METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR INDICATING LIGHT DIRECTION FOR A VOLUME-RENDERED IMAGE

• US 20130169641A1
• Filed: 12/28/2011
• Published: 07/04/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Schroecker, Gerald
• Granted Patent: US 9,818,220 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/426
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 15/08 Volume rendering
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 15/80 Shading
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2210/41 Medical

Abstract

A method and system for volume-rendering. The method and system include generating a volume-rendered image that is shaded from a light direction, displaying the volume-rendered image, displaying a model of a solid at the same time as the volume-rendered image, and displaying a light direction indicator with respect to the model of the solid, wherein the position of the light direction indicator corresponds to the light direction used for shading the volume-rendered image.

Claims

1. A method of volume-rendering comprising:

generating a volume-rendered image from a 3D dataset, wherein the volume-rendered image is shaded from a light direction;

displaying the volume-rendered image;

displaying a model of a solid at the same time as the volume-rendered image; and

displaying a light direction indicator with respect to the model of the solid, wherein the position of the light direction indicator with respect to the model of the solid corresponds to the light direction used for shading the volume-rendered image.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the model of the solid is at least semi-transparent.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the model of the solid and the volume-rendered image are both displayed on the same display device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the model of the solid and the volume-rendered image are displayed on separate display devices.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the light direction indicator comprises a light source icon.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the light source icon comprises a representation of a polygonal model.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the light source icon comprises an arrow with an arrow head to indicate the light direction.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the light direction indicator comprises a highlight on the model of the solid.

9. The method of the claim 1, wherein the light direction indicator comprises both a light source icon and a highlight on the model of the solid.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying a scale volume-rendered image within the model of the solid at the same time as the volume-rendered image, wherein the scale volume-rendered image comprises a smaller representation of the volume rendered image.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the model of the solid comprises a model of a sphere.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising shading the volume-rendered image based a second light direction in addition to the light direction.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising displaying a second light direction indicator at the same time as the light direction indicator, wherein the position of the second light direction indicator with respect to the model of the solid corresponds to the second light direction.

14. A method of volume-rendering comprising:

displaying a volume-rendered image that is shaded from a first light direction;

displaying a model of a solid at the same time as said displaying the volume-rendered image;

displaying a light source indicator at a first position with respect to the model of the solid, wherein the first position of the light source indicator corresponds to the first light direction used to shade the volume-rendered image;

moving with a user interface the light source indicator to a second position with respect to the model of the solid; and

automatically updating the shading on the volume-rendered image to correspond with the second position of the light source indicator with respect to the model of the solid.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the model of the solid is at least semi-transparent.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising displaying a scale volume-rendered image within the model of the solid, wherein the scale volume-rendered image comprises a smaller representation of the volume-rendered image.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the model of the solid comprises a model of an sphere.

18. The method of 14, wherein the model of the solid comprises a representation of a polygonal model.

19. A system for interacting with a 3D dataset comprising:

a display device;

a memory;

a user input; and

a processor communicatively connected to the display device, the memory and the user input, wherein the processor is configured to;

access a 3D dataset from the memory;

generate a volume-rendered image from the 3D dataset that is shaded from a light direction;

display the volume-rendered image on the display device;

display a model of a solid at the same time as the volume-rendered image; and

display a light source indicator at a position with respect to the model of the solid to indicate the light direction used for shading the volume-rendered image.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the model of the solid is at least semi-transparent.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the user interface comprises a trackball or a touch screen and the processor is configured to directly move the light source indicator using a virtual trackball.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein the processor is further configured to display a scale volume-rendered image within the model of the solid.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the processor is further configured to shade both the scale volume-rendered image and the model of the solid based on the light direction.

24. The system of claim 19, wherein the processor is further configured to update the shading of the volume-rendered image to correspond with the position of the light source indicator with respect to the model of the solid as the light source indicator is moved.