VISUALIZATION:Manipulating Volumes: A New Paradigm for Advanced Volume Visualization

随着3D体数据从模拟和传感设备中变得越来越普遍，随着体渲染api在软件和硬件实现中变得可用，对体模型进行操作的需求出现了。然而，为分析和计算机图形应用操作体积模型的工作是稀疏的。可用的几种方法在计算上很昂贵，而且不直观。这个项目通过使用体积骨架来控制操作来避免这些问题。骨架作为卷的普遍数据结构，并允许以更直观和通用的方式进行操作。骨架由实际体积通过基于距离变换的可逆细化过程计算得到。骨骼点连接并排列在骨骼树结构中。这个过程的关键是在骨架树周围映射采样体素的重建阶段。骨架是一种直观的操作机制。例如，用户可以变形骨架以在体积中创建相应的变形。骨架树允许用户重塑体积并创建新的可视化效果。除此之外，它还允许在逻辑上剔除卷的部分，变形卷以模拟3D特征随时间的变化，为交互式基于卷的虚拟现实应用程序检测碰撞，以及卷动画和卷图形（用卷模拟标准图形管道）。因为骨架可以分层生成，所以它们可以用于执行各种任务，包括体积平滑和细节级表示。这个项目的目标是扩展和从根本上加强先前的体积骨架化研究。它将开发一系列健壮的骨架算法和交互式工具。研究人员将研究基于参数的体积骨架的令人兴奋的新可视化应用。这将在可视化和计算机图形界产生广泛的影响。

As 3D volume data becomes more prevalent from simulations and sensing equipment, and as volume rendering APIs are becoming available in software and hardware implementations, the need to manipulate volume models arises. However, the work on manipulating volume models for analysis and computer graphics applications is sparse. The few methods that are available are computationally expensive and non-intuitive. This project avoids these problems by using volumetric skeletons to control manipulation. The skeleton acts as a ubiquitous data structure for volumes and allows manipulation in a much more intuitive and general manner. The skeleton is computed from the actual volume with a reversible thinning procedure based upon the distance transform. The skeletal points are connected and arranged in a skeleton-tree structure. The key to this process is the reconstruction phase that maps the sampled voxels around the skeleton-tree. The skeleton is an intuitive mechanism for manipulation. For example, a user can deform the skeleton to create the corresponding deformations in the volume. The skeleton-tree allows the user to reshape volumes and create new visualizations. Among other things, this allows culling sections of a volume logically, morphing volumes to simulate changes in a 3D feature over time, detecting collisions for interactive volume-based virtual reality applications, and volume animation and volume graphics (mimicking the standard graphics pipeline with volumes). Because skeletons can be generated hierarchically, they can be used to perform a variety of tasks including volume smoothing and level-of-detail representation.The goal of this project is to extend and fundamentally enhance previous research in volume skeletonization. It will develop a full range of robust skeletal algorithms and interactive tools. The researchers will investigate the exciting new visualization applications of the parameter-based volume skeleton. This should have a wide impact in the visualization and computer graphics communities.