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Illustrative Context-Preserving Exploration of Volume Data

S. Bruckner, S. Grimm, A. Kanitsar, and M. E. Gröller

Abstract

In volume rendering it is very difficult to simultaneously visualize interior and exterior structures while preserving clear shape cues. Highly transparent transfer functions produce cluttered images with many overlapping structures, while clipping techniques completely remove possibly important context information. In this paper we present a new model for volume rendering, inspired by techniques from illustration. It provides a means of interactively inspecting the interior of a volumetric data set in a feature-driven way which retains context information. The context-preserving volume rendering model uses a function of shading intensity, gradient magnitude, distance to the eye point, and previously accumulated opacity to selectively reduce the opacity in less important data regions. It is controlled by two user-specified parameters. This new method represents an alternative to conventional clipping techniques, shares their easy and intuitive user control, but does not suffer from the drawback of missing context information.

S. Bruckner, S. Grimm, A. Kanitsar, and M. E. Gröller, "Illustrative Context-Preserving Exploration of Volume Data," IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, vol. 12, iss. 6, p. 1559–1569, 2006. doi:10.1109/TVCG.2006.96
[BibTeX]

In volume rendering it is very difficult to simultaneously visualize interior and exterior structures while preserving clear shape cues. Highly transparent transfer functions produce cluttered images with many overlapping structures, while clipping techniques completely remove possibly important context information. In this paper we present a new model for volume rendering, inspired by techniques from illustration. It provides a means of interactively inspecting the interior of a volumetric data set in a feature-driven way which retains context information. The context-preserving volume rendering model uses a function of shading intensity, gradient magnitude, distance to the eye point, and previously accumulated opacity to selectively reduce the opacity in less important data regions. It is controlled by two user-specified parameters. This new method represents an alternative to conventional clipping techniques, shares their easy and intuitive user control, but does not suffer from the drawback of missing context information.
@ARTICLE {Bruckner-2006-ICE,
author = "Stefan Bruckner and S{\"o}ren Grimm and Armin Kanitsar and Meister Eduard Gr{\"o}ller",
title = "Illustrative Context-Preserving Exploration of Volume Data",
journal = "IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics",
year = "2006",
volume = "12",
number = "6",
pages = "1559--1569",
month = "nov",
abstract = "In volume rendering it is very difficult to simultaneously visualize  interior and exterior structures while preserving clear shape cues.  Highly transparent transfer functions produce cluttered images with  many overlapping structures, while clipping techniques completely  remove possibly important context information. In this paper we present  a new model for volume rendering, inspired by techniques from illustration.  It provides a means of interactively inspecting the interior of a  volumetric data set in a feature-driven way which retains context  information. The context-preserving volume rendering model uses a  function of shading intensity, gradient magnitude, distance to the  eye point, and previously accumulated opacity to selectively reduce  the opacity in less important data regions. It is controlled by two  user-specified parameters. This new method represents an alternative  to conventional clipping techniques, shares their easy and intuitive  user control, but does not suffer from the drawback of missing context  information.",
pdf = "pdfs/Bruckner-2006-ICE.pdf",
images = "images/Bruckner-2006-ICE.jpg",
thumbnails = "images/Bruckner-2006-ICE.png",
youtube = "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a92NXYtJeT0,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLEr5-O1jmY,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSet7-n6Mc4,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0U8lteEMOM,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csYsfKrQxN8,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xduvvU6IAw",
issn = "1077-2626",
affiliation = "tuwien",
doi = "10.1109/TVCG.2006.96",
keywords = "focus+context techniques, volume rendering, illustrative visualization",
url = "//www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2006/bruckner-2006-ICE/"
}
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