated into VolumeShop, an
               interactive hardware-accelerated application for direct
               volume illustration.",
  month =      apr,
  number =     "TR-186-2-05-04",
  address =    "Favoritenstrasse 9-11/E193-02, A-1040 Vienna, Austria",
  institution = "Institute of Computer Graphics and Algorithms, Vienna
               University of Technology ",
  note =       "human contact: technical-report@cg.tuwien.ac.at",
  keywords =   "focus+context techniques, illustrative visualization, volume
               rendering",
  URL =        "https://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2005/TR-186-2-05-04/",
}